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diff --git a/26382.txt b/26382.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..81d0601 --- /dev/null +++ b/26382.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7427 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient America, in Notes on American +Archaeology, by John D. Baldwin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology + +Author: John D. Baldwin + +Release Date: August 21, 2008 [EBook #26382] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from scans of public domain material produced by +Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies have been +maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a +[TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the +end of the text. Oe ligatures have been expanded. + + + + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Gateway at Labna. [See p. 144.] + + + + + ANCIENT AMERICA, + IN + NOTES ON AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY. + + + BY JOHN D. BALDWIN, A.M., + AUTHOR OF "PRE-HISTORIC NATIONS." + + + _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._ + + + NEW YORK: + HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by + JOHN D. BALDWIN, + In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The purpose of this volume is to give a summary of what is known of +American Antiquities, with some thoughts and suggestions relative to +their significance. It aims at nothing more. No similar work, I believe, +has been published in English or in any other language. What is known of +American Archaeology is recorded in a great many volumes, English, +French, Spanish, and German, each work being confined to some particular +department of the subject, or containing only an intelligent traveler's +brief sketches of what he saw as he went through some of the districts +where the old ruins are found. Many of the more important of these works +are either in French or Spanish, or in great English quartos and folios +which are not accessible to general readers, and not one of them +attempts to give a comprehensive view of the whole subject. + +Therefore I have prepared this work for publication, believing it will +be acceptable to many who are not now much acquainted with the remains +of Ancient America, and that some who read it may be induced to study +the but as Ancient America covers all time previous to the discovery by +Columbus, they may not be deemed out of place. Materials for the paper +on "Antiquities of the Pacific Islands" came to me from the Pacific +World while I was preparing the others. The discovery of the Pacific is +so intimately connected with the discovery of America, that this paper +would not be out of place even if the Mexican and Peruvian traditions +did not mention that a foreign people communicated with the western +coast of America in very ancient times. + +WORCESTER, MASS., _November_, 1871. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + I. ANCIENT AMERICA.--THE MOUND-BUILDERS 13 + Works of the Mound-Builders 14 + Extent of their Settlements 31 + Their Civilization 33 + Their Ancient Mining Works 43 + + II. ANTIQUITY OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS 47 + How long were they here? 51 + + III. WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS? 57 + Not Ancestors of the Wild Indians 58 + Brereton's Story 62 + American Ethnology 65 + Who the Mound-Builders were 70 + + IV. MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 76 + Their Northern Remains 77 + The "Seven Cities of Cevola" 85 + Central Mexico 89 + The great Ruins at the South 93 + + V. MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 103 + Palenque 104 + Copan and Quiragua[TN-1] 111 + Mitla 117 + An Astronomical Monument 122 + Ruins farther South 123 + The Ruins in Yucatan 125 + Mayapan 127 + Uxmal 131 + Kabah 137 + Chichen-Itza 140 + Other Ruins 144 + + VI. ANTIQUITY OF THE RUINS 151 + Distinct Eras traced 155 + Nothing perishable left 156 + "The Oldest of Civilizations" 159 + American Cities seen by Tyrians 161 + + VII. WHENCE CAME THIS CIVILIZATION? 165 + The "Lost Tribes of Israel" 166 + The "Malay" Theory 167 + The Phoenician Theory 171 + The "Atlantic" Theory 174 + It was an original Civilization 184 + + VIII. AMERICAN ANCIENT HISTORY 187 + The Old Books not all lost 189 + The Ancient History sketched 197 + The Toltecs our Mound-Builders 200 + Some confirmation of the History 205 + + IX. THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION 207 + The Discovery and Invasion 209 + The City of Mexico 211 + The Conquest 213 + Who were the Aztecs? 216 + They came from the South 217 + + X. ANCIENT PERU 222 + The Spanish Hunt for Peru 223 + The Ruins near Lake Titicaca 226 + Other Ruins in Peru 237 + The great Peruvian Roads 243 + The Peruvian Civilization 246 + + XI. PERUVIAN ANCIENT HISTORY 257 + Garcilasso's History 258 + Fernando Montesinos 261 + His Scheme of Peruvian History 264 + Probabilities 268 + Conclusion 272 + + APPENDIX 277 + A. The Northmen in America 279 + B. The Welsh in America 285 + C. Antiquities of the Pacific Islands 288 + D. Deciphering the Inscriptions 292 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Page + 1. Gateway at Labna _Frontispiece._ + 2. Great Mound near Miamisburg 16 + 3. Square Mound near Marietta 18 + 4. Works at Cedar Bank, Ohio 19 + 5. Works in Washington County, Mississippi 20 + 6. Works at Hopeton, Ohio 22 + 7. Principal Figures of the Hopeton Works 23 + 8. Graded Way near Piketon, Ohio 25 + 9. Great Serpent Inclosure 29 + 10. Fortified Hill, Butler County, Ohio 30 + 11. Stone-work in Paint Creek Valley, Ohio 35 + 12. Work on North Fork of Paint Creek 36 + 13. Ancient Work, Pike County, Ohio 38 + 14. Work near Brownsville, Ohio 38 + 15. Works near Liberty, Ohio 39 + 16. Work in Randolph County, Indiana 40 + 17. } Vases from the Mounds 41 + 18. } + 19. Ancient Mining Shaft 45 + 20. Pueblo Ruin at Pecos 80 + 21. Modern Zuni 81 + 22. Ruins in the Valley of the Gila 83 + 23. Pueblo Building restored 87 + 24. Ground Plan of the Building 88 + 25. Arch of Los[TN-2] Monjas, Uxmal 98 + 26. Arch most common in the Ruins 100 + 27. Casa No. 1, Palenque 107 + 28. Casa No. 2 (La Cruz), Palenque 108 + 29. Great Wall at Copan 112 + 30. Ruins at Mitla 116 + 31. Great Hall at Mitla 118 + 32. A ruined "Palace" at Mitla 119 + 33. Mosaic Decoration at Mitla 120 + 34. Great Mound at Mayapan 127 + 35. Circular Edifice at Mayapan 129 + 36. Casa del Gobernador, Uxmal 132 + 37. Ground Plan 132 + 38. Two-headed Figure at Uxmal 133 + 39. Decorations over Doorway, Uxmal 134 + 40. Ground Plan of Las Monjas, Uxmal 136 + 41. Ruined Arch at Kabah 139 + 42. Casa Colorada, Chichen-Itza 141 + 43. Great Stone Ring 143 + 44. Great Mound at Xcoch 145 + 45. Bottom of an Aguada 146 + 46. Subterranean Reservoir 147 + 47. Plan of the Walls of Tuloom 148 + 48. Watch-tower at Tuloom 149 + 49. Specimen of Inscriptions on Stone 190 + 50. Specimen of the Manuscript Writing 191 + 51. Ancient Masonry at Cuzco 227 + 52. Ruins of a "Temple" on the Island of Titicaca 228 + 53. Ruin on the Island of Titicaca 229 + 54. Ruin on the Island of Coati 231 + 55. Monolithic Gateway at Tiahuanaco 233 + 56. Remains of Fortress Walls at Cuzco 234 + 57. End View of Fortress Walls at Cuzco 235 + 58. End View of Walls at Gran-Chimu 238 + 59. } Decorations at Chimu-Canchu 238 + 60. } + 61. Edifice at Old Huanuco 239 + 62. Ground Plan of the Edifice 240 + 63. "Look-out" at Old Huanuco 240 + 64. Ruins at Pachacamac 242 + 65. Peruvian Copper Knives 249 + 66. Copper Tweezers 249 + 67. Golden Vase of Ancient Peru 251 + 68. Ancient Peruvian Silver Vase 251 + 69. Ancient Peruvian Pottery 252 + 70. Ancient Peruvian Pottery 253 + + + + +ANCIENT AMERICA. + + + +I. + +THE MOUND-BUILDERS. + + +One of the most learned writers on American antiquities, a Frenchman, +speaking of discoveries in Peru, exclaims, "America is to be again +discovered! We must remove the veil in which Spanish politics has sought +to bury its ancient civilization!" In this case, quite as much is due to +the ignorance, indifference, unscrupulous greed, and religious +fanaticism of the Spaniards, as to Spanish politics. The gold-hunting +marauders who subjugated Mexico and Peru could be robbers and +destroyers, but they were not qualified in any respect to become +intelligent students of American antiquity. What a select company of +investigators, such as could be organized in our time, might have done +in Mexico and Central America, for instance, three hundred and fifty +years ago, is easily understood. In what they did, and in what they +failed to do, the Spaniards who went there acted in strict accordance +with such character as they had; and yet we are not wholly without +obligation to some of the more intelligent Spaniards connected with the +Conquest. + +There are existing monuments of an American ancient history which invite +study, and most of which might, doubtless, have been studied more +successfully in the first part of the sixteenth century, before nearly +all the old books of Central America had been destroyed by Spanish +fanaticism, than at present. Remains of ancient civilizations, differing +to some extent in degree and character, are found in three great +sections of the American continent: the west side of South America, +between Chili and the first or second degree of north latitude; Central +America and Mexico; and the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio. +These regions have all been explored to some extent--not completely, but +sufficiently to show the significance and importance of their +archaeological remains, most of which were already mysterious antiquities +when the continent was discovered by Columbus. I propose to give some +account of these antiquities, not for the edification of those already +learned in American archaeology, but for general readers who have not +made the subject a study. My sketches will begin with the Mississippi +Valley and the regions connected with it. + + +THE MOUND-BUILDERS--THEIR WORKS. + +An ancient and unknown people left remains of settled life, and of a +certain degree of civilization, in the valleys of the Mississippi and +its tributaries. We have no authentic name for them either as a nation +or a race; therefore they are called "Mound-Builders," this name +having been suggested by an important class of their works. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--The Great Mound, near Miamisburg.] + +Prominent among the remains by which we know that such a people once +inhabited that region are artificial mounds constructed with +intelligence and great labor. Most of them are terraced and truncated +pyramids. In shape they are usually square or rectangular, but sometimes +hexagonal or octagonal, and the higher mounds appear to have been +constructed with winding stairways on the outside leading to their +summits. Many of these structures have a close resemblance to the +_teocallis_ of Mexico. They differ considerably in size. The great mound +at Grave Creek, West Virginia, is 70 feet high and 1000 feet in +circumference at the base. A mound in Miamisburg, Ohio, is 68 feet high +and 852 feet in circumference. The great truncated pyramid at Cahokia, +Illinois, is 700 feet long, 500 wide, and 90 in height. Generally, +however, these mounds range from 6 to 30 feet high. In the lower valley +of the Mississippi they are usually larger in horizontal extent, with +less elevation. + +Figure 2 represents the great mound near Miamisburg, Ohio, which may be +compared with a similar structure at Mayapan, Yucatan (Fig. 34). Figure +3 shows a square mound near Marietta, Ohio. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Square Mound, near Marietta.] + +There have been a great many conjectures in regard to the purposes for +which these mounds were built, some of them rather fanciful. I find it +most reasonable to believe that the mounds in this part of the continent +were used precisely as similar structures were used in Mexico and +Central America. The lower mounds, or most of them, must have been +constructed as foundations of the more important edifices of the +mound-building people. Many of the great buildings erected on such +pyramidal foundations, at Palenque, Uxmal, and elsewhere in that region, +have not disappeared, because they were built of hewn stone laid in +mortar. For reasons not difficult to understand, the Mound-Builders, +beginning their works on the lower Mississippi, constructed such +edifices of wood or some other perishable material; therefore not a +trace of them remains. The higher mounds, with broad, flat summits, +reached by flights of steps on the outside, are like the Mexican +_teocallis_, or temples. In Mexico and Central America these structures +were very numerous. They are described as solid pyramidal masses of +earth, cased with brick or stone, level at the top, and furnished with +ascending ranges of steps on the outside. The resemblance is striking, +and the most reasonable explanation seems to be that in both regions +mounds of this class were intended for the same uses. Figure 4 shows the +works at Cedar Bank, Ohio, inclosing a mound. The mound within the +inclosure is 245 feet long by 150 broad. Figure 5 shows a group of +mounds in Washington County, Mississippi, some of which are connected by +means of causeways. + +[Illustration: Fig. 4--Works at Cedar Bank, Ohio.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Works in Washington County, Mississippi.] + +Another class of these antiquities consists of inclosures formed by +heavy embankments of earth and stone. There is nothing to explain these +constructions so clearly as to leave no room for conjecture and +speculation. It has been suggested that some of them may have been +intended for defense, others for religious purposes. A portion of them, +it may be, encircled villages or towns. In some cases the ditches or +fosses were on the inside, in others on the outside. But no one can +fully explain why they were made. We know only that they were +prepared intelligently, with great labor, for human uses. "Lines of +embankment varying from 5 to 30 feet in height, and inclosing from 1 to +50 acres, are very common, while inclosures containing from 100 to 200 +acres are not infrequent, and occasional works are found inclosing as +many as 400 acres." Figures 6 and 7 give views of the Hopeton works, +four miles north of Chillicothe, Ohio. Combinations of the square and +circle are common in these ancient works, and the figures are always +perfect. This perfection of the figures proves, as Squier and Davis +remark, that "the builders possessed a standard of measurement, and had +a means of determining angles." + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Works at Hopeton, Ohio.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Principal Figures of the Hopeton Works.] + +About 100 inclosures and 500 mounds have been examined in Ross County, +Ohio. The number of mounds in the whole state is estimated at over +10,000, and the number of inclosures at more than 1500. The great number +of these ancient remains in the regions occupied by the Mound-Builders +is really surprising. They are more numerous in the regions on the lower +Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico than any where else; and here, in +some cases, sun-dried brick was used in the embankments. + +One peculiarity at the South is, that while the inclosures are generally +smaller and comparatively less numerous, there is a greater proportion +of low mounds, and these are often larger in extent. Harrison Mound, in +South Carolina, is 480 feet in circumference and 15 feet high. Another +is described as 500 feet in circumference at the base, 225 at the +summit, and 34 feet high. In a small mound near this, which was opened, +there was found "an urn holding 46 quarts," and also a considerable +deposit of beads and shell ornaments very much decomposed. Broad +terraces of various heights, mounds with several stages, elevated +passages, and long avenues, and aguadas or artificial ponds, are common +at the South. Figure 8 shows the remains of a graded way of this ancient +people near Piketon, Ohio. + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Graded Way near Piketon, Ohio.] + +At Seltzertown, Mississippi, there is a mound 600 feet long, 400 wide, +and 40 feet high. The area of its level summit measures 4 acres. There +was a ditch around it, and near it are smaller mounds. Mr. J. R. +Bartlett says, on the authority of Dr. M. W. Dickeson, "The north side +of this mound is supported by a wall of sun-dried brick two feet thick, +filled with grass, rushes, and leaves." Dr. Dickeson mentions angular +tumuli, with corners "still quite perfect," and "formed of large bricks +bearing the impression of human hands." In Louisiana, near the Trinity, +there is a great inclosure partially faced with sun-dried bricks of +large size; and in this neighborhood ditches and artificial ponds have +been examined. In the Southern States these works appear to assume a +closer resemblance to the mound work of Central America. + +The result of intelligent exploration and study of these antiquities is +stated as follows: "Although possessing throughout certain general +points of resemblance going to establish a kindred origin, these works +nevertheless resolve themselves into three grand geographical divisions, +which present in many respects striking contrasts, yet so gradually +merge into each other that it is impossible to determine where one +series terminates and another begins." On the upper lakes, and to a +certain extent in Michigan, Iowa, and Missouri, but particularly in +Wisconsin, the outlines of the inclosures (elsewhere more regular in +form) were designed in the forms of animals, birds, serpents, and even +men, appearing on the surface of the country like huge _relievos_. The +embankment of an irregular inclosure in Adams County, Ohio, is +described as follows by Squier and Davis, Mr. Squier having made the +drawing of it for the work published by the Smithsonian Institution: + +"It is in the form of a serpent, upward of 1000 feet in length, extended +in graceful curves, and terminating in a triple coil at the tail. The +embankment constituting this figure is more than 5 feet high, with a +base 30 feet wide at the centre of the body, diminishing somewhat toward +the head and tail. The neck of the figure is stretched out and slightly +curved. The mouth is wide open, and seems in the act of swallowing or +ejecting an oval figure which rests partly within the distended jaws. +This oval is formed by an embankment 4 feet high, and is perfectly +regular in outline, its transverse and conjugate diameters being +respectively 160 and 80 feet. The combined figure has been regarded as a +symbolical illustration of the Oriental cosmological idea of the serpent +and the egg; but, however this may be, little doubt can exist of the +symbolical character of the monument." + +Figure 9 gives a view of this work. + +No symbolic device is more common among the antiquities of Mexico and +Central America than the form of the serpent, and it was sometimes +reproduced in part in architectural constructions. One of the old books, +giving account of a temple dedicated to Quetzalcohuatl, says, "It