164

Palenque,.

[Book I.

solitary wigwams, the ‘ well pole’ or swape is almost always to be seen.In wells of considerable depth, the pulley and double chain with twobuckets are adopted ; and the chain of pots and noriaare extensively usedin raising water for irrigation, being moved, as in Spain , by oxen or mules.As these are the only devices for raising water that are now in use, ex-cept the common pump to a very limited extent, and the ordinary modeof drawing it from mines, by buckets worked by animals, the question oc-curs, were they or any of them in use previous to the conquestl Thepump excepted, we should suppose they were ; but as before remarked,we have no direct evidence to establish the fact. As the Mexicans werecollected in villages and accustomed to cultivate the soil, at least 400 yearsbefore the conquest, and subsequent to that event, the great mass of thefarmers have been and are Indians, who adhere with “ extraordinary ob-stinacy” to the customs of their ancestors, it seems natural to suppose thatthey (like the agricultural classesof all other countries) would retainsomeof the old modes of raising water ; but as those above named are said to bethe only ones practised, it is probable that some of them at least wereknown to the inhabitants of old.

Palenque is about thirty miles from Tobasco. It is surrounded bydense forests, and overgrown with the Vegetation of past ages. Of itsfounders and inhabitants nothing is known, nor yet of the period whenthey flourished. The remains of this city have been traced over an ex-tent of twenty-four miles, and consist of massive edifices, of a novel andvery chaste style of architecture. These are accurately laid out to thefour Cardinal points of the compass, and are built of hewn stone. Thereare temples, palaces, and tombs ornamented with the richest sculpturesand bas reliefs, extensive excavations, subterranean passages, bridges,dikes, aqueducts, &c. all indicative of a powerful and highly civilizedpeople. Dupaix and his companions, who were sent out in 1805 byCharles IY. of Spain , to examine and report on these buildings, afterthree weeks intense labor in cutting down trees which grew over them,were enabled to examine fifteen edifices, which elicited their wonder andadmiration. Mr. Waldeck, a late traveler, who has spent several yearsin examining and collecting evidences of early American civilization, cutdown a tree, (that was growing over an ancient building at Palenque ) theconcentric circles in a section of which, indicated a growth of 973 years!But how many centuries had elapsed from the ruin and desertion of thecity, and for the accumulation of soil over it, ere this tree took root, canonly be conjectured. The sculptures on the walls are surprisingly per-fect, and among them are hieroglyphics which are supposed to have pho-netic power. Men and women are represented clothed in figured gar-ments, indicating the manufacture of flowered stuffs ; and various relicswhich have been disinterred, as toys, vessels, Ornaments of dress, &c.prove considerable progress in other branches of the useful arts. But ex-tensive as these ruins are, and pregnant with information of thrilling In-terest, Palenque is like MiÜa, the partner of its glory and of its degrada-tion, a ‘ city of the dead.’ Not a voice is heard in it, or around it, but thehissing of serpents, the buzzing of insects, the gibbering of monkeys, andthe screeching of wild birds.

There is one circumstance respecting the ancient cities and people ofYucatan which relates to our subject, that is deserving of attention. It isthis—from the geographical position and physical features of the country,wells have always been of primary importance. Düring the greaterpart of the year the inhabitants have no other resource for fresh water;and this must necessarily have been the case, ever since the present or-