STEPHENS ' S INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN.

IT may be remembered, that on the return of Mr. STEPHENS from his mission to Central America*, he passed through Yucatan, visiting some of the ruined cities of the aboriginal inhabitants, and hearing of many more. Circumstances prevented him from then pursuing his researches, or bringing away any considerable relics ; but he left Yucatan with the full intention of returning to make a more thorough exploration, and to form an American museum : a purpose which he carried into effect in about a year after his first visit ; and these volumes contain a narrative of his travels, and the results of his researches.

Mr. STEPHENS was accompanied on this, as on the former occa- sion, by Mr. CATHERWOOD an artist, to survey the sites and copy the ruins. Dr. CABOT, a physician and ornithologist, also volun- teered to accompany the present expedition ; but his presence contributes little to the story beyond an occasional account of the effects produced by his medical skill. With a few trifling ex- ceptions, the explorations of the party were limited to two degrees of longitude (88-90) and little more than one of

tude, (20-21) : further progress was checked by the scantily. inhabited and primeval condition of the Country; and Mr. STE- PHENS, as it seems to us, was not amply provided in funds or appliances proportioned to the -object, but trusted, American- like, to the chance of goodnatured help. A further difficulty

• See Spectator, 7th August 1841.

was the nature of the climate, which induced fever and ague when exposed at certain places in certain seasons. In despite of all such drawbacks, Mr. STEN:isms visited upwards of forty ruins of cities, nearly forty of which are within the limits before mentioned. The most perfect displayed remains of extensive and elaborate buildings erected on artificial mounds, and for the most part rising above each other in a succession of triple terraces; the others ex- hibited ruins more analogous to those of Babylon, the ground being thickly strewed with fragments, but no building remaining sufficiently perfect to enable the spectator to determine its cha- racter from that particular ruin. Startling as these results are, Mr. STEPHENS thinks that a more accurate survey, or, properly speaking, a thorough clearing of the Tropical forest, would discover greater wonders ; for some of his most successful feats were the result of accident—a haphazard line through a forest which happened to strike a building, or the local knowledge elicited from some par- ticular Indian, after the man had seen, with wonder, the interest the foreigners attached to what the natives term " old walls." In the use of the word cities, however, some limitation should perhaps be placed upon the modern European notions of the term. It seems probable that the greater number of these buildings were devoted to religious purposes, the mass of the people remaining in a state of abject slavery or degradation of caste. The mere power of erecting them would augur considerable scientific knowledge in the superintendents, a high degree of mechanical dexterity in the workmen, and a thickly-peopled country. It would, however, be going too far to conclude that the cities or sites of these buildings were inhabited by an active and industrious population, bearing a proportion, as in modern Europe, to the character of the public buildings of the place. They were the works of superstition : it is probable that such knowledge as existed was confined to the priestly caste, and that while these gorgeous but barbaric piles were erected for them, the builders were in a state of abject ignorance and poverty, differing little from that in which they are now found. The religious piles erected by the same people under the arts and influence of the Romish missionaries, afford an analogous example of what we mean,—a splendid church and convent ; a congrega- tion of Indians in the lowest condition both material and mental.