was +circular in form, and the entrance represented the mouth of a serpent, +opened in a frightful manner, and extremely terrifying to those who +approached it for the first time." + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Great Serpent, Adams County, Ohio.] + +On the Ohio and its tributaries, and farther south, where the mounds are +numerous, the inclosures have more regular forms; and in the Ohio Valley +very often their great extent has incited speculation. At Newark, Ohio, +when first discovered, they were spread over an area more than two miles +square, and still showed more than twelve miles of embankment from two to +twenty feet high. Farther south, as already stated, the inclosures are +fewer and smaller, or, to speak more exactly, the great inclosures and +high mounds are much less common than low truncated pyramids, and +pyramidal platforms or foundations with dependent works. Passing up the +valley, it is found that Marietta, Newark, Portsmouth, Chillicothe, +Circleville, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri, and Frankfort, Kentucky, were +favorite seats of the Mound-Builders. This leads one of the most +intelligent investigators to remark that "the centres of population are +now where they were when the mysterious race of Mound-Builders existed." +There is, however, this difference: the remains indicate that their most +populous and advanced communities were at the South. Figure 10 shows a +fortified hill in Butler County, Ohio. + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Fortified Hill, Butler County, Ohio.] + +Among those who have examined and described remains of the +Mound-Builders, Messrs. Squier and Davis rank first in importance, +because they have done most to give a particular and comprehensive +account of them. Their great work, published by the Smithsonian +Institution, must be regarded as the highest authority, and those who +desire to study the whole subject more in detail will find that work +indispensable. + + +EXTENT OF THEIR SETTLEMENTS. + +Careful study of what is shown in the many reports on these ancient +remains seems plainly to authorize the conclusion that the +Mound-Builders entered the country at the South, and began their +settlements near the Gulf. Here they must have been very numerous, while +their works at every point on the limit of their distribution, north, +east, and west, indicate a much less numerous border population. Remains +of their works have been traced through a great extent of country. They +are found in West Virginia, and are spread through Michigan, Wisconsin, +and Iowa to Nebraska. Lewis and Clarke reported seeing them on the +Missouri River, a thousand miles above its junction with the +Mississippi; but this report has not been satisfactorily verified. They +have been observed on the Kansas, Platte, and other remote Western +rivers, it is said. They are found all over the intermediate and the +more southern country, being most numerous in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, +Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, +Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Texas. + +This ancient race seems to have occupied nearly the whole basin of the +Mississippi and its tributaries, with the fertile plains along the Gulf, +and their settlements were continued across the Rio Grande into Mexico; +but toward their eastern, northern, and western limit the population was +evidently smaller, and their occupation of the territory less complete +than in the Valley of the Ohio, and from that point down to the Gulf. No +other united people previous to our time can be supposed to have +occupied so large an extent of territory in this part of North America. + +It has heretofore been stated that remains of this people exist in +Western New York, but a more intelligent and careful examination shows +that the works in Western New York are not remains of the +Mound-Builders. This is now the opinion of Mr. Squier, formed on +personal investigation since the great work of Squier and Davis was +published. + + +THEIR CIVILIZATION. + +It is usual to rank the civilized life of the Mound-Builders much below +that of the ancient people of Mexico and Central America. This may be +correct, for the remains as they now exist appear to justify it. But if +all the ancient stone-work in Central America, with its finely-carved +inscriptions and wonderful decorations, had disappeared in the ages +before Europeans visited this continent, the difference might not appear +to be so great; for then the Central American remains, consisting only +of earth-works, truncated pyramids, pyramidal foundations, and their +connected works made of earth, would have a closer resemblance to works +of the Mound-Builders, to those especially found on the lower +Mississippi. On the other hand, if we now had in the Ohio and +Mississippi Valleys remains of the more important edifices anciently +constructed there, the Mound-Builders might be placed considerably +higher in the scale of civilization than it has been customary to allow. + +It can be seen, without long study of their works as we know them, that +the Mound-Builders had a certain degree of civilization which raised +them far above the condition of savages. To make such works possible +under any circumstances, there must be settled life, with its +accumulations and intelligently organized industry. Fixed habits of +useful work, directed by intelligence, are what barbarous tribes lack +most of all. A profound change in this respect is indispensable to the +beginning of civilization in such tribes. + +No savage tribe found here by Europeans could have undertaken such +constructions as those of the Mound-Builders. The wild Indians found in +North America lived rudely in tribes. They had only such organization as +was required by their nomadic habits, and their methods of hunting and +fighting. These barbarous Indians gave no sign of being capable of the +systematic application to useful industry which promotes intelligence, +elevates the condition of life, accumulates wealth, and undertakes great +works. This condition of industry, of which the worn and decayed works +of the Mound-Builders are unmistakable monuments, means civilization. + +Albert Gallatin, who gave considerable attention to their remains, +thought their works indicated not only "a dense agricultural +population," but also a state of society essentially different from that +of the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians. He was sure that the people who +established such settlements and built such works must have been +"eminently agricultural." No trace of their ordinary dwellings is left. +These must have been constructed of perishable materials, which went to +dust long before great forests had again covered most of the regions +through which they were scattered. Doubtless their dwellings and other +edifices were made of wood, and they must have been numerous. It is +abundantly evident that there were large towns at such places as Newark, +Circleville, and Marietta, in Ohio. Figures 11 and 12 give views of +works on Paint Creek, Ohio. + +[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Stone-work in Paint Creek Valley, Ohio.] + +Their agricultural products may have been similar to many of those found +in Mexico; and it is not improbable that the barbarous Indians, who +afterward occupied the country, learned from them the cultivation of +maize. Their unity as a people, which is every where so manifest, must +have been expressed in political organization, else it could not have +been maintained. + +[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Work on North Fork of Paint Creek.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Ancient Work, Pike County, Ohio.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Elliptical Work near Brownsville, Ohio.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Works near Liberty, Ohio.] + +In the details of their works, and in manufactured articles taken from +the mounds, there is evidence of considerable civilization. For +instance, it has been ascertained that the circular inclosures are +perfect circles, and the square inclosures perfect squares. They were +constructed with a geometrical precision which implies a kind of +knowledge in the builders that may be called scientific. Figures 13, 14, +15, 16 show some of the more important works of the Mound-Builders, +chiefly in Ohio. Relics of art have been dug from some of the mounds, +consisting of a considerable variety of ornaments and implements, made +of copper, silver, obsidian, porphyry, and greenstone, finely wrought. +There are axes, single and double; adzes, chisels, drills or gravers, +lance-heads, knives, bracelets, pendants, beads, and the like, made of +copper. There are articles of pottery, elegantly designed and finished; +ornaments made of silver, bone, mica from the Alleghanies, and shells +from the Gulf of Mexico. + +[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Rectangular Work, Randolph County, Indiana.] + +The articles made of stone show fine workmanship; some of them are +elaborately carved. Tools of some very hard material must have been +required to work the porphyry in this manner. Obsidian is a volcanic +product largely used by the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians for arms and +cutting instruments. It is found in its natural state nowhere nearer the +Mississippi Valley than the Mexican mountains of Cerro Gordo. + +There appears to be evidence that the Mound-Builders had the art of +spinning and weaving, for cloth has been found among their remains. At +the meeting of the International Congress of Pre-Historic Archaeology +held at Norwich, England, in 1868, one of the speakers stated this fact +as follows: "Fragments of charred cloth made of spun fibres have been +found in the mounds. A specimen of such cloth, taken from a mound in +Butler County, Ohio, is in Blackmore Museum, Salisbury. In the same +collection are several lumps of burnt clay which formed part of the +'altar,' so called, in a mound in Ross County, Ohio: to this clay a few +charred threads are still attached." Figures 17 and 18 represent +specimens of vases taken from the mounds. + +[Illustration: Figs. 17, 18.--Vases from the Mounds.] + +Mr. Schoolcraft gives this account of a discovery made in West Virginia: +"_Antique tube: telescopic device._ In the course of excavations made in +1842 in the easternmost of the three mounds of the Elizabethtown group, +several tubes of stone were disclosed, the precise object of which has +been the subject of various opinions. The longest measured twelve +inches, the shortest eight. Three of them were carved out of steatite, +being skillfully cut and polished. The diameter of the tube externally +was one inch and four tenths; the bore, eight tenths of an inch. This +calibre was continued till within three eighths of an inch of the sight +end, when it diminishes to two tenths of an inch. By placing the eye at +the diminished end, the extraneous light is shut from the pupil, and +distant objects are more clearly discerned." + +He points out that the carving and workmanship generally are very +superior to Indian pipe carvings, and adds, if this article was a work +of the Mound-Builders "intended for a telescopic tube, it is a most +interesting relic." An ancient Peruvian relic, found a few years since, +shows the figure of a man wrought in silver, in the act of studying the +heavens through such a tube. Similar tubes have been found among relics +of the Mound-Builders in Ohio and elsewhere. In Mexico, Captain Dupaix +saw sculptured on a peculiar stone structure the figure of a man making +use of one. Astronomical devices were sculptured below the figure. This +structure he supposed to have been used for observation of the stars. +His account of it will be given in the chapter on Mexican and Central +American ruins. + +The Mound-Builders used large quantities of copper such as that taken +from the copper beds on Lake Superior, where the extensive mines yield +copper, not in the ore, but as pure metal. It exists in those beds in +immense masses, in small veins, and in separated lumps of various sizes. +The Mound-Builders worked this copper without smelting it. Spots of pure +silver are frequently found studding the surface of Lake Superior +copper, and appearing as if welded to it, but not alloyed with it. No +other copper has this peculiarity; but copper with similar blotches of +silver has been dug from the mounds. It was naturally inferred from this +fact that the ancient people represented by these antiquities had some +knowledge of the art of mining copper which had been used in the copper +region of Lake Superior. This inference finally became an ascertained +fact. + + +THEIR ANCIENT MINING WORKS. + +Remains of their mining works were first discovered in 1848 by Mr. S. O. +Knapp, agent of the Minnesota Mining Company, and in 1849 they were +described by Dr. Charles T. Jackson, in his geological report to the +national government. Those described were found at the Minnesota mine, +in upper Michigan, near Lake Superior. Their mining was chiefly surface +work; that is to say, they worked the surface of the veins in open pits +and trenches. At the Minnesota mine, the greatest depth of their +excavations was thirty feet; and here, "not far below the bottom of a +trough-like cavity, among a mass of leaves, sticks, and water, Mr. Knapp +discovered a detached mass of copper weighing nearly six tons. It lay +upon a cob-work of round logs or skids six or eight inches in diameter, +the ends of which showed plainly the marks of a small axe or cutting +tool about two and a half inches wide. They soon shriveled and decayed +when exposed to the air. The mass of copper had been raised several +feet, along the foot of the lode, on timbers, by means of wedges." At +this place was found a stone maul weighing thirty-six pounds, and also a +copper maul or sledge weighing twenty-five pounds. Old trees showing 395 +rings of annual growth stood in the debris, and "the fallen and decayed +trunks of trees of a former generation were seen lying across the pits." +Figure 19 (opposite) presents a section of this mining shaft of the +Mound-Builders: _a_ shows the mass of copper; _b_ the bottom of the +shaft; _c_ the earth and debris which had been thrown out. The dark +spots are masses of copper. + +The modern mining works are mostly confined to that part of the copper +region known as Keweenaw Point. This is a projection of land extending +into Lake Superior, and described as having the shape of an immense +horn. It is about eighty miles in length, and, at the place where it +joins the main land, about forty-five miles in width. All through this +district, wherever modern miners have worked, remains of ancient mining +works are abundant; and they are extensive on the adjacent island, known +as Isle Royale. The area covered by the ancient works is larger than +that which includes the modern mines, for they are known to exist in the +dense forests of other districts, to which the modern mining has not +yet been extended. + +[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Ancient Mining Shaft.] + +One remarkable mining excavation of the Mound-Builders was found near +the Waterbury mine. Here, in the face of a vertical bluff, was +discovered "an ancient, artificial, cavern-like recess, twenty-five feet +in horizontal length, fifteen feet high, and twelve feet deep. In front +of it is a pile of excavated rock on which are standing, in full size, +the forest trees common to this region." Some of the blocks of stone +removed from this recess would weigh two or three tons, and must have +required levers to get them out. Beneath the surface rubbish were the +remains of a gutter or trough made of cedar, placed there to carry off +water from the mine. At the bottom of the excavation a piece of white +cedar timber was found on which were the marks of an axe. Cedar shovels, +mauls, copper gads or wedges, charcoal, and ashes were discovered, over +which "primeval" forest trees had grown to full size. + +Modern mining on Lake Superior began effectively in 1845. The whole +copper region has not been fully explored. Works of the ancient miners +are found at all the mines of any importance; and they show remarkable +skill in discovering and tracing actual veins of the metal. Colonel +Charles Whittlesey, one of the best authorities on this point, believes +the Mound-Builders worked the copper-beds of that region during "a great +length of time," and more of their works will undoubtedly be explored +when the forests shall be cleared away from those portions of the copper +region not yet worked by modern miners. So far as they have been traced, +they every where show the same methods, the same implements, and the +same peculiarities of both knowledge and lack of knowledge in the old +miners. + + + + +II. + +ANTIQUITY OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS. + + +That the Mound-Builders and their works belong to a distant period in +the past is evident; but, of course, we have no means of determining +their antiquity with any approach to accuracy, no scheme of chronology +by which their distance from us in time can be measured. Nevertheless, +some things observed in their remains make it certain that the works are +very ancient. + +1. One fact showing this is pointed out by those who have examined them +carefully as follows: None of these works (mounds and inclosures) occur +on the lowest-formed of the river terraces, which mark the subsidence of +the western streams; and as there is no good reason why their builders +should have avoided erecting them on that terrace, while they raised +them promiscuously on all the others, it follows, not unreasonably, that +this terrace has been formed since the works were erected. It is +apparent, also, that in some cases the works were long ago partly +destroyed by streams which have since receded more than half a mile, and +at present could not reach them under any circumstances. Those streams +generally show four successive terraces, which mark four distinct eras +of their subsidence since they began to flow in their present courses. +The fourth terrace, on which none of the works are found, marks the +last and longest of these periods; and it marks also the time since the +Mound-Builders ceased to occupy the river-valleys where it was formed. +The period marked by this fourth terrace must be the longest, because +the excavating power of such streams necessarily diminishes as their +channels grow deeper. This geological change, which has taken place +since the latest of the mounds and inclosures were constructed, shows +that the works are very old; no one can tell how old. To count the years +is impossible; but we can see that the date, if found, would take us +back to a remote period in the past. + +2. Great antiquity is indicated by the skeletons taken from the mounds. +Every skeleton of a Mound-Builder is found in a condition of extreme +decay. It sometimes appears that the surface of a mound has been used by +the wild Indians for interments; but their skeletons, which are always +found well preserved, can be readily distinguished by their position