ting divinity of the
place. On three sides the structure is surrounded by a massive wall
about five metres high and eight wide on the top. On that wall are
to be seen the columns of the Katuns. The rank vegetation has
invaded every part of the building, and thrown many of the columns
to the ground. I began to clear the trees from the pyramid, but was
unable to finish work because of the disarming of my workmen, owing
to a revolution that a certain Teodosio Canto had initiated against
the government of Yucatan. I counted as many as one hundred and
twenty columns, but got tired of pushing my way through the nearly
impenetrable thicket, where I could see many more among the shrubs.

Those I counted would give an aggregate of 19,200 years,--quite a
respectable old age, even for the life of a nation. This is plainly
corroborated by the other means of reckoning the antiquity of the
monuments,--such as the wear of the stones by meteorological
influences, or the thickness of the stratum of the rich loam, the
result of the decay of vegetable life, accumulated on the roofs and
terraces of the buildings, not to speak of their position
respecting the pole-star and the declination of the magnetic
needle.

The architecture of the Mayas is unlike that of any other people of
what is called the Old World. It resembles only itself. And,
notwithstanding that Mayapan, from the most remote times, was
visited by travellers from Asia and Africa, by the wise and learned
men who came from abroad to consult the _H-Menes_; notwithstanding,
also, the invasion of the Nahuas and the visitation of the
pilgrims, the Maya art of building remained peculiar and unchanged,
and their language was adopted by their conquerors. The Nahuas,
after destroying the city of the wise men, established themselves
in Uxmal, on account of its strategic position, in the midst of a
plain inclosed by hills easily defended. To embellish that city,
where dwelt the foes of Chichen, they copied the complex
ornamentation of the most ancient building of that metropolis,--the
palace and museum,--disdaining the chastity, the simplicity, the
beautiful and tasteful elegance of the monuments of the latter
period. These, of graceful and airy proportions, are utterly devoid
of the profusion and complexity of