These researches more than confirm the assertion as to the nuniler of ruins to be found within a small space, hazarded by Mr. NORMAN in his touch-and-go tour, from the information of the natives, or probably from Mr. STEPHENS himself. The descrip- tions also exhibit considerable diversity of style in the details, amidst a considerable uniformity of building. In other respects, no new discoveries have been made respecting the advancement or the character of this mysterious people : perhaps they are rather lowered than raised. If they equal in mechanical execution the builders of Palenque, and approach them in design for (perhaps symbolical) ornaments, they fall far below them in imitation of the human figure. To us, who profess no minute knowledge of Ameri- can antiquities, the points of novelty which Mr. STEPHENS has elicited appear to be these. The arch was known to this people. The mounds and terraces which support the upper buildings appear at first sight to be solid masses of heaped-up earth ; but on exploring what was traditionally said to be a cave, it was discovered, and a systematic examination confirmed the fact, that in many cases these mounds contained chambers, sometimes square, sometimes in the shape of a small hay-rick, and once connected by passages. They were all, however, empty, and their uses could not be ascertained. Both pillars and columns have been discovered ; the latter, in their most perfect form, approaching a bald Greek Doric. At Kabah, one of the cities till now unvisited, greater variety in the arrangement of the apartments was seen : in one city an internal staircase was found leading to the top of the building ; in another, the interior rooms were built up with solid masonry, evidently as the work proceeded, the ceiling being finished last. At the ruins of Tuloom, on the .sea-coast, the entire wall of a city was traceable, the perpendicular cliff forming the defence on the sea-side : and we may remark that the remains on the coast and the island of Cosumel often appear to be of a superior character to those in the interior—less elaborate in ornament, but more simple and useful-looking in design. The only exception to this opinion is a gateway and connected ruins at Labna, which Mr. STEPHENS pronounces equal to any Egyptian remains ; and the plate confirms this opinion. It may be ob- served that the serpent is constantly found among the ornaments ; and there is a representation of a Death's head and cross-bones which would do honour to any English churchyard. Mr. STE- PHENS attaches great (importance to some carved wooden lintels : but carving on wood is by no means rare—the paddle of the veriest savage is often carved. A paved causeway, perfect for a short space, has been discovered ; and it is said by Indian tradition to have led from one of the principal ruins to the present capital. The zeal, energy, and perseverance of Mr. STEPHENS in ex- ploring these ruins, is worthy of high praise ; and, with the excep- tion of Uxmal, whither WALDECK had been before him, all that he has done is clear accession, and which no one else seems likely to have attempted. Allowance must also be made for the difficul- ties Mr. STEPHENS had to contend with, in limited means, listless labourers, indifference and ignorance in the native Whites, (except here and there a padre,) as well as the labour of clearing in a Tropical country, and the effects of fever, which sometimes pros- trated the travellers amid the ruins they were exploring. The discoveries, however, might have been presented in a more specific and satisfactory form. Aiming at a popular narrative, the author's plan of composition is too particular for ageneral view and yet not

sufficiently detailed for an antiquarian exposition. Large and elaborate drawings, with the drily technical account of a mere surveyor, were not desirable ; but we think a better effect would have been produced and a more distinct impression left of the ruins of Yucatan, had he entirely separated the architectural accounts from the narrative of his travels, presented each ruin successively, and accompanied the more important ones with fuller details. The story might have been shorter, but its effects would have been more telling.

In such parts of the work as belong more immediately to travels,

Mr. STEPHENS exhibits his wonted spirits and animation. In the account of dick contrivances at the ruins, there is often a Robinson Crusoe-like character ; and in their exploration of the caves and subterranean wells, from which, in the dry season, the inhabitants laboriously draw their supplies of water, there is often con- siderable interest. Wandering in the remoter parts of the country, the author saw the people—Indians, Whites, and mixed breeds—in their genuine and undisguised character ; and his pictures of this primitive society have a curious novelty. But as a whole, there is something of the tediousness of a twice-told tale about these mere "incidents of travel." The probability of this Mr. STEPHENS seems to have felt ; but, instead of shortening his book, he has laboured his descriptions.

It is the confirmed opinion of Mr. STEPHENS, that the cities whose ruins he has .investigated were not the work of an extinct people, but of the race which CORTES found in Mexico, and which still inhabits the country. His arguments for this view are entitled to attention; • and one of the most cogent is the general destruction of the Indian priesthood and nobility by the policy and religion of the Spaniards: But if the people were the same, they were in their decline : they might have the me- chanical skill to practise arts which had descended to them, just as the Roman warlike machines in the decline of the Empire were equal or superior to those of their ancestors; but the spirit of their ancestors was gone. To the mere argument of their anti- quity Mr. STEPHENS opposes the effects of Tropical vegetation and rains in hastening ruin ; and this not altogether as a matter of reasoning, but of experience. On his first arrival, he saw THE ETFEGT OP A YEAR'S VEGETATION IN THE TaoPtos.

