Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/110

102 is found of loose stones with blocks of the same material carefully hewn for the facing. The mode of building, however, was identical among the Mayas and the Chaldeans. Again, there is shown an identity of ideas in the artists who decorated the walls at Chichen-Itza and Babylon."

In his essay on the language of the Mayas, Dr. Le Plongeon stated that they employed many words and names common to all, or nearly all, the ancient languages of which we have knowledge; that they used letters and characters belonging to the most ancient Chaldaic alphabet; and their mode of writing, in squares, was similar to that of the Babylonians. He adds:—

"So also we see that their architecture partakes of that of the Egyptians and the Babylonians, besides having a style that belongs to none of these ancient nations. That they had 'perpendicular' pyramids, with their faces to the cardinal points, like the Egyptians, the mound of Mayapan proves. But the great mound situated on the north side of the principal square of Izamal, on the top of which used to be a temple dedicated to Kinich-Kakmo, the queen of Chichen, is an oblique pyramid, the very counterpart of the 'Temple of the Moon' at Mugheir."

The curious reader may find the gist of the preceding statements regarding the civilization of the Mayas in Landa's interesting book, Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan. Even though we may not accept the conclusions of this intrepid explorer, "that the cradle of the world's civilization is this continent on which we live," we must assign to the Maya people an elevated rank among the civilized nations of the world, and great antiquity.

We might note, before leaving Mayapan, that, according to Cogolludo (an old historian, writing in 1655), all the nobles of the country had houses in that city before its destruction, and were exempted from tribute. But now, he says, "these nobles, the descendants of Tutul Xiu, who was the king and natural lord, if they do not work with their own hands, have nothing to eat."

Directly east of Merida, connected by a great high-road, is Izamal, the ancient Itzamal of the Itzaes, founded by them first of any city in the peninsula. Itzamna is the first person mentioned in the annals of the peninsula, a hero apotheosized,