Note V-2 — Chapter V · ANTIQUITIES OF YUCATAN.

The earliest modern account of Yucatan Antiquities with which I am acquainted is that written by Sr Lorenzo de Zavala, Ambassador of the Mexican Government in France, and published in Antiquités Mexicaines, tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-5. Sr Zavala visited Uxmal several years before 1834. His communication gives a tolerably good general idea of the ruins, but it is brief, unaccompanied by drawings, and relates only to one city. It is, therefore, of little value when compared with later and more extensive works on the subject, and is mentioned in this note only as being the earliest account extant. Yet long before Zavala's visit, Padre Thomas de Soza, a Franciscan friar of the convent of Mérida, had observed the ruins during his frequent trips through the province, and he gave a slight account of them to Antonio del Rio, who mentioned it in his Descrip. of an Ancient City, pp. 6-8.

M. Frédéric de Waldeck, a French artist, visited Uxmal in 1835 during a short tour in the peninsula, and published the result of his labors in his Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan, Paris, 1838, large folio, with 22 steel plates and lithographic illustrations. M. de Waldeck became in some way obnoxious to the Mexican Government, which threw some obstacles in his way, and finally confiscated his drawings, of which he had fortunately made copies. Waldeck in his turn abuses the government and the people, and has consequently been unfavorably criticised. His drawings and descriptions, however, tested by the work of later visitors under better auspices, are remarkable for their accuracy so far as they relate to antiquities. The few errors discoverable in his work may be attributed to the difficulty of exploring alone and unaided ruins enveloped in a dense tropical forest. 'Supplied with pecuniary aid by a munificent and learned Irish peer.' (Lord Kingsborough.) Foreign Quar. Rev., vol. xviii., p. 251. 'Waldeck, aumentando ó disminuyendo antojadiza y caprichosamente sus obras, las hace participar, en todos sentidos, de las no muy acreditadas cualidades de verídico, imparcial y concienzudo que aquí le conocieron.' M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362.

Mr. John L. Stephens, accompanied by Fred. Catherwood, artist, at the end of an antiquarian expedition through Central America, arrived at Uxmal in 1840, and began the work of surveying the city, but the sickness of Mr Catherwood compelled them to abandon the survey when but little progress had been made and return abruptly to New York. The results of their incomplete work were published in Stephens' Cent. Amer., N. Y., 1841, vol. ii.

Mr B. M. Norman, a resident of New Orleans, made a flying visit to Yucatan from December to March, 1841-2, and published as a result Rambles in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843, illustrated with cuts and lithographs. According to the Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 372, this trip was merely a successful speculation on the part of Norman, who collected his material in haste from all available sources, in order to take advantage of the public interest excited by Stephens' travels. However this may be, the work is not without value in connection with the other authorities. 'The result of a hasty visit.' Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 172. The work 'n'est qu'une compilation sans mérite et sans intérêt.' Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 150. 'A valuable work.' Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 12. 'By which the public were again astonished and delighted.' Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 77. Norman's work is very highly spoken of and reviewed at length, with numerous quotations and two plates, in the Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 529-38.

Mr Stephens arrived in New York on his return from his Central American tour in July, 1840, having left Yucatan in June. 'About a year' after his return he again sailed for Yucatan on October 9th and remained until the following June. This is all the information the author vouchsafes touching the date of his voyage, which was probably in 1841-2, Stephens and Norman being therefore in the country at the same time; the latter states, indeed, that they were only a month apart at Zayi. Stephens' work is called Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843. (?) (Ed. quoted in this work, N. Y., 1858.) The drawings of this and of the previous expedition were published, with a descriptive text by Stephens, under the title of Catherwood's Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, N. Y., 1844, large folio, with 25 colored lithographic plates. Stephens' account was noticed, with quotations, by nearly all the reviews at the time of its appearance, and has been the chief source from which all subsequent writers, including myself, have drawn their information. His collection of movable Yucatan relics was unfortunately destroyed by fire with Mr Catherwood's panorama in New York. Critics are almost unanimous in praise of the work. 'Malgré quelques imperfections, le livre restera toujours un ouvrage de premier ordre pour les voyageurs et les savants.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 7. 'Stephens y Catherwood, por ejemplo, sin separarse de la verdad de los originales, los cópia el uno, y los describe el otro con exactitud, criterio y buena fé,' M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362. 'Ce que M. Stephens a montré talent, de science et de modestie dans ses narrations est au-dessus de toute appréciation.' Dally, Races Indig., p. 14. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., criticises Stephens' conclusions, and his criticisms will be somewhat noticed in their proper place. See also p. 82, note 14, of this volume.

The Baron von Friederichsthal, an attaché of the Austrian Legation, spent several months in an examination of Yucatan ruins, confining his attention to Chichen Itza and Uxmal. He had with him a daguerreotype apparatus, and with its aid prepared many careful drawings. As to the date of his visit it probably preceded those of Norman and Stephens, since a letter by him, written while on his return to Europe, is dated April 21, 1841. This letter is printed in the Registro Yucateco, tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and in the Dicc. Univ., tom. x., pp. 290-3. It contains a very slight general account of the ruins, which are spoken of as 'hasta hoy desconocidas,' with much rambling speculation on their origin. On his arrival in Europe Friederichsthal was introduced by Humboldt to the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, before which society he read a paper on his discoveries on October 1, 1841, which paper was furnished by the author for the Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 297-314, where it was published under the title of Les Monuments de l'Yucatan. The author proceeded to Vienna where he intended to publish a large work with his drawings, a work that so far as I know has never seen the light. 'M. de Friederichsthal a souvent été inquiété dans ses recherches; les ignorants, les superstitieux, les niais les regardaient comme dangereuses au pays.' Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.

In 1858 M. Désiré Charnay visited Izamal, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal, taking with him a photographic apparatus. He succeeded in obtaining perfect views of many of the buildings, which were published under the title Cités et Ruines Américaines, Paris, 1863, in large folio. The text of the work is in octavo form and includes a long introduction by M. Viollet-le-Duc, French Government Architect, occupied chiefly with speculation and theories rather than descriptions. Charnay's part of the text, although a most interesting journal of travels, is very brief in its descriptions, the author wisely referring the reader to the photographs, which are invaluable as tests of the correctness of drawings made by other artists both in Yucatan and elsewhere.

See also a general notice of the ruins in Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 176-7, and in Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 611; full account in Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 125-50, from Stephens; and brief accounts, made up from the modern explorers, in Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 171-3, with cut of an idol from Catherwood; Prichard's Researches, vol. v., pp. 346-8; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 147, 191-5, 269-72; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 14-15; Warden, Recherches, pp. 68-9; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-50, from old Spanish authorities; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 460, 462; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 144, 247; Baril, Mexique, pp. 128-30; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-31; Davis' Antiq. Amer., pp. 512-30; Id., Ed. 1847, p. 31; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 320-8; Mex. in 1842, p. 75; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 227, 242-7, 303-4.