in +the mounds, as well as by other peculiarities. The decayed bones of +Mound-Builders are invariably found within the mounds, never on the +surface, usually at the bottom of the structure, and nearly always "in +such a state of decay as to render all attempts to restore the skull, +or, indeed, any part of the skeleton, entirely hopeless." Not more than +one or two skeletons of that people have been recovered in a condition +suitable for intelligent examination. It is stated in the work of Squier +and Davis that the only skull belonging incontestably to an individual +of the Mound-Building race, which has been preserved entire, was taken +from a mound situated on a knoll (itself artificial apparently) on the +summit of a hill, in the Scioto Valley, four miles below Chillicothe. + +What, save time itself, can have brought these skeletons to a condition +in which they fall to pieces when touched, and are ready to dissolve and +become dust? All the circumstances attending their burial were unusually +favorable for their preservation. The earth around them has invariably +been found "wonderfully compact and dry." And yet, when exhumed, they +are in such a decomposed and crumbling condition that to restore them is +impossible. Sound and well-preserved skeletons, known to be nearly two +thousand years old, have been taken from burial-places in England, and +other European countries less favorable for preserving them. The +condition of an ancient skeleton can not be used as an accurate measure +of time, but it is sufficiently accurate to show the difference between +the ancient and the modern, and in this case it allows us to assume that +these extremely decayed skeletons of the Mound-Builders are much more +than two thousand years old. + +Those familiar with the facts established by geologists and +palaeontologists are aware that remains of human skeletons have been +discovered in deposits of the "Age of Stone" in Western Europe; not to +any great extent, it is true, although the discoveries are sufficient to +show that fragments of skeletons belonging to that age still exist. It +is not without reason, therefore, that the condition of decay in which +all skeletons of the Mound-Builders are exhumed from their burial-places +is considered a proof of their great antiquity. There is no other +explanation which, so far as appears, can be reasonably accepted. + +3. The great age of these mounds and inclosures is shown by their +relation to the primeval forests in which most of them were discovered. +I say _primeval_ forests, because they seemed primeval to the first +white men who explored them. Of course there were no unbroken forests at +such points as the Ohio Valley, for instance, while they were occupied +by the Mound-Builders, who were a settled agricultural people, whose +civilized industry is attested by their remains. If they found forests +in the valleys they occupied, these were cleared away to make room for +their towns, inclosures, mounds, and cultivated fields; and when, after +many ages of such occupation, they finally left, or were driven away, a +long period must have elapsed before the trees began to grow freely in +and around their abandoned works. Moreover, observation shows that the +trees which first make their appearance in such deserted places are not +regular forest trees. The beginning of such growths as will cover them +with great forests comes later, when other preliminary growths have +appeared and gone to decay. + +When the Ohio Valley was first visited by Europeans it was covered by an +unbroken forest, most of the trees being of great age and size; and it +was manifest that several generations of great forest trees had preceded +those found standing in the soil. The mounds and inclosures were +discovered in this forest, with great trees growing in them. Eight +hundred rings of annual growth were counted in the trunk of a tree +mentioned by Sir Charles Lyell and others, which was found growing on a +mound at Marietta. In the same way, successive generations of forest +trees had grown over their extensive mining works near Lake Superior, +and many of those works are still hidden in what seem to be primeval +forests. + +General Harrison made the following suggestion in regard to the +establishment of these forests in Ohio. When the individual trees that +first got possession of the soil had died out one after another, they +would, in many cases, be succeeded by other kinds, till at last, after a +great number of centuries, that remarkable diversity of species +characteristic of North America would be established. His suggestion, +the result of practical observation and study, is not without reason. It +is certain, in any case, that the period when these old constructions +were deserted is so far back in the past, that sufficient time has since +passed for the abandoned towns and fields to remain for years, and +perhaps centuries, as waste places, pass through the transition from +waste lands to the beginning of forest growths, and then be covered by +several generations of such great forest trees as were cleared away to +prepare the soil for the settlements, towns, and farms of our people. + + +HOW LONG WERE THEY HERE? + +There are many indications to warrant the conclusion that the +Mound-Builders occupied their principal seats in the Ohio and +Mississippi Valleys during a very long period. If they came from the +south, as appears evident, their settlements must have been extended up +the valley gradually. After their first communities were established in +the Gulf regions, considerable time must have elapsed before their +advancing settlements were extended northward, through the intervening +region, into the Valley of the Ohio. On the Ohio and in the valleys of +its tributaries their settlements were very numerous, and evidently +populous. The surprising abundance of their works in this region, which +have been traced in our time, shows that they dwelt here in great +numbers, and had no lack of industry. + +This region seems to have been one of the principal centres from which +their settlements were advanced into the western part of Virginia; into +Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. The spread +of their settlements was necessarily gradual, and a long period must +have been required to extend them over all the country where remains of +their works are known to exist. If their civilization was chiefly +developed after their arrival in the country, which is unlikely, many +years must have elapsed before colonies went forth, to any great extent, +from the original seat of its development. In any case, time was +required to make their chief settlements sufficiently old and populous +to send forth colonies. It is manifest in their remains that the +communities of this ancient people most remote from the populous centres +on the Ohio, east, north, and west, were, like all border settlements, +the rudest and least populous. The remains at these points do not +indicate either as much wealth or as many workers, and the places where +these borderers settled must have been the latest occupied and the +earliest abandoned. One diligent investigator, who believes they came +originally from Mexico, speaks of the time of their stay in the country +as follows: + +"When we consider the time required to people the whole extent of the +territory where their remains are found, and bring that people into a +condition to construct such monuments, and when we reflect on the +interval that must have passed after their construction until the epoch +of their abandonment, we are constrained to accord them a very high +antiquity." + +He points out that they were sun worshipers, like the Mexicans and +Peruvians, and calls attention to the disks dug from their mounds, which +appear to have been designed as representations of the sun and moon. + +Their long occupation of the country is suggested by the great extent of +their mining works. All who have examined these works agree with Colonel +Whittlesey that they worked the Lake Superior copper mines "for a great +length of time." How long they had dwelt in the Ohio Valley when this +mining began can not be told, but a very considerable period must have +elapsed after their arrival at that point before the mines were +discovered. We can not suppose the first settlers who came up from the +Gulf region to the Ohio Valley went on immediately, through the +wilderness a thousand miles, to hunt for copper mines on Lake Superior; +and, even after they began to explore that region, some time must have +passed before the copper was found. + +After they discovered the mines and began to work them, their progress +could not have been rapid. As their open trenches and pits could be +worked only in the summers, and by methods that made their operations +much slower than those of modern miners, no great advance of their work +was possible during the working time of each season; and yet remains of +their mining works have been discovered wherever mines have been opened +in our day; and, as previously stated, they are known to exist in heavy +forests, where the modern mining works have not yet been established. +There is nothing to indicate that they had settlements any where in the +mining region. Colonel Whittlesey, and others whose study of the subject +gives their opinion much weight, believe the Mound-Builders went up from +the settlements farther south in the summers, remained in the copper +region through the season, and worked the mines in organized companies +until the advance of winter terminated their operations. + +Colonel Whittlesey says: "As yet, no remains of cities, graves, +domiciles, or highways have been found in the copper region;" and adds, +"as the race appears to have been farther advanced in civilization than +their successors, whom we call aborigines, they probably had better +means of transportation than bark canoes." It may be said, also, that +the accumulations called wealth were necessary to make this regular and +systematic mining possible. Without these they could not have provided +the supplies of every kind required to sustain organized companies of +miners through a single season. A great many summers must have passed +away before such companies of miners, with all needed tools and +supplies, could have made their works so extensive by means of such +methods as they were able to use. + +They probably occupied the country on the Gulf and Lower Mississippi +much longer than any other portion of the great valley. Their oldest and +latest abandoned settlements appear to have been in this region, where, +we may reasonably suppose, they continued to dwell long after they were +driven from the Ohio Valley and other places at the north. + +The Natchez Indians found settled on the Lower Mississippi may have been +a degenerate remnant of the Mound-Builders. They differed in language, +customs, and condition from all other Indians in the country; and their +own traditions connected them with Mexico. Like the Mexicans, they had +temples or sacred buildings in which the "perpetual fire" was +maintained. Each of their villages was furnished with a sacred building +of this kind. They had also peculiarities of social and political +organization different from those of other tribes. They were +sun-worshipers, and claimed that their chief derived his descent from +the sun. The Natchez were more settled and civilized than the other +Indians, and, in most respects, seemed like another race. One learned +investigator classes them with the Nahuatl or Toltec race, thinks they +came from Mexico, and finds that, like the ancient people of Panuco and +Colhuacan, they had the phallic ceremonies among their religious +observances. Their history can not be given, and there is little or +nothing but conjecture to connect them with the Mound-Builders. The +Natchez were exterminated in 1730 by the French, whom they had treated +with great kindness. Of the few who escaped death, some were received +among the Chickasaws and Muskogees, but more were sent to Santo Domingo +and sold as slaves. + +No view that can be taken of the relics left by the Mound-Builders will +permit us to believe their stay in the country was short. Any hypothesis +based on the shortest possible estimate of the time must count the years +by centuries. + + + + +III. + +WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS? + + +This ancient people, whose remains indicate unity and civilization, must +have been organized as a nation, with a central administration which all +recognized. They must have had a national name, but nobody can tell +certainly what it was. No record or tradition has preserved it, unless +discovery of it can be made in a national designation found, without +clear explanation, in the old books and traditions of Central America, +and applied to some country situated at a distance from that part of the +continent in the northeast. These old books and traditions mention +"Huehue-Tlapalan" as a distant northeastern country, from which the +Nahuas or Toltecs came to Mexico; and Brasseur de Bourbourg, who has +translated one of the old books and given much attention to others, +supposes the Toltecs and the Mound-Builders to be the same people, or +did suppose this previous to the appearance of his "Atlantic theory." +But this point will be more fully considered when we come to the Central +American antiquities. + +Some antiquaries suggest that the Mound-Builders were the people called +"Allighewi" in old traditions of the Iroquois, but we have nothing to +make this very probable. The Iroquois were somewhat superior to the +other great family of barbarous Indians in organization for the business +of fighting. There are some reasons for believing they came to the lake +regions and the Ohio Valley much earlier than the Algonquin branch of +the wild Indian race. It is permissible, at least, to conjecture, if one +feels inclined to do so, that it was the Iroquois migration from the +northwest, or that of the great family to which the Iroquois family +belonged, which expelled the Mound-Builders from their border +settlements, cut them off from the copper mines, and finally pushed them +down the Mississippi; but nothing more than conjecture is possible in +this case, and the supposition gives the Iroquois migration a greater +antiquity than may be allowable. Moreover, the traditionary lore of the +wild Indians had nothing to say of the Mound-Builders, who appear to +have been as unknown and mysterious to these Indians as they are to us. + + +NOT ANCESTORS OF THE WILD INDIANS. + +Some inquirers, not always without hesitation, suggest that the Indians +inhabiting the United States two hundred years ago were degenerate +descendants of the Mound-Builders. The history of the world shows that +civilized communities may lose their enlightenment, and sink to a +condition of barbarism; but the degraded descendants of a civilized +people usually retain traditional recollections of their ancestors, or +some traces of the lost civilization, perceptible in their customs and +their legendary lore. The barbarism of the wild Indians of North America +had nothing of this kind. It was original barbarism. There was nothing +to indicate that either the Indians inhabiting our part of the +continent, or their ancestors near or remote, had ever been civilized, +even to the extent of becoming capable of settled life and organized +industry. And, besides, the constant tradition of these Indians, +supported by concurring circumstantial evidence, appears to warrant the +belief that they came to this part of the continent originally from the +west or northwest, at a period too late to connect them in this way with +the Mound-Builders. + +Two hundred years ago the Valley of the Mississippi, and the regions +east of it, were occupied by two great families of Indians, the Iroquois +and the Algonquins, each divided into separate tribes. Between these two +families there was a radical difference of language. The Indians of New +England were Algonquins. The Iroquois dwelt chiefly in New York, and +around Lake Erie, from Niagara to Detroit, although separate communities +of the group to which they immediately belonged were found in other +places, such as the Dacotahs and Winnebagoes at the West, and the +isolated Tuscaroras of the Carolinas. Mr. Lewis H. Morgan, who has +discussed "Indian Migrations" in several interesting papers printed in +the North American Review, thinks the Iroquois were separated very early +from the same original stem which produced the great Dacotah family. The +Algonquins were spread most widely over the country when it was first +visited by Europeans. + +Among all these Indians there was a tradition that their ancestors came +from a distant region in the Northwest, and this tradition is accepted +as true by those who have studied them most carefully. Mr. Morgan +supposes they came across the continent, and estimates that not less +than a thousand years must have passed between the departure of the +various groups of the Algonquin family from a common centre in the +northwest and the condition in which they were found two hundred years +ago. When Europeans began to explore North America, this family had +become divided into several branches, and each of these branches had a +modified form of the common language, which, in turn, had developed +several dialects. A long period was required to effect so great a +change; but, whatever estimate of the time may be accepted, it seems to +be a fact that the Algonquins came to the Mississippi Valley long after +the Mound-Builders left it, and also later than the Iroquois or Dacotah +family. That the Iroquois preceded the Algonquins at the East appears to +be indicated by the relative position of the two families in this part +of the country. Mr. Parkman, in his work on "The Jesuits in North +America," describes it as follows: "Like a great island in the midst of +the Algonquins lay the country of tribes speaking the generic tongue of +the Iroquois." + +There is no trace or probability of any direct relationship whatever +between the Mound-Builders and the barbarous Indians found in the +country. The wild Indians of this continent had never known such a +condition as that of the Mound-Builders. They had nothing in common with +it. In Africa, Asia, and elsewhere among the more uncultivated families +of the human race, there is not as much really _original_ barbarism as +some anthropologists are inclined to assume; but there can be no serious +doubt that the wild Indians of North America were original barbarians, +born of a stock which had never, at any time, been either civilized or +closely associated with the influences of civilization. + +Some of the pottery and wrought ornaments of the Mound-Builders is equal +in finish and beauty to the finest manufactured by the ancient +Peruvians. They constructed artificial ponds like the aguadas in Central +America. They used sun-dried brick, especially at the South, where walls +of this material have been discovered supporting some of the mounds and +embankments. They manufactured cloth. But their intelligence, skill, and +civilized ways are shown not only by their constructions and +manufactures, but also by their mining works. Who can