Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley/Cháncala
III.
CHÁNCALA.
Chancala (tsánkalá) is the name of a plant with large leaves, the seedpods of which contain small black balls, which, when pierced with holes, are used by the Indian women for necklaces. It is the Heliconia of the botanists.
At the end of January, 1898, leaving the larger part of my baggage at La Reforma, I went with my men to the waterfall of the Cháncala River to investigate a ruined city in that locality. The road was extremely miry and occasioned us much trouble. We passed first through a small rancho, and were courteously received by the occupant, who had lost his right hand while pressing sugar-cane. We crossed the Cháncala River about one league above the waterfall, where lie the crumbling huts of the abandoned montería, La Cuña. Hard by the waterfall — on the right bank — are also the huts of a former lumber-camp, El Chorro, and in the best of these we settled ourselves for the night. We were about seven leagues from La Reforma.
The ruined city is perhaps three kilometres to the south of these huts, but owing to the extremely dense vegetation, it was impossible to reach it by a direct route. Therefore, when we were ready the next morning, the guide whom we had obtained at La Reforma, preferred to follow the path leading down stream for a considerable distance and then, turning to the right, to go up hill by a very much overgrown wood-road. On our journey we passed several streams of water, clear as crystal, whose banks were gay with interesting flowers. Finally we came to some masonry which enclosed an artificial mound of earth, from which, however, the structures which had once surmounted it had entirely disappeared. In spite of the fact that we had successfully reached the ruined city we were seeking, the guide who had been sent with us became so discouraged, owing to the rank vegetation which obstructed all the former paths, that with all sorts of prevarications and lying pretexts he cowardly forsook us and returned to La Reforma. I quietly let the rascal go, as I had very capable men with me. We at once began to explore the forest in which the ruins lay in all directions. We found a considerable number of substructures, both large and small, heaps of ruins, etc. In the southwestern part of the town we climbed a high natural hill in the hope of finding the principal temple on its top. Indeed near the summit there were remains of terrace walls, and at the very top a small ruined pyramid indicated that a temple had formerly stood there. From this hill we were able to overlook, in a measure, the surrounding country, without however gaining an advantage thereby, on account of the exceedingly tall growth of the trees. The trunks of many of the trees were of extraordinary thickness and height. An especial object of wonder to me was a ceiba — yāxché (yās-tse = green stem) as the Mayas call it — of giant proportions.
In the northwestern part of the town we were first successful in discovering a temple, in a fairly good state of preservation, which crowned a small pyramid of six terraces. To make the satisfaction of my men complete, they shot a slender variety of monkey, a mico, so that we had no lack of meat. The front of the temple faced the west, and my men began carefully to cut down the vegetation on that side, while I drew the plan (Fig. 2).
A broad flight of steps, now of course partially in ruins, leads up to the platform of the pyramid. The latter, which is about nine metres high, is composed of six terraces, some of which are still distinctly visible. The entrance to the interior of the temple is two hundred and fifty centimetres wide, and formerly had wooden lintels, which were either torn out by ruthless hands or were destroyed by some other means. As a result, the corresponding pieces of the frieze and the vaulted ceiling have fallen down and the passage is obstructed. The interior of the temple is two hundred and thirty-three centimetres wide, three hundred and ninety long, and four hundred and sixty-three high, from the cemented floor to the truncation of the
Fig. 2. — Cháncala: Plan of Temple and Substructure.
pointed arch of the vault, which at its base is separated from the face of the wall by a cornice. The walls of the room had evidently been covered over at different times with fine white stucco. Near the inner edges of the door jambs, both above and below, there is always a wall-ring hollowed out of a stone protruding from the masonry, which served to hold the wooden pegs of the mats or basket-work screens which covered the doorways.
The exterior of the temple is as follows: A stone bench, projecting about thirty centimetres, runs all around, forming a strong foundation. The main surfaces of the wall are smooth, but on both sides of the entrance I could discern traces of a scrolled border; besides this, close below the projecting slabs of the cornice, along the entire façade, ran a red band of hieroglyphs, and below this another red band, which was intersected by the lintel. Even on the smooth surface of the front wall vestiges of red color were perceptible, so that it may be assumed that the entire front surface of the main wall, together with the edge of the door and the band of glyphs, was painted fiery red, with the exception of the small squares containing the hieroglyphs — of which only three are preserved — and these it seems
Fig. 3. — Cháncala: Cross-section of Temple and Substructure.
to me were left white so that they might form a contrast to the red background. The glyphs did not form a closely consecutive series, but were separated by rather wide intervals. One of the little pictures shows two charming faces in profile, one placed half over the other, surrounded by some explanatory signs. The other two glyphs consist of tangled scrolls.
The frieze has a heavy cornice, composed of strongly projecting bevelled slabs, and above this lies a somewhat receding course of stone. The steeply sloping surfaces of the frieze were probably ornamented at the corners and at stated intervals with sitting figures in stucco, measuring about two-thirds of the height of the frieze (Fig. 3). Only the stones forming the bases of these figures are preserved, while the greater portion of the stucco has fallen off. The upper cornice of the frieze is like the lower, but less heavy. I am sorry to say that it was no longer possible to tell whether the temple had been formerly crowned by an ornamental coping or not. The height of the exterior of the temple from the platform to the upper edge of the cornice, I calculated at about 6.13 metres. The length is about 5.90 metres and the breadth 4.65 metres.
On the third day we again returned to the ruined city to photograph the temple (Plate III), which was rendered very difficult by the unfavorable light. As a matter of course, we also explored the ground at the western side of the temple to see if we might not find a sacrificial altar, or a stela representing a god or marking a grave, but we searched in vain. This region of ruins is also variously traversed by brooks, whose water, ice-cold at this season, greatly refreshed us while we discussed our roast monkey and other provisions with a keen relish. All the streams are filled with edible snails, Melania levíssima, = zot (sot) of the Mayas. The shells of the dead snails are soon covered with a thick calcareous crust, which continually increases as the years go by, forming cones of various sizes until the uninitiated would hardly suspect that the resultant mass had once been a snail-shell. A day was also devoted to photographing the magnificent waterfall (Plate IV). In order to descend the steep walls of the ravine in front of this waterfall, we had to tie ropes to the trees. In this way alone were we able to accomplish the descent and to carry the photographic apparatus down uninjured. Setting up the camera on the rocks below, I took two photographs, one of which was very successful, in spite of the difficulty in harmonizing the dark trees with the blinding whiteness of the waterfall and the blue sky. Further on, below the waterfall, the river forces its way between high cliffs, affording a series of very picturesque scenes.
Having finished our task, we returned to La Reforma.