On the fifteenth at eleven o'clock, we reached the hacienda of Uxmal. II

stood in its suit of sombre gray, with cattle-yard, large trees, and tanks, the same as when we left it ; but there were no friends of old to welcome us : the Delmonico major domo had gone to Tobasco, and the other had been obliged to leave on account of illness. The Mayoral remembered us, but we did not know him ; and we determined to pass on and take up our abode immediately in the ruins. Stepping but a few minutes to give directions about the luggage, we mounted again, and in ten minutes, emerging from the woods, came out upon the open field ; in which, grand and lofty as when we saw it before, stood the House of the Dwarf: but the first glance showed us that a year had made great changes. The sides of the lofty structure, then bare and naked, were now covered with high grass, bushes, and weeds, and on the top were bushes and young trees twenty feet high. The House of the Nuns was almost smothered; and the whole field was covered with a rank growth of grass and weeds, over which we could barely look as we rode through. The foundations, terraces, and tops of the buildings, were overgrown; weeds and vines were rioting and creeping on the facades; and mounds, terraces, and ruins, were a mass of destroying verdure. A strong and vigorous nature was struggling for mastery over art, wrapping the city in its suffocating embraces, and burying it from sight. It seemed as if the grave was closing over a friend, and we had arrived barely in time to take our farewell. Amid this mass of desolation, grand and stately as when we left it, stood the Casa del Gobernador, but with all its terraces covered, and separated from us by a mass of impenetrable verdure. On the left of the field was an overgrown milpa, along the edge of which a path led in front of this bnilding. Following this path, we turned the corner of the terrace, and on the farthest side dismounted, and tied our horses. The grass and weeds were above our heads, and we could see nothing. The Mayoral broke a way through them, and we reached the foot of the terrace. Working our way over the stones with much toil, we reached the top of the highest terrace. Here, too, the grass and weeds were of the same rank growth. We moved directly to the wall at the East end, and entered the first open door. Here the Mayoral wished us to take up our abode; but we knew the localities better than he did, and, creeping along the front as close to the wall as possible, cutting some of the bushes and tearing apart and trampling down others, we reached the centre apartment. Here we stopped. Swarms of hats, roused by our approach, fluttered and flew through the long chamber, and passed out at the doors.

The want of Yucatan is water. On the large plantations it is preserved in immense cisterns ; and the neighbouring Indians, though nominally free, are in reality slaves of the tank. In the remoter villages, when the natural or artificial ponds are exhausted in the dry season, they have to draw a supply from subterranean wells, which, if water were expended in the English manner, would occupy the whole time of everybody in procuring this ne- cessary fluid. Before the civilization of the country had declined, this natural want was supplied by a great number of ponds, with wells or immense jars at the bottom, artificially paved by two layers of stones, the upper covering the joints of the lower layer, and the interstices carefully closed with cement. Neglected, and half filled with mud, the discovery of these artificial reservoirs, like moat discoveries in Yucatan, was only made by the accident of some speculative Spaniard clearing out his pond. Still Mr. PHENS thinks the country could not have watered the population it formerly contained, according to English modes of drinking ; and he offers this ingenious solution.

"Among the wonders unfolded by the discovery of these ruined cities, what

made the strongest impression on our minds was the fact that their immense population existed in a region so scantily supplied with water. Throughout the whole country there is no stream, or spring, or living fountain ; and but for the extraordinary awes and hollow' in the rocks from which the inhabit- ants at this day drink, they must have been entirely dependent upon artificial fountains, and literally upon the rain that came down from heaven. But on this point there is one important consideration. The aborigines of this country bad no horses or cattle or large domestic animals and the supply required for the use of man only was comparatively small. Perhaps at this day, with dif- ferent wants and habits, the same country would not support the same amount of population. And besides, the Indian now inhabiting that dry and thirsty region illustrates the effect of continual scarcity, habit, and training, in sub- duing the appetites. Water is to him as to the Arab of the desert, a scarce and precious commodity. When he puts down the load from his back, his body streaming with perspiration, a few sips of water dipped up in the palm of his band from a hollow rock suffice to quench his thirst. Still, under any cir- esimstances, the sources of supply present one of the most interesting features connected with the discovery of these ruined cities, and go to confirm belief in the vast numbers and power as well as the laborious industry of the ancient inbabitan ts."