imagine the +Iroquois or the Algonquins working the copper mines with such +intelligence and skill, and such a combination of systematic and +persistent industry! They had no tradition of such a condition of life, +no trace of it. It is absurd to suppose a relationship, or a connection +of any kind, between the original barbarism of these Indians and the +civilization of the Mound-Builders. The two peoples were entirely +distinct and separate from each other. If they really belonged to the +same race, which is extremely doubtful, we must go back through +unnumbered ages to find their common origin and the date of their +separation. + + +BRERETON'S STORY. + +Those who seek to identify the Mound-Builders with the barbarous Indians +find nothing that will support their hypothesis. Nevertheless, some of +them have tried very strangely to give it aid by one or two quotations +from early voyagers to America. The most important are taken from +Brereton's account of Gosnold's voyage in 1602. The following occurred +on the coast of Maine: + +"Eight Indians, in a Basque shallop, with mast and sail, an iron +grapple, and a kettle, came boldly aboard us, one of them appareled with +a waistcoat and breeches of black serge, made after our sea fashion, +hose and shoes on his feet: all the rest (saving one that had a pair of +breeches of blue cloth) were naked." + +It is known that the Basques were accustomed to send fishing vessels to +the northeastern coast of America long before this continent was +discovered by Columbus. They continued to do this after the discovery. +These Indians had evidently become well acquainted with the Basques, +and, therefore, did not fear to approach Gosnold's ship. Probably some +of them had been employed on board Basque fishing vessels. Certainly +their boat and apparel came from the Basque fishermen, and did not show +them to be Mound-Builders. Of the Indians on the coast of Massachusetts, +Brereton says: + +"They had great store of copper, some very red, some of a paler color; +none of them but have chains, earrings, or collars of this metal. They +had some of their arrows herewith, much like our broad arrow-heads, +very workmanly made. Their chains are many hollow pieces cemented +together, each piece of the bigness of one of our reeds, a finger in +length, ten or twelve of them together on a string, which they wear +about their necks: their collars they wear about their bodies like +bandeliers a handful broad, all hollow pieces like the other, but +somewhat shorter, four hundred pieces in a collar, very fine and evenly +set together." He adds: "I am persuaded they have great store (of flax) +growing upon the main, as also mines and many other rich commodities, +which we, wanting time, could not possibly discover." + +If all this had been true, it would not serve the purpose for which it +is quoted; for remains of the Mound-Builders have never existed in +Massachusetts, and we should necessarily suppose these Indians had +procured copper and copper ornaments by trading with the Basques or with +other French voyagers. If only one or two Indians had been represented +as wearing ornaments made of copper, this explanation could be readily +accepted. But he avers that they had "great store of copper," and adds, +"None of them but have chains, earrings, or collars of this metal." +Therefore his statement is incredible. The following considerations will +show why it must not be regarded as honest, unadorned truth. + +1. Those interested in Gosnold's voyage aimed to establish a colony on +that coast; and all who served them, or were controlled by them, were +easily moved to tell seductive stories of the country "upon the main." +The chief aim of Brereton's account of this voyage was to incite +emigration. Therefore he gave this wonderfully colored account of +mines, flax-growing, copper chains and collars, and "other rich +commodities" among the wild Indians of Massachusetts. Settlements on +that coast, it was believed, would bring profit to those in whose +interest he wrote. Gosnold actually proposed at that time to establish a +colony on one of the islands in Buzzard's Bay, and had with him twenty +men who were expected to stay as colonists, but finally refused to do +so. He saw a great deal of the Indians, and knew much more of their +actual condition than the story admits. + +2. Eighteen years later the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth from the +Mayflower. Neither copper mines nor flax fields were then known in +Massachusetts. No Indians with "great store" of copper and flax, and +covered with copper ornaments, were seen or heard of by the Pilgrims, +either at that time or afterward. In 1602, Brereton, or any other writer +employed to write in such a way as would promote emigration, could tell +such stories, and romance freely concerning the Indians, without fear of +contradiction. Afterward, when the actual barbarism of the Indian tribes +in New England and other parts of the country had become generally +known, no one could describe any of these Indians as successful miners +and flax-growers, and assert gravely that they had such stores of copper +that "none of them" lacked great abundance of copper "chains, earrings, +collars," and the like, without being laughed at. Brereton's story must +be regarded as an invention designed to serve a special purpose, but not +warranted by any thing seen during the voyage he describes. Neither in +New England nor any where else in our part of the continent did the +early colonists find Indians who worked copper mines and had "great +store of copper." What Brereton says was not true of any Indians known +to our first colonists or to their successors. It corresponds to no +reality found in any part of our territory during the last two hundred +and fifty years. Therefore, to use his story in support of an absurd +hypothesis is not a satisfactory proceeding. + + +AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. + +It may be true that all the aboriginal peoples found inhabiting North +and South America, save the Esquimaux, belonged originally to the same +race. Some writers assume it to be true, although it seems strongly +improbable, not to say impossible. If they were all of the same race, +time and development, under different conditions of life, had divided +this race into at least two extremely unlike branches. The wild Indians +of North America were profoundly different from the ancient people of +Central America and Peru. The Pueblo or Village Indians of New Mexico +have scarcely any thing in common with the Apaches, Comanches, and +Sioux. Even the uncivilized Indians of South America are different from +those in the United States. Our wild Indians have more resemblance to +the nomadic Koraks and Chookchees found in Eastern Siberia, throughout +the region that extends to Behring's Strait, than to any people on this +continent. Those who have seen these Siberians, traveled with them, and +lived in their tents, have found the resemblance very striking; but I +infer from what they say that the Korak or Chookchee is superior to the +Indian. See Kennan's "Tent Life in Siberia." + +Mr. Lewis H. Morgan finds evidence that the American aborigines had a +common origin in what he calls "their systems of consanguinity and +affinity." If it can be made to appear beyond question that these +systems prevail and are identical every where from Patagonia to the +Arctic Zone, his argument will have great force. But this has not yet +been shown. He says: "The Indian nations, from the Atlantic to the Rocky +Mountains, and from the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, with the +exception of the Esquimaux, have the same system. It is elaborate and +complicated in its general form and details; and, while deviations from +uniformity occur in the systems of different stocks, the radical +features are, in the main, constant. This identity in the essential +characteristics of a system so remarkable tends to show that it must +have been transmitted with the blood to each stock from a common +original source. It affords the strongest evidence yet obtained of unity +in origin of the Indian nations within the region defined." + +But unity in race among wild Indians found within the region specified +would be sufficiently manifest without this evidence. That the same +system of consanguinity and affinity, with precisely the same features +of identity, ever was extended over the whole continent, remains +unproved. The supposed traces of it among the Pueblos are by no means +clear. A more complete and accurate research is required to show that +identically the same system ever has existed any where between the +United States and Patagonia. A system not wholly unlike it, though not +the same, might grow up any where in widely separated tribal communities +of barbarous peoples, without doing any thing more than the tribal +system itself to show a common origin in race. + +The aborigines of America may have been originally all of the same race. +There are some considerations in favor of this hypothesis which have +been used by writers entitled to great respect; but it can not yet be +claimed with reason that they have been able to settle this question +beyond the reach of doubt, even in their own minds. Therefore, to speak +moderately, it would be premature to assume that the Mound-Builders were +even remotely of the same race with the wild Indians, from whom they +were so different in all we know of them. + +The attempt to establish this hypothesis of identity in race has given +rise to a tendency to underrate the development of the ancient people of +Mexico and Central America, and to lower the estimate of their +attainments sufficiently to bring them within reach of close +relationship to the wild Indians. The difficulty being reduced in this +way, there follows an attempt to get rid of it entirely, and establish +connection between these unlike peoples, by talking of "Semi-Village +Indians." But the hypothesis used in this case is not well warranted by +facts. Such "Semi-Village Indians" as are supposed, really standing half +way between the savages and the Pueblos, and being actually savages half +developed into Pueblos, have never had a clearly defined and +unquestionable existence here since the continent became known to +Europeans. In the border region between the northern wild Indians and +the old Mexican race there are exceptional communities formed by +association or mixture, but we can not reasonably give them the +significance claimed for the supposed "Semi-Village Indians." Moreover, +these exceptional communities are usually Pueblos whose habits have been +changed and their civilization lessened by association with wild +Indians, or in some other way. The Navajos began their present condition +by fleeing to the mountains from the Spaniards. The Mound-Builders, who +must have been, still more than the Pueblos, unlike the barbarous +Indians, can not be explained by any reference whatever to such +communities. If they were of the same race, they were far from being the +same people. + +Some ethnologists, whose suggestions are entitled to respectful +attention whether accepted or rejected, specify considerations which +they believe forbid us to regard the ancient Mexicans and the northern +wild Indians as identical in race. They point to the well known fact +that the fauna of the American continent below the northern frontier of +Mexico is remarkably different from that between this line and the +Arctic Sea. At the north, America abounds in species similar to those of +Europe and Asia, with some admixture of forms wholly American, while at +the south the old-world forms disappear, and the fauna of the whole +region between Mexico and Cape Horn becomes "as peculiar as that of +Australia." + +The explanation given is, that during the glacial period the larger +part of North America, like Northern Asia and Europe, was covered with +ice and partly submerged, and that the fauna found in this part of North +America was introduced after the glacial period by immigration from Asia +and Europe over connecting lands or islands at the northwest and the +northeast, and perhaps by some migration from the south; the fauna at +the south meanwhile remaining very much as it was before, with very +little change through later migrations from the north. + +Professor Huxley called attention to this subject in a brief address to +the London Ethnological Society in 1869. After stating the case, he +presented the following queries and suggestions: "The Austro-Columbian +fauna, as a whole, therefore, existed antecedently to the glacial epoch. +Did man form part of that fauna? To this profoundly interesting question +no positive answer can be given; but the discovery of human remains +associated with extinct animals in the caves of Brazil, by Lund, lends +some color to the supposition. Assuming this supposition to be correct, +we should have to look in the human population of America, as in the +fauna generally, for an indigenous or Austro-Columbian element, and an +immigrant or 'Arctogeal' element." He then suggests that the Esquimaux +may now represent the immigrant element, and the old Mexican and South +American race that which was indigenous, and that the "Red Indians of +North America" may have appeared originally as a mixture of these two +races. He adds, very reasonably, "It is easy to suggest such problems as +these, but quite impossible, in the present state of our knowledge, to +solve them." + + +WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS? + +They were unquestionably American aborigines, and not immigrants from +another continent. That appears to me the most reasonable suggestion +which assumes that the Mound-Builders came originally from Mexico and +Central America. It explains many facts connected with their remains. In +the Great Valley their most populous settlements were at the south. +Coming from Mexico and Central America, they would begin their +settlements on the Gulf coast, and afterward advance gradually up the +river to the Ohio Valley. It seems evident that they came by this route; +and their remains show that their only connection with the coast was at +the south. Their settlements did not reach the coast at any other point. + +Their constructions were similar in design and arrangement to those +found in Mexico and Central America. Like the Mexicans and Central +Americans, they had many of the smaller structures known as _teocallis_, +and also large high mounds, with level summits, reached by great flights +of steps. Pyramidal platforms or foundations for important edifices +appear in both regions, and are very much alike. In Central America +important edifices were built of hewn stone, and can still be examined +in their ruins. The Mound-Builders, like some of the ancient people of +Mexico and Yucatan, used wood, sun-dried brick, or some other material +that could not resist decay. There is evidence that they used timber for +building purposes. In one of the mounds opened in the Ohio Valley two +chambers were found with remains of the timber of which the walls were +made, and with arched ceilings precisely like those in Central America, +even to the overlapping stones. Chambers have been found in some of the +Central American and Mexican mounds, but there hewn stones were used for +the walls. In both regions the elevated and terraced foundations remain, +and can be compared. I have already called attention to the close +resemblance between them, but the fact is so important in any endeavor +to explain the Mound-Builders that I must bring it to view here. + +Consider, then, that elevated and terraced foundations for important +buildings are peculiar to the ancient Mexicans and Central Americans; +that this method of construction, which, with them, was the rule, is +found nowhere else, save that terraced elevations, carefully +constructed, and precisely like theirs in form and appearance, occupy a +chief place among the remaining works of the Mound-Builders. The use +made of these foundations at Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichen-Itza, shows +the purpose for which they were constructed in the Mississippi Valley. +The resemblance is not due to chance. The explanation appears to me very +manifest. This method of construction was brought to the Mississippi +Valley from Mexico and Central America, the ancient inhabitants of that +region and the Mound-Builders being the same people in race, and also in +civilization, when it was brought here. + +A very large proportion of the old structures in Ohio and farther south +called "mounds," namely, those which are low in proportion to their +horizontal extent, are terraced foundations for buildings, and if they +were situated in Yucatan, Guatemala, and Southern Mexico, they would +never be mistaken for any thing else. The high mounds also in the two +regions are remarkably alike. In both cases they are pyramidal in shape, +and have level summits of considerable extent, which were reached by +means of stairways on the outside. The great mound at Chichen-Itza is 75 +feet high, and has on its summit a ruined stone edifice; that at Uxmal +is 60 feet high, and has a similar ruin on its summit; that at Mayapan +is 60 feet high; the edifice placed on its summit has disappeared. The +great mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, is 68 feet high; and that at Grave +Creek, West Virginia, is 75 feet high. Both had level summits, and +stairways on the outside, but no trace of any structure remains on them. +All these mounds were constructed for religious uses, and they are, in +their way, as much alike as any five Gothic churches. + +Could these works of the Mound-Builders be restored to the condition in +which they were when the country was filled with their busy communities, +we should doubtless see great edifices, similar in style to those in +Yucatan, standing on the upper terraces of all the low and extended +"mounds," and smaller structures on the high mounds, such as those above +named. There would seem to be an extension of ancient Mexico and Central +America through Texas into the Mississippi and Ohio valleys; and so, if +there were no massive stone-work in the old ruins of those countries, it +might seem that the Mound-Builders' works were anciently extended into +them by way of Texas. + +The fact that the settlements and works of the Mound-Builders extended +through Texas and across the Rio Grande indicates very plainly their +connection with the people of Mexico, and goes far to explain their +origin. We have other evidence of intercourse between the two peoples; +for the obsidian dug from the mounds, and perhaps the porphyry also, can +be explained only by supposing commercial relations between them. + +We can not suppose the Mound-Builders to have come from any other part +of North America, for nowhere else north of the Isthmus was there any +other people capable of producing such works as they left in the places +where they dwelt. Beyond the relics of the Mound-Builders themselves, no +traces of the former existence of such a people have been discovered in +any part of North America save Mexico, and Central America, and +districts immediately connected with them. At the