Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-15

recognized that, In order properly to
display a monumental structure, IL
should be raised above the level Of
the plain. and they. therefore, built
terraces of gigantic dimensions. on
which the palaces and temples were
superimposed. For instance, the
building called the Governors Pal
ace" at Uxmal, whose second story
Is one long mass of sculpture. rests
on two terraces. The lower is more
than 1000 feet long and nineteen feet
high. and the second and shorter one
is about the same height. The pal
ace itself is. therefore, raised some
forty feet above the surrounding ter
ritory. with a consequent enhance
ment of the symmetry and impress
siyeness of the whole.
X X + X
Another fine example of monu-
mental building" continued Maj. Tot
ten. sis found in the edifice called lei
Castello,' something like small
Greek temple. situated at Chichen
liza. These names O.. all more or
less arbitrary, by the way, being mod
ern Spanish. They have no anthem
ITCHY. being merely expressions of
conjectures as to what the buildings
and monuments were used for. This
Castillo is on top of a truncated
pyramid los feet high and having a
base 200 feet square. Originally this
pyramid was entirely faced with cut
stone. The exquisite little temple
surmounting the whole is so simple
and yet SO classic in design that it
might we'll have been the work Of
the ancient Greeks themselves.
The ornamentation of these pal
aces, temples and other buildings is
not only exceedingly elaborate. but is
all symbolical. Yet there is now no
clue to the significance thereof. For
example. there is one huge mask
which occurs on nearly all the more
important buildings. The nose, or
snout. rather suggests an elephants
trunk. yet elephants have not existed
In the western world since before the
glacial age. The teeth are like the
fangs of the rattlesnake. which rep
:t!s played an important part in the
architecture and in the religious life
of the people and was considered sa-
cred. The eye and ear come AS near
being conventionalized human organs
as anything else. yet what the whole
combination means. no one today can
say. The Mayan sculpture is never
naturalistic. by the way. but always
highly conventional. This question of
conventionalization almost deter
mines the relative standard Of an art,
and in this case the results almost
equal that OF the best Greek work.
Many statues in the round were
originally found. but were almost en-
tireiy destroyed. The panels in high
RELIEF, however, represe nting the HER
archy and sovereignty in general, are
all remarkable both in composition
and execution. The colors were elab-
crate and beautiful. Where they got
some OF them we can hardly conjec-
ture. At present we know of none
we can really call fast blue yet
these people left samples of blue
shades which have apparently not
faded at all in a thousand years.
There exist nne examples Of mural
painting. One fresco. In particular,
In the interior Of the Temple OF IT,
gers. shows in great detail and with
considerable artistic ability a spirited
attack on town, with the woman
Inhabitants encouraging their war
riors from the housetops.
The Mayan Indians were remark
ably well informed on astronomical
matters and had accurate means of
computing time. including solar.
stellar and lunar methods. Their cal.
endar carvings can be deciphered, and
1t appears they had q year composed
VI eighteen months Of twenty days
each. They knew. moreover. the
necessity for the inclusion of an ex-
ira day every four years. the modern
leap year." and apparently arrived at
this conclusion centuries before the
establishment of the old worlds Gre.
gorian calendar.
'Chichen TIA was q sort Of holy
city. Uxmal was the seat Of tenn
poral power and government. Ell
CASTILLO was apparently . combinA-
ton of royal residence and temple.
Chichen lisa. . modern native word.
comes from Chi, . mouth. and Chen,
well. signifying Mouth Of the
Wells. YucatAn has no surface
rivers. but underground waterways
are plentiful. and these the Aayans
tapped At convenient points. At
Chichen ItSa are two great wells, holy
in character. about 1900 feet directly
in front Of Ell Castillo. Leading from
the latter to the former IL q splendid
ly paved roadway twenty feet wide
and raised ten feet above the sur