s of these
remains in the following language: "The architectural remains found in
the peninsula of Yucatan testify more than those of Palenque to an
astonishing degree of civilization. They are situated between Valladolid
Merida and Campeachy."[7-[+]] Prescott says of this region, "If the
remains on the Mexican soil are so scanty, they multiply as we descend
the southeastern slope of the Cordilleras, traverse the rich valleys of
Oaxaca, and penetrate the forests of Chiapas and Yucatan. In the midst
of these lonely regions, we meet with the ruins recently discovered of
several eastern cities--Mitla, Palenque, and Itzalana or Uxmal,--which
argue a higher civilization than anything yet found on the American
Continent."[8-*]

The earliest account in detail--as far as we know--of Mayan ruins,
situated in the States of Chiapas and Yucatan, is presented in the
narrative of Captain Antonio del Rio, in 1787, entitled _Description of
an ancient city near Palenque_. His investigation was undertaken by
order of the authorities of Guatemala, and the publication in Europe of
its results was made in 1822. In the course of his account he says, "a
Franciscan, Thomas de Soza, of Merida, happening to be at Palenque, June
21, 1787, states that twenty leagues from the city of Merida, southward,
between Muna, Ticul and Noxcacab, are the remains of some stone
edifices. One of them, very large, has withstood the ravages of time,
and still exists in good preservation. The natives give it the name of
Oxmutal. It stands on an eminence twenty yards in height, and measures
two hundred yards on each facade. The apartments, the exterior corridor,
the pillars with figures in medio relievo, decorated with serpents and
lizards, and formed with stucco, besides which are statues of men with
palms in their hands, in the act of beating drums and dancing, resemble
in every respect those observable at Palenque."[8-[+]] After speaking of
the existence of many other ruins in Yucatan, he says he does not
consider a description necessary, because the identity of the ancient
inhabitants of Yucatan and Palenque is proved, in his opinion, by the
strange resemblance of their customs, buildings, and acquaintance with
the arts, whereof such vestiges are discernible in those monuments which
the current of time has not yet swept away.

The ruins of Yucatan, those of the state of Chiapas and of the Island of
Cozumel, are very splendid remains, and they are all of them si