From the nature of the subject, and the necessity of plans and

engravings to illustrate it with effect, we must refer to the volumes for any specific account of the discoveries of Mr. STEPHENS; but

an extract will convey a notion of the difficulties he had to en- counter from the character of his labourers, and give a specimen of his style.

INGLESES AT KABAEL

Late in the afternoon we returned to the village, and in the evening had a levee of visiters. The sensation we had created in the village had gone on in- creasing, and the Indians were really indisposed to work for us at all. The arrival of a stranger even from Merida or Campeachy was an extraordinary event, and no Ingleses had ever been seen there before. The circumstance that we had come to work among the ruins was wonderful incomprehensible. Within the memory of the oldest Indians these remains had never been dis- turbed. The account of the digging up of the bones in San Francisco had reached them, and they had much conversation with each other and with the padrecito about us. It was a strange thing, they said, that men with strange faces, and a language they could not understand, had come among them to disinter their ruined cities; and, simple as their ancestors when the Spaniards first came among them, they said that the end of the world was nigh.

It was late the next day when we reached the ruins. We could not set out before the Indians, for they mighedisappoint us altogether' and we could do nothing until they came ; but, once on the ground, we soon had them at work. On both sides we watched each other closely, though from somewhat different motives; they from utter inability to comprehend our plans and purposes, and we from the fear that we should get no work out of them. If one of us spoke, they all stopped to listen ; if we moved, they stopped to gaze upon us. Mr. Catherwood's drawing-materials, tripod, sextant, and compass, were very suspi- cious; and occasionally Doctor Cabot filled up the measure of their astonish- ment by bringing down a bird as it flew through the air. By the time they were fairly broken in to know what they had to do, it was necessary to return to the village.

The same labour was repeated the next day with a new set of men ; hut, by continual supervision and urging, we managed to get considerable work done. Albino was a valuable auxiliary ; indeed, without him I could hardly have got on at all. We had not fairly discovered his intelligence until we left Uxmal. There all had a beaten track to move in; but on the road little things were con- stantly occurring in which he showed an ingenuity and a fertility of resource that saved us from many annoyances. He had been a soldier; and at the siege of Campeachy had received a sabre-cut in a fleshy part of the body, which ra- ther intimated that he was moving in an opposite direction when the sabre overtook him. Having received neither pay for his services nor pension for his wound, he was a little disgusted with patriotism and fighting for his country. Be was by trade a blacksmith ; which business, on the recommendation of Done Joaquina Peon he had given up to enter our service. His usefulness and Ca- pacity were first clearly brought out at Kabah. Knowing the character of the Indians, speaking their language, and being but a few degrees removed from them by blood, he could get out of them twice as much work as I could. Him, too, they could as questions about us, and lighten labour by the indulgence of social humour ; and very soon I had only to give instructions as to what work was to be done, and leave the whole management of it to him.

Turning from the past to the present, here is a lively sketch of

ELECTIONS IN YUCATAN.

Though practically enduring, in some respects, the appendages of an aristo- cratic government, the Indians, who carried us on their shoulders and our loads on their backs, have as good votes as their masters; and it was painful to have lost the opportunity of seeing the Democratic principle in operation among the only true and real native American party ; the spectacle being, as we were told, in the case of the hacienda Indians, one of exceeding impressiveness, not to say sublimity. These, being criados, or servants, in debt to their masters and their bodies mortgaged, go up to the village unanimous in opinion and pur- pose, without partiality or prejudice either in favour of or against particular men or measures : they have no bank questions, nor questions of internal im- provement, to consider; no angry discussions about the talents, private charac- ters, or public services of candidates; and, above all, they are free from the degrading imputation of man-worship, for in general they have not the least idea for whom they are voting. All they have to do is to put into a box a little piece of paper given to them by the master or major domo, for which they are to have a holy day. The only danger is, that, in the confusion of greeting ac- quaintances, they may get their papers changed ; and when this happens, they are almost invariably found soon after committing some offence against haci- enda discipline, for which these independent electors are pretty sure to get flogged by the major domo.

