toric
nations that inhabited this western continent. As for me, I felt
its chill even under the burning rays of the tropical sun of
Yucatan, notwithstanding I am, or ought to be, well inured to them
during the four years that my wife and myself are rambling among
the ruined cities of the Mayas.

True, I am but a cool searcher of the stupendous monuments of the
mighty races that are no more, but have left the history of their
passage on earth written on the stones of the palaces of their
rulers, upon the temples of their gods. The glowing fires of
enthusiasm do not overheat my imagination, even if the handiwork of
the ancient artists and architects--if the science of the Itza
_H-Menes_--wise men, fill my heart with a surprise akin to
admiration. Since four years we ask the stones to disclose the
secrets they conceal. The portraits of the ancient kings, those of
the men with long beards, who seem to have held high offices among
these people, have become familiarized with us, and we with them.
At times they appear to our eyes to be not quite devoid of life,
not entirely deaf to our voice. Not unfrequently the meaning of
some sculpture, of some character, of some painting,--till then
obscure, unintelligible, puzzling,--all of a sudden becomes clear,
easy to understand, full of meaning.

Many a strange story of human greatness and pride, of human, petty
and degrading passions, weakness and imperfections, has thus been
divulged to us;--while we were also told of the customs of the
people; of the scientific acquirements of the _H-Menes_; of the
religious rites observed by the _kins_ (priests); of their
impostures, and of the superstition they inculcated to the masses;
of the communication held by the merchants of Chichen with the
traders from Asia and Africa; of the politeness of courtiers and
gracefulness of the queen; of the refinement of the court; of the
funeral ceremonies, and of the ways they disposed of the dead; of
the terrible invasions of barbarous Nahua tribes; of the
destruction, at their hands, of the beautiful metropolis
Chichen-Itza, the centre of civilization, the emporium of the
countries comprised between the eastern shores of Mayapan and the
western of Xibalba; of the subsequent decadence of the nations; of
their internal st