same time, it is not +unreasonable to suppose the civilized people of these regions extended +their settlements through Texas, and also migrated across the Gulf into +the Mississippi Valley. In fact, the connection of settlements by way of +Texas appears to have been unbroken from Ohio to Mexico. + +This colonizing extension of the old Mexican race must have taken place +at a remote period in the past; for what has been said of the antiquity +of the Mound-Builders shows that a very long period, far more than two +thousand years, it may be, must have elapsed since they left the Valley +of the Ohio. Perhaps they found the country mostly unoccupied, and saw +there but little of any other people until an irruption of warlike +barbarians came upon them from the Northwest. + +In speculating on the causes of their withdrawal after centuries of +occupation, absolute certainty is impossible, and we have no means of +going much beyond mere conjecture. We may suppose as most probable that +an influx of barbarians destroyed their border settlements, interrupted +their mining operations, and caused them to retire gradually toward the +Gulf. Fragments of their communities may have become incorporated with +the barbarous tribes. This conjecture has been used to explain certain +exceptional peculiarities noticed in some of the wild Indian tribes. For +instance, it has been suggested that the Mandan Indians were a separated +and lost fragment of the mound-building people, they being noticeably +unlike other Indians in many respects, lighter in color, and peculiar in +manners and customs. What is conjectured may be true, but we have no +means of proving its truth. That the Mandans were like what a lost +community of Mound-Builders might have become by degeneration through +mixture and association with barbarians may be supposed, but the actual +history of that remarkable tribe might give its peculiarities a very +different explanation. The Mandans were supposed to be a branch of the +Dacotahs. They may have been, like the Navajos, a changed community of +Pueblos, but any attempt to explain them by means of conjecture is +useless. + +The supposition that the Toltecs and the Mound-Builders were the same +people seems to me not improbable. The reasons for it will be stated +when we come to a discussion of the antiquities, books, and traditions +of Central America. I will only say here that, according to dates given +in the Central American books, the Toltecs came from "Huehue-Tlapalan," +a distant country in the northeast, long previous to the Christian era. +They played a great part and had a long career in Mexico previous to the +rise of their successors in power, the Aztecs, who were overthrown by +the Spaniards. + + + + +IV. + +MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA. + + +Ruins and other vestiges revealing an ancient civilization are found +throughout the whole southern section of North America, extending as far +north as New Mexico and Arizona. But here the antiquities do not all +belong to the same period in the past, nor exhibit unvarying likeness +and unity of civilized life. They are somewhat less homogeneous, and do +not constantly represent the same degree of civilization. In this +region, the monuments suggest successive and varying periods in the +civilized condition of the old inhabitants, some of the oldest and most +mysterious monuments seeming to indicate the highest development. + +In the northern part of this region we find ruins of great buildings +similar in plan and arrangement to those still used by the Pueblos, but +far superior as monuments of architecture, science, and skill, and much +more unlike those farther south than is apparent in the principal +structures of the Mound-Builders. They show that the old settlers in the +Mississippi Valley did not belong to the Pueblo branch of the Mexican +race. Farther south, in the central part of the region specified, +development was more advanced. Here, in the last ages of American +ancient history, was the seat of the Mexican or Aztec civilization, +but the monuments in this part of the country are mostly older than the +Aztec period. The most astonishing remains are found still farther +south, in Chiapa, Tabasco, Oxaca, Yucatan, Honduras, Tehuantepec, +Guatemala, and other parts of Central America. In this southern region, +mostly buried in heavy forests, are wonderful ruins of great cities and +temples. Only a small part of modern Mexico is included in the region +where these ruins are situated, and most of them, probably, were not +much better understood by the ancient Mexicans than they are by us. Many +of those explored in later times were unknown to that people, just as +others, more in number, doubtless, than those already described, still +remain unvisited and unknown in the great and almost impenetrable +forests of the country. + + +THE NORTHERN REMAINS. + +The ruins in Northern Mexico, including New Mexico and Arizona, consist +chiefly, as already stated, of the remains of structures similar in +general design and purpose to those of the Village Indians, the Pueblos. +In the more ancient times, doubtless, as at present, a large proportion +of the dwellings and other edifices, like those in the Mississippi +Valley, were built of perishable materials which have left no trace. +Many of them, however, were built of stone, and have left ruins which +show their character. Stone ruins are common in this northern region, +although wood and adobe seems to have been more commonly used as +building material. Some of the ruined stone edifices were inhabited when +the country was conquered by the Spaniards. The remains present every +where the same characteristics. They represent a people who built always +in the same way, with some variations in the forms of their structures, +and had substantially the same condition of life; but the ruins are not +all of the same age. Their character can be sufficiently shown by +describing a few of them. + +In New Mexico, west of the Rio Grande, between the head waters of the +San Jose and Zuni rivers, a bluff or ridge rises in a valley two hundred +feet high. The Spaniards named it "El Moro." One side of this bluff is +vertical, and shows yellowish-white sandstone rock, on the face of which +are inscriptions; "Spanish inscriptions and Indian hieroglyphics." It +was carefully described in 1849 by Lieutenant Simpson, and was explored +again four or five years later by Lieutenant A. W. Whipple, who +described it in his report to the government, published in the third +volume of "Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route to the +Pacific." On the summit of this height, which Lieutenant Simpson named +"Inscription Rock," are the ruins of an extensive Pueblo edifice built +of stone. The walls were built "with considerable skill." In some places +they are still "perfect to the height of six or eight feet, vertical, +straight, and smooth; and the masonry is well executed, the stones being +of uniform size--about fourteen inches long and six wide." The layers +are horizontal, each successive layer breaking joints with that below +it. Remains of cedar beams were discovered, and also obsidian +arrow-heads, painted pottery, and other relics. Another ruin was seen on +a height across the gorge. It was found to be similar to this, both in +character and condition of decay. + +Lieutenant Whipple went westward along the thirty-fifth parallel. We can +not do better than follow the report of what he saw. + +[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Pueblo Ruin at Pecos.] + +His next stopping-place, after leaving "El Moro," was in the beautiful +valley of Ojo Pescado. Here, close by a spring that showed artificial +stone-work of ancient date, were two old Pueblo buildings in ruins, "so +ancient that the traditions of present races do not reach them." Not far +away is a deserted town of later date. The two ancient structures were +circular in form and equal in size, each being about eight hundred feet +in circumference. They were built of stone, but the walls have crumbled +and become chiefly heaps of rubbish. The pottery found here, like that +at "El Moro," is "painted with bright colors, in checks, bands, and +wavy stripes; many fragments show a beautiful polish. A few pieces were +discovered larger in size, inferior in color and quality, but indicating +a more fanciful taste. United, they formed an urn with a curious handle; +a frog painted on the outside and a butterfly within." In the same +neighborhood, on the summit of a cliff twenty feet high, was another old +ruin "strongly walled around." In the centre was a mound on which were +traces of a circular edifice. + +The next place of encampment was at Zuni, where, as shown in Figure 21, +can be seen one of these great Pueblo buildings inhabited by two +thousand people (Lieutenant Whipple's estimate). It has five stories, +the walls of each receding from those below it. Looking from the top, he +says it reminded him of a busy ant-hill, turkeys and tamed eagles +constituting a portion of its inhabitants. Not more than a league away +is an "old Zuni" which shows nothing but ruins. Its crumbling walls, +worn away until they are only from two to twelve feet high, are "crowded +together in confused heaps over several acres of ground." This old town +became a ruin in ancient times. After remaining long in a ruined +condition it was again rebuilt, and again deserted after a considerable +period of occupation. It is still easy to distinguish the differences in +construction between the two periods. "The standing walls rest upon +ruins of greater antiquity;" and while the primitive masonry is about +six feet thick, that of the later period is only from a foot to a foot +and a half thick. Small blocks of sandstone were used for the latter. +Heaps of debris cover a considerable space, in which, among other +things, are relics of pottery and of ornaments made of sea-shells. +Pieces of quaintly-carved cedar posts were found here, and their +condition of decay, compared with that of the cedar beams at "El Moro," +"indicated great antiquity." The place of this ruin is now one of the +consecrated places of the Village Indians; it has "a Zuni altar" which +is constantly used and greatly venerated. On leaving the place, their +guide blew a white powder toward the altar three times, and muttered a +prayer. This, he explained, was "asking a blessing of Montezuma and the +sun." This altar seems to represent recollections of the ancient +sun-worship. + +[Illustration: Fig. 21--Modern Zuni.] + +At a place west of Zuni ancient relics were found, indicating that an +extensive Pueblo town had formerly stood there, but "the structures were +probably of adobes," as there was no debris of stone walls, and only +very faint traces of foundations. Near the Colorado Chiquito is an +extensive ruin, on the summit of an isolated hill of sandstone, the +faces of its walls being here and there visible above heaps of debris. +It appears to be very old. As near as could be ascertained, the great +rectangular Pueblo building was three hundred and sixty feet in extent +on one side, and one hundred and twenty on the other. In some places the +walls are ten feet thick, "with small rooms inserted in them." Stone +axes, painted pottery, and other articles are found in the debris: "The +indented pottery, said to be so very ancient, is found here in many +patterns." On a ridge overlooking the valley of Pueblo Creek are traces +of an old settlement of large extent, supposed to have been that heard +of in 1539 by the friar Marco de Nica as "the kingdom of Totonteac." +Adobe seems to have been used here for building. Traces of other ruins +were seen in various places, and springs along the route showing ancient +stone-work are mentioned. + +[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Pueblo Ruins in the Valley of the Gila.] + +Ruins are abundant in the Rio Verde Valley down to the confluence of +that river with the Rio Salinas. It is manifest that this whole region +was anciently far more populous than it is now. Lieutenant Whipple says, +"Large fields in the valley of the Rio Gila, and many spots among the +Pinal Lena Mountains, are marked with the foundations of adobe houses." +Figure 22 represents a Pueblo ruin in the Valley of the Gila. "In +Canyon Chelly, near San Francisco Mountain, and upon Rio Verde, there +are ruins of more permanent structures of stone, which in their day must +have excelled the famed Pueblos of New Mexico." There was a higher +degree of civilization in the ancient times, so far as relates to +architecture and skill in the arts and appliances of life, than has been +shown by people of the same race dwelling there in our time; but the +ancient condition of life seems to have been maintained from age to age +without material change. + + +THE "SEVEN CITIES OF CEVOLA." + +In the New Mexican valley of the Chaco, one degree or more north of +Zuni, are ruins of what some suppose to have been the famous "Seven +Cities of Cevola." In 1540, Spanish cupidity having been strongly +incited by tales of the greatness and vast wealth of Cevola, Coronado, +then governor of New Galicia, set out with an army to conquer and rob +its cities. The report in which he tells the story of this conquest and +of his disappointment is still in existence. The Cevolans defended +themselves with arrows and spears, and hurled stones upon his army from +the tops of their buildings. But resistance was of no avail; Cevola was +conquered by Coronado, and immediately deserted by all its inhabitants +who escaped death. The conquering buccaneer, however, did not find the +treasures of gold and silver he expected. Three hundred and thirty years +or more have passed away since this expedition of the Spanish marauders +was undertaken, but the "Seven Cities of Cevola" (if they really were +the "cities" whose remains are found in the Chaco Valley), although much +dilapidated, are still sufficiently well preserved to show us what they +were. + +There are seven ruins in the Chaco Valley, all of the same age, from one +to three miles apart, the whole line along which they are situated being +not more than ten miles in extent. Coronado said of Cevola, "The seven +cities are seven small towns, standing all within four leagues +together;" and "all together they are called Cevola." The Chaco ruins +show that each of these "cities" was, Pueblo fashion, a single edifice +of vast size, capable of accommodating from five hundred to three +thousand people. They were all built of stone, around three sides of a +square, the side opposite the main building being left open. Figure 23 +represents one of these buildings restored, according to Lieutenant +Simpson. Figure 24 is a ground plan of this structure. The outer faces +of the walls were constructed with thin and regular blocks of sandstone; +the inner surfaces were made of cobblestone laid in mortar, and the +outer walls were three feet thick. They were four or five stories high, +and the only entrances to them were "window openings" in the second +story. Above the canyon inclosing the valley containing these ruins, at a +distance of thirteen miles, are the remains of another "city" of +precisely the same kind. Its walls are at present between twenty and +thirty feet high, their foundations being deeply sunk into the earth. +Lieutenant Simpson, who explored that region in 1849, says it was built +of tabular pieces of hard, fine-grained, compact gray sandstone, none of +the layers being more than three inches thick. He adds, "It discovers +in the masonry a combination of science and art which can only be +referred to a higher stage of civilization and refinement than is +discoverable in the work of Mexicans or Pueblos of the present day. +Indeed, so beautifully diminutive and true are the details of the +structure as to cause it at a little distance to have all the appearance +of a magnificent piece of mosaic." + +[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Pueblo Building, restored.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 24.--Ground Plan of Pueblo Building.] + +Other ruins have been examined in this northern part of the old Mexican +territory, and more will be brought to light, for the whole region has +not been carefully examined, and new discoveries are constantly +reported. + + +CENTRAL MEXICO. + +As we go down into Central Mexico, the remains assume another character, +and become more important; but the antiquities in this part of the +country have not been very completely explored and described, the +attention of explorers having been drawn more to the south. Some of them +are well known, and it can be seen that to a large extent they are much +older than the time of the Aztecs whom Cortez found in power. + +In the northern part of the Mexican Valley was the city of Tulha, the +ancient capital of the Toltecs. At the time of the conquest its site was +an extensive field of ruins. At Xochicalco, in the State of Mexico, is a +remarkable pyramid, with a still more remarkable base. It was +constructed with five stages or stories, and stands on a hill consisting +chiefly of rock, which was excavated and hollowed for the construction +of galleries and chambers. The opening serves as an entrance to several +galleries, which are six feet high and paved with cement, their sides +and ceilings seeming to have been covered with some very durable +preparation which made them smooth and glistening. Captain Dupaix found +the main gallery sixty yards, or one hundred and eighty feet long, +terminating at two chambers which are separated only by two massive +square pillars carefully fashioned of portions of the rock left for the +purpose by the excavators. Over a part of the inner chamber, toward one +corner, is a dome or cupola six feet in diameter at the base, and rather +more in height. It has a regular slope, and was faced with square stones +well prepared and admirably laid in cement. From the top went up a tube +or circular aperture nine inches in diameter, which probably reached the +open air or some point in the pyramid. + +In this part of Mexico can be seen, among other things, the great +pyramid or mound of Cholulu, the very ancient and remarkable pyramidal +structures at Teotihuacan, and an uncounted number of _teocallis_ or +pyramids of smaller size. The pyramid of Cholulu covers an area of +forty-five acres. It was terraced and built with four stages. When +measured by Humboldt it was 1400 feet square at the base, and 160 feet +high. At present it is a ruin, and, to superficial observers, seems +little more than a huge artificial mound of earth. Its condition of +decay indicates that it is much older than even the Toltec period. The +largest structure at Teotihuacan covers eleven acres. These structures, +and the Mexican _teocallis_ generally, were made of earth, and faced +with brick or stone. + +Captain Dupaix saw, not far from Antequera, two truncated pyramids which +were penetrated by two carefully constructed galleries. A gallery lined +with hewn stone, bearing sculptured decorations, went through one of +them. A similar gallery went partly through the other, and two branches +were extended at right angles still farther, but terminating within. He +mentions also the ruins