In the villages, the indifference to political distinctions, and the discrimina- tion of the public in rewarding unobtrusive merit, are no lees worthy of admi- ration; for Indian alcaldes are frequently elected without being aware that they have been held up for the suffrages of their fellow-citizens; they pass the day of election on the ground, and go home without knowing any thing about it The night before their term is to commence, the retiring functionaries go round the village and catch these unconscious favourites of the people, put them into the cabildo, and keep them together all night, that they may be at hand in the morning to receive the staves and take the oath of office.

These little peculiarities were told to us as facts; and of such a population I can believe them to be true. At all events, the term of the incumbent officers was just expiring : the neat morning the grand ceremony of the inauguration was to take place; and the Indians going out of office were actively engaged in hunting up their successors and bringing them together in the cabildo. Before retiring, we went in with the Padrecito to look at them. Most of them had been brought in but some were still wanting. They were sitting round a large table, on which lay the record of their election ; and, to beguile the tediousness of their honourable imprisonment, they had instruments by them, called mu- sical, which kept up a terrible noise all night. Whatever were the circum- stance. of their election, their confinement for the night was, no doubt, a wise precaution, to insure their being sober in the morning.

The Mestiza ball will give an idea of Yucatan society in the inte- rior. It must be understood that it is altogether the fancy-ball of a sort of saturnalia; the supposed Mestizas being White ladies in masquerade dress, but without a mask.

THE BALL.

The bfiyle de dia was intended to give a picture of life at a hacienda : and there were two prominent personages, who did not appear the evening before,

called fiscales, being the officers attendant upon the ancient caciques, and re-

presenting them in their authority over the Indians. • • These were the managers and masters of ceremonies, with absolute and unlimited authority over the whole company ; and, as they boasted, they had a right to whip the Mestizas if they pleased.

As each Mestiza arrived, they quietly put aside the gentleman escorting her, and conducted the lady to her seat. If the gentleman did not give way readily, they took him by the shoulders and walked him to the other end of the floor. A crowd followed wherever they moved ; and all the time the company was assembling, they threw every thing into laughter and confusion by their whim- sical efforts to preserve order.

At length they undertook to clear a space for dancing; backing the company in a summary way as far as they could go, and then taking the men and boys by the shoulder and jamming them down upon the floor. While they were thus engaged, a stout gentleman, of respectable appearance, holding some high office in the village, appeared in the doorway, quietly lighting another straw

cigar ; and as soon as they saw him they desisted from the work they had it

hand, and, in the capricious and wanton exercise of their arbitrary power, rushed across, seized him, dragged him to the centre of the floor, hoisted him

upon the shoulders of a vaquero, and pulling apart the skirts of ills coat, bela- boured him with a mock vigour and earnestness that convulsed the whole com- pany with laughter. The sides of the elevated dignitary shook, the vaquero shook under him, and they were near coming down together.

This over, the rogues came directly upon me. El Ingles had not long escaped their eye. I had with difficulty avoided a scene, and my time seemed now to have come. The one with the cacique's mantle led the way with long strides, lash raised in the air, a loud voice, and his eyes, sparkling with frolic and mischief, fastened upon mine. The crowd followed, and I was a little afraid of an attempt to hoist me too on the shoulders of a vaquero; but all at once be stopped short, and, unexpectedly changing his language, opened upon me with a loud harangue in Maya. All knew that I did not understand a word he said, and the laugh was strong against me. I was a little annoyed at being made such a mark ; but, recollecting the achievement of our vernacular at Nohcacab, I answered him with an English oration. The effect was in- stantaneous. Ile had never before heard a language that he could not under- stand ; bent his ear earnestly, as if by close attention he could catch the mean- ing; and looked up with an air of real perplexity, that turned the laugh com- pletely against him. Ile began again ; and I answered with a stanza of Greek poetry, which had hung by me in some unaccountable way. This again com- pletely silenced him; and he dropped the title Ingles, put his arms around my neck, called me " amigo," and made a covenant not to speak in any language but Castilian.

