Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-10

| alcalde refused to get them for US, say
ing that the sublevados (rebellious ones
| as the Southern Mex;cans call the wild
lndtan), were in revolt aud in conse-
quence II would be unsafe to attempt
the journey to UXmal. Cam
peachy was. and still is, very thInly set
tied, and in its vast forests several
tribes of Indians roamed. We all felt
that the alcalde was right in refusing to
Aid us in our Project, nevertheless, we
were not disposed to come so far to see q
thing aud then go away without having
seen it. SO we made inquiries, and find
Ing man who would act as our guide
for double the usual pay, we set off for
USmal, journey of twenty four miles
early on the second morning after our
arrival at Pich. The road was nothing
but bride path through the forest, and
so difficult that we barely reached the
ruins and took up our quarters IN the
second story of the building called the
Palonal when the sun dropped behind
the horizon and the dark night of the
tropics came on.
We arose early in the morning and
spent the day examining the ruins. A
fair description of the ruins of UxmaI
would I'LL many pages. i shall only at
tempt TO give you some idea of their ex-
tent and grandeur. The ruins cover au
area of twelve square miles. In that
space are found several large edifices
still intact, and the remains of in
Vulnerable smaller ones. Lianas
have crept into the cracks aud
assures of the walls of the
smaller buildings and gradually
pulled them down; once down.
the rapidly accommodating vegetable mold
of the tropics has buried them. Only
the immense size of the blocks with
which they are built have saved the
larger buildings from like destruction.
These large buildings are all situated
quite near each other in what was prob
ably the court quarters of the ancient
city. The Mexicans have given names
10 all these buildings, calling them after
their supposed use or some peculiarly of
construction.
The best preserved is la casa del
gobernadOr (the house OF the governor)
which is 1924 feet long and eighty-four
Feet nigh, with the remains of at least
one story more. Near La Casa del
Goberuador, Is ell quartet (the barraeks)
which was evidently prison. The larg-
est structure Is La Casa de las Nonjas (the
which contains eighty-seveu
large and fifty small rooms, besides cor
ridors and halls. La Casa del Enano (the
house of the DWARF is built upon a pyra-
mid. The upper stories have fallen down.
and together with the pyramid form a
hill of considerable height. 1t has re-
ceived Its name because the only en-
trance not now blocked up with rubbish
Is through such small door that it is
difficult for full grown man to enter.
The idols and affairs within show it to
have been temple. The PalomuI
dove cote) is plain three story build |
ing, and gets Its name from the many |
loopholes in its UalIs. These ars the |
buildings still intact. The runk vegeta-
ton has covered the rest of the city rs |
rs the ashes of Vesuvius |
covering Pompeii end Hercu-
aneuIn. The age of the
ruins cannot he determined. Trees at
least q thousand years old grow OH the
ruins of the smaller buildings aud tbs
mounds formed by the fall of the upper
stories of the buildings, but perhaps the
of those trees grew In the
same place. The vast age of the ruins
s further shown by the fact that the In
iians of the district have no traditions
their origin. The question
II the origin receives partial answer in
! row Of elephant heads on the facade of