of elaborately decorated edifices which had +stood on elevated terraces. At one place he excavated a terraced mound, +and discovered burnt brick; and he describes two ancient bridges of the +Tlascalans, both built of hewn stone laid in cement, one of them being +200 feet long and 36 wide. Obelisks or pillars 42 feet high stood at the +corners of these bridges. Important remains of the ancient people exist +in many other places; and "thousands of other monuments unrecorded by +the antiquaries invest every sierra and valley of Mexico with profound +interest." + +At Papantla, in the State of Vera Cruz, there is a very ancient +pyramidal structure somewhat peculiar in style and character. It is +known that important ruins exist in the forests of Papantla and Mesantla +which have never been described. The remarkable pyramid at Papantla was +examined and described by Humboldt. The only material employed in +constructing it was hewn stone. The stone was prepared in immense +blocks, which were laid in mortar. The pyramid was an exact square at +the base, each side being 82 feet in length, and the height about 60 +feet. The stones were admirably cut and polished, and the structure was +remarkably symmetrical. Six stages could be discerned by Humboldt, and +his account of it says, "A seventh appears to be concealed by the +vegetation which covers the sides of the pyramid." A great flight of +steps leads to the level summit, by the sides of which are smaller +nights. "The facing of the stones is decorated with hieroglyphics, in +which serpents and crocodiles carved in relievo are visible. Each story +contains a great number of square niches symmetrically distributed. In +the first story there are 24 on each side, in the second 20, and in the +third 16. There are 366 of these niches on the whole pyramid, and 12 in +the stairs toward the east." + +The civilization of the Aztecs who built the old city of Mexico will be +made a separate topic; but it may be said here that when they came into +the Valley of Mexico they were much less advanced in civilization than +their predecessors. There is no reason whatever to doubt that they had +always resided in the country as an obscure branch of the aboriginal +people. Some have assumed, without much warrant, that they came to +Mexico from the North. Mr. Squier shows, with much probability, that +they came from the southern part of the country, where communities are +still found speaking the Aztec language. When they rose to supremacy +they adopted, so far as their condition allowed, the superior knowledge +of their predecessors, and continued, in a certain way, and with a lower +standard, the civilization of the Toltecs. It has been said, not without +reason, that the civilization found in Mexico by the Spanish conquerors +consisted, to a large extent, of "fragments from the wreck that befell +the American civilization of antiquity." + + +THE GREAT RUINS AT THE SOUTH. + +To find the chief seats and most abundant remains of the most remarkable +civilization of this old American race, we must go still farther south +into Central America and some of the more southern states of Mexico. +Here ruins of many ancient cities have been discovered, cities which +must have been deserted and left to decay in ages previous to the +beginning of the Aztec supremacy. Most of these ruins were found buried +in dense forests, where, at the time of the Spanish Conquest, they had +been long hidden from observation. + +The ruins known as Palenque, for instance, seem to have been entirely +unknown to both natives and Spaniards until about the year 1750. Cortez +and some of his companions went through the open region near the forest +in which these ruins are situated without hearing of them or suspecting +their existence. The great ruins known as Copan were in like manner +unknown in the time of Cortez. The Spaniards assaulted and captured a +native town not far from the forest that covered them, but heard nothing +of the ruins. The captured town, called Copan, afterward gave its name +to the remains of this nameless ancient city, which were first +discovered in 1576, and described by the Spanish licentiate Palacios. +This was little more than forty years after the native town was +captured; but, although Palacios tried, "in all possible ways," to get +from the older and more intelligent natives some account of the origin +and history of the ruined city, they could tell him nothing about it. +To them the ruins were entirely mythical and mysterious. With the facts +so accessible, and the antiquity of the ruins so manifest, it is very +singular that Mr. Stephens fell into the mistake of confounding this +ruined city, situated in an old forest that was almost impenetrable, +with the town captured by the Spaniards. The ruins here were discovered +accidentally; and to approach them it was necessary, as at Palenque, to +cut paths through the dense tropical undergrowth of the forest. + +To understand the situation of most of the old ruins in Central America, +one must know something of the wild condition of the country. Mr. Squier +says: + +"By far the greater proportion of the country is in its primeval state, +and covered with dense, tangled, and almost impenetrable tropical +forests, rendering fruitless all attempts at systematic investigation. +There are vast tracts untrodden by human feet, or traversed only by +Indians who have a superstitious reverence for the moss-covered and +crumbling monuments hidden in the depths of the wilderness. * * * For +these and other reasons, it will be long before the treasures of the +past, in Central America, can become fully known." + +A great forest of this character covers the southern-half of Yucatan, +and extends far into Guatemala, which is half covered by it. It extends +also into Chiapa and Tabasco, and reaches into Honduras. The ruins known +as Copan and Palenque are in this forest, not far from its southern +edge. Its vast depths have never been much explored. There are ruins in +it which none but wandering natives have ever seen, and some, perhaps, +which no human foot has approached for ages. It is believed that ruins +exist in nearly every part of this vast wilderness. + +According to the old Central American books and traditions, some of the +principal seats of the earliest civilization, that of the "Colhuas," was +in this forest-covered region. In their time the whole was cultivated +and filled with inhabitants. Here was a populous and important part of +the Colhuan kingdom of "Xibalba," which, after a long existence, was +broken up by the Toltecs, and which had a relation, in time, to the +Aztec dominion of Montezuma, much like that of the old monarchy of Egypt +to the kingdom of the Ptolemies. + +In the time of the Spaniards there was in the forest at Lake Peten a +solitary native town, founded nearly a century previous to their time by +a Maya prince of Itza, who, with a portion of his people, fled from +Yucatan to that lonely region to escape from the disorder and bloodshed +of a civil war. This was the civil war which destroyed Mayapan, and +broke up the Maya kingdom of Yucatan. In 1695, Don Martin Ursua, a +Spanish official, built a road from Yucatan to Lake Peten, captured the +town, and destroyed it. He reported that the builders of this road found +evidence that "wrecks of ancient cities lie buried in this wilderness." +All along the route they discovered vestiges of ruins, and special +mention is made of "remains of edifices on raised terraces, deserted and +overgrown, and apparently very ancient." + + +CHARACTER OF THE SOUTHERN RUINS. + +Should you visit the ruins of one of these mysterious old cities, you +would see scattered over a large area great edifices in different stages +of decay, which were erected on the level summits of low pyramidal +mounds or platforms. The summits of these mounds are usually of +sufficient extent to furnish space for extensive terraces or "grounds," +as well as room for the buildings. The edifices were built of hewn stone +laid in a mortar of lime and sand, the masonry being admirable, and the +ornamentation, in most cases, very abundant. The pyramid-foundations of +earth were faced with hewn stone, and provided with great stone +stairways. These, we may suppose, were the most important buildings in +the old city. The ordinary dwellings, and all the other less important +structures, must have been made chiefly of wood or some other material, +which had perished entirely long ago and left no trace, for at present +their remains are no more visible than those of the forest leaves which +grew five hundred years ago. + +One explorer of Palenque says: "For five days did I wander up and down +among these crumbling monuments of a city which, I hazard little in +saying, must have been one of the largest ever seen." There is, however, +nothing to show us certainly the actual size of any of these ancient +cities. It is manifest that some of them were very large; but, as only +the great structures made of stone remain to be examined, the actual +extent of the areas covered by the other buildings can not be +determined. + +[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Arch of Las Monjas.] + +The chief peculiarity of these ruins, that which especially invites +attention, is the evidence they furnish that their builders had +remarkable skill in architecture and architectural ornamentation. All +who have visited them bear witness that the workmanship was of a high +order. The rooms and corridors in these edifices were finely and often +elaborately finished, plaster, stucco, and sculpture being used. In one +room of a great building at Uxmal Mr. Stephens says "the walls were +coated with a very fine plaster of Paris, equal to the best seen on +walls in this country." Speaking of the construction of this edifice, he +says, "throughout, the laying and polishing of the stones are as perfect +as under the rules of the best modern masonry." All the ruins explored +have masonry of the same character. The floors, especially of the courts +and corridors, were made sometimes of flat stones admirably wrought and +finely polished, and sometimes of cement, which is now "as hard as +stone." Mr. Stephens, describing corridors of the "Palace" at Palenque, +says "the floors are of cement, as hard as the best seen in the remains +of Roman baths and cisterns." We give two illustrations of their method +of constructing the arch. Figure 25 shows an arch of Las Monjas, at +Uxmal. Figure 26 shows the most common form of the arch in the older +ruins. + +[Illustration: Fig. 26--Common Form of Arch.] + +The ornamentation is no less remarkable than the masonry and +architectural finish. It is found on the walls within and without, and +appears in elaborate designs on the heavy cornices. The exterior +ornamentation is generally carved or sculptured on the smooth surface +of the stone, and must have required a vast amount of time and labor, as +well as skillful artists. In some of the ruins inscriptions are +abundant, being found on walls, tablets, and pillars. The general effect +of the exterior decoration is thus described by Mr. Stephens in the +account of his first view of the ruins at Palenque: "We saw before us a +large building richly ornamented with stuccoed figures on pilasters, +curious and elegant; trees growing close to it, and their branches +entering the doors; the style and effect of structure and ornament +unique, extraordinary, and mournfully beautiful." In a description of +the walls around an interior court of a building at Uxmal, we have this +tribute to the artistic skill of the decorators: "It would be +difficult, in arranging four sides facing a court-yard, to have more +variety, and, at the same time, more harmony of ornament." + +In some of the ruins, and especially at Copan, there are clusters of +four-sided stone pillars or obelisks varying from twelve to over twenty +feet high. These are elaborately sculptured, and show human figures, +ornamental designs, and many inscriptions. One or two statues have been +discovered, and a statuette twelve inches high is described; "it is made +of baked clay, very hard, and the surface is smooth as if coated with +enamel." At Palenque are remains of a well-built aqueduct; and near the +ruins, especially in Yucatan, are frequently found the remains of many +finely constructed aguadas or artificial lakes. The bottoms of these +lakes were made of flat stones laid in cement, several layers deep. In +Yucatan traces of a very ancient paved road have been found. This road +ran north and south, and probably led to cities in the region now +covered by the great wilderness. It was raised above the graded level of +the ground, and made very smooth. + +These antiquities show that this section of the continent was anciently +occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of masonry, building, +and architectural decoration. Some of their works can not be excelled by +the best of our constructors and decorators. They were highly skilled, +also, in the appliances of civilized life, and they had the art of +writing, a fact placed beyond dispute by their many inscriptions. + +A more particular account of some of these ruins will be given in the +next chapter. Among the more important works relating to them are those +of Stephens and Catherwood, some of the volumes of Mr. Squier, Frederick +Waldeck's work, and a recent French volume by Desire Charnay, which is +accompanied by a folio volume of photographs. Palacios, who described +Copan in 1576, may properly be called the first explorer. A brief +account of Palenque was prepared by Captain Del Rio in 1787, and +published in 1822. Captain Dupaix's folios, in French, with the drawings +of Castenada, contain the first really important memoir on these ruins. +It was prepared in 1807, detained in Mexico during the Mexican +Revolution, and finally published at Paris in 1834-5. The volumes of +Brasseur de Bourbourg are valuable. They relate chiefly to matters not +always understood, and seldom discussed with care, by those who merely +visit and describe the monuments, such as the writing, books, and +traditions of the ancient Mexican and Central American people. His style +is diffuse, sometimes confused, and rather tedious; and some of his +theories are very fanciful. But he has discovered the key to the Maya +alphabet and translated one of the old Central American books. No +careful student of American archaeology can afford to neglect what he has +written on this subject. + + + + +V. + +MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA. + + +To understand the situation and historical significance of the more +important antiquities in Southern Mexico and Central America, we must +keep in view their situation relative to the great unexplored forest to +which attention has been called. Examine carefully any good map of +Mexico and Central America, and consider well that the ruins already +explored or visited are wholly in the northern half of Yucatan, or far +away from this region, at the south, beyond the great wilderness, or in +the southern edge of it. Uxmal, Mayapan, Chichen-Itza, and many others, +are in Yucatan. Palenque, Copan, and others are in the southern part of +the wilderness, in Chiapa, Honduras, and Guatemala. Mr. Squier visited +ruins much farther south, in San Salvador, and in the western parts of +Nicaragua and Costa Rica. + +The vast forest which is spread over the northern half of Guatemala and +the southern half of Yucatan, and extended into other states, covers an +area considerably larger in extent than Ohio or Pennsylvania. Does its +position relative to the known ruins afford no suggestion concerning the +ancient history of this forest-covered region? It is manifest that, in +the remote ages when the older of the cities now in ruins were built, +this region was a populous and important part of the country. And this +is shown also by the antiquities found wherever it has been penetrated +by explorers who knew how to make discoveries, as well as by the old +books and traditions. Therefore it is not unreasonable to assume that +Copan and Palenque are specimens of great ruins that lie buried in it. +The ruins of which something is known have merely been visited and +described in part by explorers, some of whom brought away drawings of +the principal objects. In giving a brief account of the more important +ruins, I will begin with the old city of which most has been heard. + + +PALENQUE. + +No one can tell the true name of the ancient city now called Palenque. +It is known to us by this name because the ruins are situated a few +miles distant from the town of Palenque, now a village, but formerly a +place of some importance. The ruins are in the northern part of the +Mexican State of Chiapa, hidden out of sight in the forest, where they +seem to have been forgotten long before the time of Cortez. More than +two hundred years passed after the arrival of the Spaniards before their +existence became known to Europeans. They were discovered about the year +1750. Since that year decay has made some progress in them. Captain Del +Rio, who visited and described them in 1787, examined "fourteen +edifices" admirably built of hewn stone, and estimated the extent of the +ruins to be "seven or eight leagues one way [along the River Chacamas], +and half a league the other." He mentions "a subterranean aqueduct of +great solidity and durability, which passes under the largest building." + +Other explorers have since visited Palenque, and reported on the ruins +by pen and pencil; but it is not certain that all the ruined edifices +belonging to them have been seen, nor that the explorations have made it +possible to determine the ancient extent of the city with any approach +to accuracy. The very great difficulties which obstruct all attempts at +complete exploration have not allowed any explorer to say he has +examined or discovered all the mouldering monuments hidden in the dense +and tangled forest, even within the space allowed by Del Rio's "half +league" from the river, not to speak of what may lie buried and unknown +in the dense mass of trees and undergrowth beyond this limit. + +The largest known building at Palenque is called the "Palace." It stands +near the river, on a terraced pyramidal foundation 40 feet high and 310 +feet long, by 260 broad at the base. The edifice itself is 228 feet +long, 180 wide, and 25 feet high. It faces the east, and has 14 doorways +on each side, with 11 at the ends. It was built entirely of hewn stone, +laid with admirable precision in mortar which seems to have been of the +best quality. A corridor 9 feet wide, and roofed by a pointed arch, went +round the building on the outside; and this was separated from another +within of equal width. The "Palace" has four interior courts, the +largest being 70 by 80 feet in extent. These are surrounded by +corridors, and the architectural work facing them is richly decorated. +Within the building were many rooms. From the north side of one of the +smaller courts rises a high tower, or pagoda-like structure, thirty feet +square at the base, which goes up far above the highest elevation of the +building, and seems to have been still higher when the whole structure +was in perfect condition. The great rectangular mound used for the +foundation was cased with hewn stone, the workmanship here, and every +where else throughout the structure, being very superior. The piers +around the courts are "covered with figures in stucco, or plaster, +which, where broken, reveals six or more coats or layers, each revealing +traces of painting." This indicates that the building had been used so +long before it was deserted that the plastering needed to be many times +renewed. There is some evidence that painting was used as a means of +decoration; but that which most engages attention is the artistic +management of the stone-work, and, above all, the beautifully executed +sculptures for ornamentation. + +Two other buildings at Palenque, marked by Mr. Stephens, in his plan of +the ruins, as "Casa No. 1" and "Casa No. 2," views of which are shown in +Figures 27 and 28, are smaller, but in some respects still more +remarkable. The first of these, 75 feet long by 25 wide, stands on the +summit of a high truncated pyramid, and has solid walls on all sides +save the north, where there are five doorways. Within are a corridor and +three rooms. Between the doorways leading from the corridor to these +rooms are great tablets, each 13 feet long and 8 feet high, and all +covered with elegantly-carved inscriptions. A similar but smaller +tablet, covered with an inscription, appears on the wall of the central +room. + +[Illustration: Fig. 27.