This over, he ordered the music to commence, planted a vaquero on the floor, and led out a Mestiza to dance, again threw all the bystanders into con- fusion, and sat down quietly on the floor at my feet. All the Mestizas ,were again called out in order, presenting the same pretty spectacle I had seen the evening before. And there was one whom I had noticed then, not more than fifteen, delicate and fragile, with eyes so soft and dovelike that it was impos- sible to look upon them without a feeling of tenderness. She seemed sent into the world to be cherished and cared for, and closeted like the finest china, the very emblem of purity, innocence, and loveliness; and, as I had learned, she was the child of shame, being the crianza or natural daughter of a gentleman of the village. Perhaps it was that she seemed so ill fitted to buffet with con- tumely and reproach that gave such an indescribable interest to her appear- ance; but, fortunately, brought up in her father's house, she may go through life without meeting an averted face or feeling that a stain rests upon her name.

As may be supposed, the presence of this senorita on the floor did not escape the keen eyes of the mercurial fiscal. All at once he became excited and rest- less ; and, starting to his feet, gazed at her for a moment as if entranced by a vision ; and then as if carried away by his excitement, and utterly unconscious of what he was about, he pushed aside the vaquero who was dancing with her, and, flinging his sombrero on the ground, cried out in a tone of ecstacy, " Voy baylar con vd, mi corazon." " I am going to dance with you, my heart." As be danced, his excitement seemed to increase : forgetting every thing around him, the expression of his face became rapt, fixed, intense ; he tore off his cacique's mantle, and, dancing toward her, spread it at the lady's feet. This seemed only to excite him more; and, as if forgetful of every thing else, he seized the collar of his camisa, and, dancing violently all the time, with a nervous grasp, tugged as if he meant to pull it over his head, and throw all that he was worth at her feet. Failing in this, for a moment be seemed to give up in despair ; but all at once, he thrust his hands under the long gar- ment, seized the sash around his waist, and, still dancing with all his might, unwound it, and, moving up to her with mingled grace, gallantry, and despe- ration, dropped it at her feet, and danced back to his place. By this time his calzoncillos, kept up by the sash, were giving way. Grasping them furiously, and holding then, up with both hands as if by a great effort, he went on dancing with a desperate expression of face that was irresistibly ludicrous. During all this time, the company was convulsed with laughter; and I could not help remarking the extreme modesty and propriety of the young lady, who never even smiled or looked at him, but when the dance was ended, bowed and returned to her seat. The poor fiscal stood gazing at the vacant place where she had stood, as if the sun of his existence had set. At length he turned his head, and calling out " amigo," asked if there were any such Mestizas in my country ? if I would like to take her home with me ? then said that tie could not spare this one, but I might take my choice of the others; insisting loudly upon my making a selection, and promising to deliver any one I liked to me at the convent.

At first, I supposed that these fiscales were, like the vaqueros, the principal young men of the village, who for that day gave themselves up to frolic and tun but I learned that these were not willing to assume such a character, but employed others known to them for wit and humour, and at the same time for propriety and respectability of behaviour. This was a matador de cochinos, or pig. butcher, of excellent character, and truly vivo—by which may be understood " a fellow of infinite wit and humour." The people of the village seemed to think that the power given him to whip the Mestizaa was the extremity of licence ; but they did not consider that, even for the day, they put him on equal terms with those who, in his daily walks, were to him as beings of an- other sphere : for the time he might pour out his tribute of feeling to beauty and attraction ; but it was all to be regarded as a piece of extravagance, to be forgotten by all who heard it, and particularly by her to whom it was addressed. Alas, poor matador de cachinos!

It may be desirable to add, that many specimens of these ancient cities were brought safely to the States by Mr. STEPHENS, but a considerable portion of them were lost in the great fire at New York.