t appears that in 1556, one year previous, the
special judge _arrived_ with his interpreter, Gaspar Antonio, _from
Uxmal_, when they reached the chief village of Mani with the other
caciques who followed them. The names are all given, and it is said
these "_were brought to this_ chief village of Mani _from Uxmal_, with
the others named, and the judge Felipe Manrique and Gaspar Antonio,
commissioned interpreter."

Now what was Uxmal? It is clear, beyond all question, that it was a
place at which persons could arrive, at which they could be, and from
which they could come. I am safe in supposing that it was not a mere
hacienda, for at that early period of the conquest haciendas had not
begun to be established; and, besides, the title papers of Don Simon
Peon show that the first grant of it was made for the purposes of a
hacienda one hundred and forty-four or one hundred and forty-five years
afterward, at which time the land was waste and belonged to the crown,
and had small settlements of Indians upon it, who were publicly and
notoriously worshipping the devil in the ancient buildings. It was not,
then, a hacienda. Was it a Spanish town? If so, some remains would have
been visible at the time of the grant, and the great object of driving
away the Indians and breaking up their idolatrous worship would already
have been accomplished. There is no indication, record, or tradition
that a Spanish town was ever established at Uxmal; the general belief
is that there never was any; Don Simon is sure of it, and in that
confidence I fully participate. But as the strongest proof on this
point, I call in this ancient map. It is a fact perhaps more clearly
established than any other in the history of the conquest, that in
every Indian village in which the Spaniards made a settlement, with
that strong religious enthusiasm which formed so remarkable a feature
in their daring and unscrupulous character, their first act was the
erection of a church. Now it will be remarked that nearly all the
places laid down on the map are indicated by the sign of a church; most
of them now exist, all have aboriginal names, and the inference is that
they were at that time existing aboriginal towns, in which the
Spaniards had erected churches, or had taken the preliminary steps for
doing so. Several of these places we had visited; we had seen their
churches reared upon the ruins of ancient buildings, and in their
immediate vicinity vestiges and extensive r