--Casa No. 1, Palenque--Front View and Ground +Plan.] + +"Casa No. 2" consists of a steep and lofty truncated pyramid, which +stands on a terraced foundation, and has its level summit crowned with a +building 50 feet long by 31 wide, which has three doorways at the south, +and within a corridor and three rooms. This edifice, sometimes called +"La Cruz," has, above the height required for the rooms, what is +described as "two stories of interlaced stucco-work, resembling a high, +fanciful lattice." Here, too, inscribed tablets appear on the walls; but +the inscriptions, which are abundant at Palenque, are by no means +confined to tablets. As to the ornamentation, the walls, piers, and +cornices are covered with it. Every where the masterly workmanship and +artistic skill of the old constructors compel admiration; Mr. Stephens +going so far as to say of sculptured human figures found in fragments, +"In justness of proportion and symmetry they must have approached the +Greek models." + +[Illustration: Fig. 28.--Casa No. 2, Palenque (La Cruz)--Front View and +Ground Plan.] + +"Casa No. 2" of Mr. Stephens is usually called "La Cruz" because the +most prominent object within the building is a great bas-relief on which +are sculptured a cross and several human figures. This building stands +on the high pyramid, and is approached by a flight of steps. Dupaix +says, "It is impossible to describe adequately the interior decorations +of this sumptuous temple." The cross is supposed to have been the +central object of interest. It was wonderfully sculptured and decorated; +human figures stand near it, and some grave ceremony seems to be +represented. The infant held toward the cross by one of the figures +suggests a christening ceremony. The cross is one of the most common +emblems present in all the ruins. This led the Catholic missionaries to +assume that knowledge of Christianity had been brought to that part of +America long before their arrival; and they adopted the belief that the +Gospel was preached there by St. Thomas. This furnished excellent +material for the hagiologists of that age; but, like every thing else +peculiar to these monkish romancers, it betrayed great lack of +knowledge. + +The cross, even the so-called Latin cross, is not exclusively a +Christian emblem. It was used in the Oriental world many centuries +(perhaps millenniums) before the Christian era. It was a religious +emblem of the Phoenicians, associated with Astarte, who is usually +figured bearing what is called a Latin cross. She is seen so figured on +Phoenician coin. The cross is found in the ruins of Nineveh. Mr. Layard, +describing one of the finest specimens of Assyrian sculpture (the figure +of "an early Nimrod king" he calls it), says: "Round his neck are hung +the four sacred signs; the crescent, the star or sun, the trident, and +_the cross_." These "signs," the cross included, appear suspended from +the necks or collars of Oriental prisoners figured on Egyptian monuments +known to be fifteen hundred years older than the Christian era. The +cross was a common emblem in ancient Egypt, and the Latin form of it was +used in the religious mysteries of that country, in connection with a +monogram of the moon. It was to degrade this religious emblem of the +Phoenicians that Alexander ordered the execution of two thousand +principal citizens of Tyre by crucifixion. + +The cross, as an emblem, is very common among the antiquities of Western +Europe, where archaeological investigation has sometimes been embarrassed +and confused by the assumption that any old monument bearing the figure +of a cross can not be as old as Christianity. + +What more will be found at Palenque, when the whole field of its ruins +has been explored, can not now be reported. The chief difficulty by +which explorers are embarrassed is manifest in this statement of Mr. +Stephens: "Without a guide, we might have gone within a hundred feet of +the buildings without discovering one of them." More has been discovered +there than I have mentioned, my purpose being to give an accurate view +of the style, finish, decoration, and general character of the +architecture and artistic work found in the ruins rather than a +complete account of every thing connected with them. The ruins of +Palenque are deemed important by archaeologists partly on account of the +great abundance of inscriptions found there, which, it is believed, will +at length be deciphered, the written characters being similar to those +of the Mayas, which are now understood. + + +COPAN AND QUIRIGUA. + +The ruins known as Copan are situated in the extreme western part of +Honduras, where they are densely covered by the forest. As already +stated, they were first discovered by Europeans about forty years after +the war of the conquest swept through that part of the country, and were +at that time wholly mysterious to the natives. The monuments seem older +than those at Palenque, but we have only scant descriptions of them. +They are situated in a wild and solitary part of the country, where the +natives "see as little of strangers as the Arabs about Mount Sinai, and +are more suspicious." For this reason they have not been very carefully +explored. It is known that these ruins extend two or three miles along +the left bank of the River Copan. Not much has been done to discover how +far they extend from the river into the forest. + +[Illustration: Fig. 29.--Great Wall at Copan.] + +Mr. Stephens describes as follows his first view of them: "We came to +the right bank of the river, and saw directly opposite a stone wall from +60 to 90 feet high, with furze growing out of the top, running north and +south along the river 624 feet, in some places fallen, in others +entire." This great wall supported the rear side of the elevated +foundation of a great edifice. It was made of cut stone well laid in +mortar or cement, the blocks of stone being 6 feet long. Figure 29 shows +the wall somewhat imperfectly. He saw next a square stone column +standing by itself, 14 feet high and 3 feet on each side. From top to +bottom it was richly ornamented with sculptured designs on two opposite +sides, the other sides being covered with inscriptions finely carved on +the stone. On the front face, surrounded by the sculptured ornaments, +was the figure of a man. Fourteen other obelisks of the same kind were +seen, some of them being higher than this. Some of them had fallen. +These sculptured and inscribed pillars constitute the chief peculiarity +of Copan. Mr. Squier says of them: "The ruins of Copan, and the +corresponding monuments which I examined in the valley of the +Chamelican, are distinguished by singular and elaborately carved +_monoliths_, which seem to have been replaced at Palenque by equally +elaborate _basso relievos_, belonging, it would seem, to a later and +more advanced period of art." + +The great building first noticed stands, or stood, on a pyramidal +foundation, which is supported along the river by that high back wall. +The structure extends 624 feet on the river line. Mr. Stephens described +it as an "oblong inclosure," and states that it has a wide terrace +nearly 100 feet above the river, on which great trees are growing, some +of them more than 20 feet in circumference. Here, as at Palenque, the +ornamentation was "rich and abundant." The ruins, greatly worn by decay, +still show that "architecture, sculpture, painting, and all the arts +that embellish life had flourished in this overgrown forest." Some +beautifully executed sculptures were found buried in the earth, and +there can be no doubt that extensive excavation, if it were possible in +that almost invincible forest, would lead to important and valuable +discoveries. Besides the great building and the monoliths, several +pyramidal structures are mentioned by Mr. Stephens, who points out that +extensive exploration is impossible unless one shall first clear away +the forest and burn up the trees. + +Palacios, who described this ruined city nearly three hundred years ago, +saw much more than Mr. Stephens. He described "the ruins of superb +edifices, built of hewn stone, which manifestly belonged to a large +city." He mentions, in connection with the great wall, an enormous +eagle carved in stone, which bore a square shield on its breast covered +with undecipherable characters. He mentions, also, a "stone giant," and +a "stone cross" with one arm broken. He saw a "plaza," circular in form, +surrounded by ranges of steps or seats, which reminded him of the +Coliseum at Rome, "as many as eighty ranges still remaining in some +places." This "plaza" was "paved with beautiful stones, all square and +well worked." Six of the great obelisks, which he described as +"statues," stood in this inclosure, and in its centre was a great stone +basin. + +A history of Guatemala, by a writer named Huarros, states that the +"Circus of Copan," as he calls the "plaza" described by Palacios, was +still entire in the year 1700. He mentions gateways which led into the +inclosure, and says it was surrounded on the outside by stone pyramids +six yards high, near which were standing sculptured figures or obelisks. +No doubt, remains of this remarkable "circus" would be found now, if the +forest should be removed. What else could be found there by means of +careful and thorough exploration may never be known, for the region is +uninviting, the forest very difficult, and such an exploration would +require much more than the means and efforts of one or two individuals. + +Not very far away, in the neighboring State of Guatemala, on the right +bank of the River Motagua, to which the Copan is a tributary, are the +ruins called Quirigua. It is manifest that a great city once stood here. +These ruins have a close resemblance to those at Copan, but they appear +to be much older, for they have, to a great extent, become little +more than heaps of rubbish. Over a large space of ground traces of what +has gone to decay are visible. Doubtless important relics of the old +city are now more abundant below the surface than above it. Mr. +Stephens, describing what he saw there, confines his attention chiefly +to a pyramidal structure with flights of steps, and monoliths larger and +higher than those at Copan, but otherwise similar. He states, however, +that while they have the same general style, the sculptures are in lower +relief and hardly so rich in design. One of the obelisks here is twenty +feet high, five feet six inches wide, and two feet eight inches thick. +The chief figures carved on it are that of a man on the front, and that +of a woman on the back. The sides are covered with inscriptions similar +in appearance to those at Copan. Some of the other standing obelisks are +higher than this. It seems reasonable to infer that the structures at +Quirigua were more ancient than those at Copan. + +[Illustration: Fig. 30.--Ruins at Mitla.] + + +MITLA. + +The ruins called Mitla are in the Mexican State of Oxaca, about twelve +leagues east from the city of Oxaca. They are situated in the upper part +of a great valley, and surrounded by a waste, uncultivated region. At +the time of the Spanish Conquest they were old and much worn by time and +the elements, but a very large area was then covered by remains of +ancient buildings. At present only six decaying edifices and three +ruined pyramids, which were very finely terraced, remain for +examination, the other structures being now reduced to the last stage +of decay. Figures 30 and 31 present views of some of these structures, +as given by Von Temski. Figure 32, from Charnay's photograph, shows a +ruin at Mitla. + +[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Great Hall at Mitla.] + +These important ruins were not described by Stephens and Catherwood. +Captain Dupaix's work gives some account of them, and Desire Charnay, +who saw them since 1860, brought away photographs of some of the +monuments. Four of the standing edifices are described by Dupaix as +"palaces," and these, he says, "were erected with lavish magnificence; +* * * they combine the solidity of the works of Egypt with the elegance +of those of Greece." And he adds, "But what is most remarkable, +interesting, and striking in these monuments, and which alone would be +sufficient to give them the first rank among all known orders of +architecture, is the execution of their mosaic relievos, very different +from plain mosaic, and consequently requiring more ingenious combination +and greater art and labor. They are inlaid on the surface of the wall, +and their duration is owing to the method of fixing the prepared stones +into the stone surface, which made their union with it perfect." Figure +33, taken from Charnay's photograph, shows part of the mosaic decoration +on a wall of one of the great edifices at Mitla. + +[Illustration: Fig. 32.--Ruined Palace at Mitla.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Mosaics at Mitla.] + +The general character of the architecture and masonry is much like that +seen in the structures at Palenque, but the finish of the workmanship +appears to have been more artistic and admirable. These ruins are +remarkable among those of the country where they are found. All who have +seen them speak much as Dupaix speaks of the perfection of the masonry, +the admirable design and finish of the work, and the beauty of the +decorations. Their beauty, says M. Charnay, can be matched only by the +monuments of Greece and Rome in their best days. One fact presented by +some of the edifices at Mitla has a certain degree of historical +significance. There appears to be evidence that they were occupied at +some period by people less advanced in civilization than their builders. +M. Charnay, describing one of them, points out this fact. He says of the +structure: + +"It is a bewildering maze of courts and buildings, with facings +ornamented with mosaics in relief of the purest design; but under the +projections are found traces of paintings wholly primitive in style, in +which the right line is not even respected. These are rude figures of +idols, and meandering lines that have no significance. Similar paintings +appear, with the same imperfection, on every great edifice, in places +which have allowed them shelter against the ravages of time. These rude +designs, associated with palaces so correct in architecture, and so +ornamented with panels of mosaic of such marvelous workmanship, put +strange thoughts in the mind. To find the explanation of this +phenomenon, must we not suppose these palaces were occupied by a race +less advanced in civilization than their first builders?" + +Two miles or more away from the great edifices here mentioned, toward +the west, is the "Castle of Mitla." It was built on the summit of an +isolated and precipitous hill of rock, which is accessible only on the +east side. The whole leveled summit of this hill is inclosed by a solid +wall of hewn stone twenty-one feet thick and eighteen feet high. This +wall has salient and retiring angles, with curtains interposed. On the +east side it is flanked by double walls. Within the inclosure are the +remains of several small buildings. The field of these ruins was very +large three hundred years ago. At that time it may have included this +castle. + + +AN ASTRONOMICAL MONUMENT. + +In this part of Mexico Captain Dupaix examined a peculiar ruin, of which +he gave the following account: "Near the road from the village of +Tlalmanalco to that called Mecamecan, about three miles east of the +latter, there is an isolated granite rock, which was artificially +formed into a kind of pyramid with six hewn steps facing the east. The +summit of this structure is a platform, or horizontal plane, well +adapted to observation of the stars on every side of the hemisphere. It +is almost demonstrable that this very ancient monument was exclusively +devoted to astronomical observations, for on the south side of the rock +are sculptured several hieroglyphical figures having relation to +astronomy. The most striking figure in the group is that of a man in +profile, standing erect, and directing his view to the rising stars in +the sky. He holds to his eye a tube or optical instrument. Below his +feet is a frieze divided into six compartments, with as many celestial +signs carved on its surface." It has been already stated that +finely-wrought "telescopic tubes" have been found among remains of the +Mound-Builders. They were used, it seems, by the ancient people of +Mexico and Central America, and they were known also in ancient Peru, +where a silver figure of a man in the act of using such a tube has been +discovered in one of the old tombs. + + +RUINS FARTHER SOUTH. + +Old ruins, of which but little is known, exist in Guatemala, Honduras, +San Salvador, and the more southern portion of Central America. Mr. +Squier, who tells us more of them than any other explorer, says, "I +heard of remains and monuments in Honduras and San Salvador equal to +those of Copan in extent and interest." He mentions the ruins of Opico, +near San Vincente, in San Salvador, which "cover nearly two square +miles, and consist of vast terraces, ruins of edifices, circular and +square towers, and subterranean galleries, all built of cut stones: a +single carving has been found here on a block of stone." Remains of +"immense works" exist in the district of Chontales, near the northern +shore of Lake Nicaragua; and pottery found in Nicaragua "equals the best +specimens of Mexico and Peru." Don Jose Antonio Urritia, cure of +Jutiapa, gave the following account of a great ruin on a mountain in San +Salvador, near the town of Comapa: it is called Cinaca-Mecallo: + +"The walls, or remains of the city wall, describe an oval figure, within +which roads or streets may be traced, and there are various subterranean +passages and many ruined edifices. The materials of construction are +chiefly thin stones, or a species of slate, united by a kind of cement +which in appearance resembles melted lead." It does not appear that he +made a complete examination of the monuments, but he mentions three that +gained his attention, and left upon his mind a very strong impression. +"The first is a temple consecrated to the sun, chiefly excavated in the +solid rock, and having its entrance toward the east. On the archway of +the entrance are carved representations of the sun and moon. +Hieroglyphics are found in the interior. Besides the sculptured _bassi +relievi_, these stones bear hieroglyphics painted with a kind of red +varnish which remains unimpaired. The second is a great stone slab +covered with inscriptions or hieroglyphics. The third is the figure of a +wild animal sculptured on a rock or stone, of "great size."[TN-3] + + +THE RUINS IN YUCATAN. + +The remains of ancient cities are abundant in the settled portion of +Yucatan, which lies north of the great forest. Charnay found "the +country covered with them from north to south." Stephens states, in the +Preface to his work on Yucatan, that he visited "forty-four ruined +cities or places" in which such remains are still found, most of which +were unknown to white men, even to those inhabiting the country; and he +adds that "time and the elements are hastening them to utter +destruction." + +Previous to the Spanish Conquest, the region known to us as Yucatan was +called Maya. It is still called Maya by the natives among themselves, +and this is the true name of the country. Why the Spaniards called it +Yucatan is unknown, but the name is wholly arbitrary and without reason. +It is said to have arisen from an odd mistake like that which occasioned +the name given to one of the capes by Hernandez de Cordova. Being on the +coast in 1517, he met some of the natives. Their cacique said to him, +"Conex cotoch," meaning "Come to our town." The Spaniard, supposing he +had mentioned the name of the place, immediately named the projecting +point of land "Cape Cotoche," and it is called so still. + +At that time the country was occupied by the people still known as +Mayas. They all spoke the same language, which was one of a closely +related family of tongues spoken in Guatemala, Chiapas, Western +Honduras, and in some other districts of Central America and Mexico. +Yucatan was then much more populous than at present. The people had more +civilization, more regular industry, and more wealth. They were much +more highly skilled in the arts of civilized life. They had cities and +large towns; and dwelling-houses, built of timber and covered with +thatch, like those common in England, were scattered over all the rural +districts. Some of the cities now found in ruins were then inhabited. +This peninsula had been the seat of an important feudal monarchy, which +arose probably after the Toltecs overthrew the very ancient kingdom of +Xibalba. It was broken up by a rebellion of the feudal lords about a +hundred years previous to the arrival of the Spaniards. According to the +Maya chronicles, its downfall occurred in the year 1420. Mayapan, the +capital of this kingdom, was destroyed at that time, and never afterward +inhabited. + +Merida, the present capital of Yucatan, was built on the site of an +ancient Maya city called Tihoo. It is stated in the old Spanish accounts +of Merida that it was built on that site because there was in the ruins +an abundance of building material. There is mention of two "mounds" +which furnished a vast amount of hewn stone. Mr. Stephens noticed in +some of the edifices stones with "sculptured figures, from the ruins of +ancient buildings;" and he mentions that a portion of an ancient +building, including an arch in the Maya style, was retained in the +construction of the Franciscan convent. + + +MAYAPAN. + +[Illustration: Fig. 34.--Great Mound at Mayapan.] + +We shall notice only some of the principal ruins in Yucatan, beginning +with Mayapan, the ancient capital. The remains of this city are situated +about ten leagues, in a southern direction, from Merida. They are spread +over an extensive plain, and overgrown by trees and other vegetation. +The most prominent object seen by the approaching explorer is a great +mound, 60 feet high and 100 feet square at the base. It is an imposing +structure, seen through the trees, and is itself overgrown like a wooded +hill. Figure 34 shows one view of this. Four stairways, in a ruinous +condition, 25 feet wide, lead up to an esplanade within 6 feet of the +top, which is reached by a smaller stairway. The summit is a plain stone +platform 15 feet square. This, of course, was a temple. Sculptured +stones are scattered around the base, and within the mound subterranean +chambers have been discovered. + +It is probable that the principal edifices at Mayapan were not all built +wholly of stone, for they have mostly disappeared. Only one remains, a +circular stone building 25 feet in diameter, which stands on a pyramidal +foundation 35 feet high. This is represented in Figure 35. On the +southwest side of it, on a terrace projecting from the mound, was a +double row of columns without capitals, 8 feet apart. There are +indications that this city was old, and that the buildings had been more +than once renewed. Brasseur de Bourbourg classes some of the foundations +at Mayapan with the oldest seen at Palenque and Copan. This point, +however, can not be determined with sufficient accuracy to remove all +doubt. Mayapan may have stood upon the foundations of a very ancient +city which was several times rebuilt, but the city destroyed in 1420 +could not have been as old as either Palenque or Copan. + +[Illustration: Fig. 35.--Circular Edifice at Mayapan.] + + +UXMAL. + +The ruins of Uxmal have been regarded as the most important in Yucatan, +partly on account of the edifices that remain standing, but chiefly +because they have been more visited and explored than the others. It is +supposed, and circumstantial evidence appears to warrant the +supposition, that this city had not been wholly deserted at the time of +the Spanish Conquest, although it had previously begun to be a ruin. It +was wholly a ruin in 1673. The area covered by its remains is extensive. +Charnay makes it a league or more in diameter; but most of the +structures have fallen, and exist now only in fragments scattered over +the ground. It may be that many of them were not built wholly of hewn +stone, and had not "Egyptian solidity" with their other characteristics. + +The most important of those remaining was named "Casa del Gobernador" by +the Spaniards. It is 320 feet long, and was built of hewn stone laid in +mortar or cement. The faces of the walls are smooth up to the cornice. +Then follows, on all the four sides, "one solid mass of rich, +complicated, and elaborately sculptured ornaments, forming a sort of +arabesque." Figure 36 gives a view of the south end of this edifice, but +no engraving can show all the details of the ornamentation. + +[Illustration: Fig. 36.--Casa del Gobernador, Uxmal.] + +This building has eleven doorways in front, and one at each end, all +having wooden lintels, which have fallen. The two principal rooms are 60 +feet long, and from 11 to 13 feet wide. This structure is long and +narrow The arrangement and number of the rooms are shown in the +following ground plan of the building (Figure 37): + +[Illustration: Fig. 37.--Ground Plan of Casa del Gobernador] + +[Illustration: Fig. 38.--Double-headed Figure, Casa del Gobernador.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 39.--Decorations over Doorway, Casa del +Gobernador.] + +It stands on the summit of one of the grandest of the terraced +foundations. This foundation, like all the others, is pyramidal. It has +three terraces. The lowest is 3 feet high, 15 wide, and 575 long; the +second is 20 feet high, 275 wide, and 545 long; the third, 19 feet high, +30 wide, and 360 long. Structures formerly existed on the second +terrace, remains of which are visible. At the northwest corner one of +them still shows its dilapidated walls, portions of them being +sufficiently complete to show what they were. This edifice was 94 feet +long and 34 wide. It seems to have been finely finished in a style more +simple than that of the great "casa" on the upper terrace. The figures +of turtles sculptured along the upper edge of the cornice have given it +the current designation, "House of the Turtles." Sculptured monuments +have been found buried in the soil of the second terrace. The opening of +a small, low mound situated on it brought to view the double-headed +figure shown in No. 38. Figure 39 shows part of the sculptured +decoration over the centre doorway of Casa del Gobernador. + +Another important edifice at Uxmal has been named "Casa de las Monjas," +House of the Nuns. It stands on a terraced foundation, and is arranged +around a quadrangular court-yard 258 feet one way and 214 the other. The +front structure is 279 feet long, and has a gateway in the centre 10 +feet 8 inches wide leading into the court, and four doors on each side +of it. The outer face of the wall, above the cornice, is ornamented with +sculptures. The terrace without and within the inclosure was found +covered with a very dense growth of vegetation, which it was necessary +to clear away before the walls could be carefully examined. All the +doorways, save those in front, open on the court. Mr. Stephens found the +four great facades fronting the court-yard "ornamented from one end to +the other with the richest and most intricate carving known to the +builders of Uxmal, presenting a scene of strange magnificence which +surpasses any other now seen among its ruins." The long outer +structure, on the side facing the entrance, had high turret-like +elevations over each of its thirteen doorways, all covered with +sculptured ornaments. This building appears to have inclosed another of +older date. Figure 40 shows the ground plan of "Las Monjas." + +[Illustration: Fig. 40.--Ground Plan of Las Monjas, Uxmal.] + +Other less important edifices in the ruins of Uxmal have been described +by explorers, some of which stand on high pyramidal mounds; and +inscriptions are found here, but they are not so abundant as at Palenque +and Copan. + + +KABAH. + +The ruins known as Kabah are on the site of what must have been one of +the most imposing and important of the more ancient cities. Here the +most conspicuous object is a stone-faced mound 180 feet square at the +base, with a range of ruined apartments at the bottom. Three or four +hundred yards from this mound is a terraced foundation 20 feet high and +200 by 142 in extent, on which stand the remains of a great edifice. At +the right of the esplanade before it is a "high range of ruined +structures overgrown with trees, with an immense back wall on the outer +line of the esplanade perpendicular to the bottom of the terrace." On +the left is another range of ruined buildings, and in the centre a stone +inclosure 27 feet square and 7 feet high, with sculptures and +inscriptions around the base. Some of the ornamentation of this building +has been described in the strongest terms of admiration. Mr. Stephens +said of it, "The cornice running over the doorways, tried by the +severest rules of art recognized among us, would embellish the +architecture of any known era." At Uxmal the walls were smooth below the +cornice; here they are covered with decorations from top to bottom. + +This field of ruins is extensive, and only a portion of it has been +examined. It is so overgrown that exploration is very difficult. The +buildings and mounds are much decayed, and they seem to be very old. It +is believed that ruined edifices of which nothing is known are hidden +among the trees in places which no explorer has approached. Mr. Stephens +gave the first account of Kabah, and described three other important +edifices besides that already named. One of these he thought was, when +entire, the most imposing structure at Kabah. It was 147 feet long by +106 wide, and had three distinct stories, each successive story being +smaller than that below it. Another, standing on the upper terrace of an +elevated foundation 170 feet long by 110 broad, was 164 feet in length, +and comparatively narrow. It is mentioned as a peculiarity of this +edifice that it had pillars in its doorways, used as supports. The +other, found standing on a terrace, is also long and narrow, and has a +comparatively plain front. + +Remains of other buildings are visible, but in all cases they are so +completely in ruins as to be little more than heaps of debris. Some of +the ruins in the woods beyond that part of the field which is most +accessible, are visible from the great mound described. A resolute +attempt to penetrate the forest brought the explorers in view of great +edifices standing on an elevated terrace estimated to be 800 feet long +by 100 feet wide. The decorations seemed to have been abundant and very +rich, but the structures were in a sad state of dilapidation. One +remarkable monument found at Kabah resembles a triumphal arch. It stands +by itself on a ruined mound apart from the other structures. It is +described as a "lonely arch, having a span of 14 feet," rising on the +field of ruins "in solitary grandeur." Figure 41 gives a view of it. + +[Illustration: Fig. 41.--Ruined Arch at Kabah.] + +Kabah was an ancient city. The ruins are old, and the city may have +belonged to the first age of the Maya period. + + +CHICHEN-ITZA. + +The ruins of Chichen-Itza are situated east of Mayapan, about half way +between the eastern and western coasts of the peninsula of Yucatan. A +public road runs through the space of ground over which they are spread. +The area covered by them is something less than a mile in diameter. The +general character of the ruined structures found here is in every +respect like that shown by ruins already described. + +One of the great buildings at this place has a rude, unornamental +exterior, and does not stand on an artificial terrace, although the +ground before it was excavated so as to give the appearance of an +elevated foundation. It is one hundred and forty-nine feet long by +forty-eight deep. Its special peculiarity consists of a stone lintel, in +a very dark inner room, which has an inscription and a sculptured figure +on the under side. The writing closely resembles that seen at Palenque +and Copan. Was this sculptured stone made originally for the place it +now occupies, or was it taken from the ruins of some older city which +flourished and went to decay before Chichen-Itza was built? + +Another structure seen here closely resembles Las Monjas at Uxmal, and +bears the same name, but it differs somewhat from the Uxmal Monjas in +arrangement. In the descriptions, special mention is made of "the +richness and beauty" of its ornaments. + +A noticeable edifice connected with the Monjas, called the "Church," is +26 feet long, 14 deep, 31 high, and has three cornices, the spaces +between them being covered with carved ornaments. There is but one room +in it. One of the most picturesque ruins at Chichen-Itza is circular in +form, and stands on the upper level of a double-terraced platform. It is +22 feet in diameter, and has four doors, which face the cardinal points. +Above the cornice it slopes gradually almost to a point, and the top is +about 60 feet above the ground. The grand staircase of 20 steps, leading +up to this building, is 45 feet wide, and has a sort of balustrade +formed of the entwined bodies of huge serpents. At some distance from +this is the ruined structure known as the "Casa Colorada," or Red House. +This is shown in Figure 42. + +[Illustration: Fig. 42.--Casa Colorada.] + +It is 43 feet long by 23 deep, and stands on a platform 62 feet long by +55 wide. It was ornamented above the cornice, but the decorations are +much defaced by decay. A stone tablet extending the whole length of the +back wall, inside, is covered by an inscription. + +A remarkable structure is found at this place, which Mr. Stephens called +the "Gymnasium, or Tennis Court." It consists of two immense parallel +walls 274 feet long, 30 thick, and 120 apart. On elevations facing the +two ends of the open space between them, 100 feet from the ends of the +walls, stand two edifices much ruined, but showing, in their remains, +that they were richly ornamented. Midway in the length of the walls, +facing each other, and 20 feet above the ground, are two massive stone +rings or circles 4 feet in diameter, each having in the centre a hole 1 +foot and 7 inches in diameter. On the borders around these holes two +entwined serpents are sculptured, as seen in Figure 43. + +There was a similar structure in the old city of Mexico, and remains of +one like it are found at Mayapan. They were, probably, used for games of +some kind. Among the other ruins at Chichen-Itza are the remains of a +lofty edifice which has two high ranges or stories. On the outside the +ornamentation is simple and tasteful, but the walls of its chambers are +very elaborately decorated, mostly with sculptured designs, which seem +to have been painted. In one of the upper rooms Mr. Stephens found a +beam of sapote wood used as a lintel, which was covered with very +elegantly carved decorations. The walls of this room were covered, from +the bottom to the top of the arched ceiling, with painted designs +similar to those seen in the Mexican "picture writing." Decay had +mutilated these "pictures," but the colors were still bright. There are +indications that painting was generally used by the aboriginal builders, +even on their sculptures. The colors seen in this room were green, red, +yellow, blue, and reddish-brown. Another edifice, standing on a high +mound, is reached by means of the usual great stairway, which begins at +the bottom, with a sort of balustrade on each side, the ends of which +are stone figures of heads of immense serpents. + +[Illustration: Fig. 43.--Great Stone Ring.] + +Not far from this is a singular ruin, consisting of groups of small +columns standing in rows five abreast, the tallest being not more than +six feet high. Many of them have fallen. It is impossible to determine +how they were used, or what they mean. + + +OTHER RUINS IN YUCATAN. + +Izamal, Labna, Zayi, and some of the other ruins are sufficiently +important for special notice; but they present every where the same +characteristics, differing a little in the style or method of +ornamentation. At Labna there is among the ruins an ancient gateway, +beautiful in design and construction, a view of which is given in the +Frontispiece. The best account of some of the other ruins on this +peninsula can be found in the volumes of Mr. Stephens, entitled +"Incidents of Travel in Yucatan." At Zayi there is a singular building, +which, as seen at a distance by Mr. Stephens, "had the appearance of a +New England factory." But what seemed to be a "factory" is, in fact, +nothing more than a massive wall with oblong openings, which runs along +the middle of the roof, and rises thirty feet above it. The building was +below this wall, but the front part of it had fallen. Among the remains +at Xcoch is the great mound represented in Figure 44. + +There is a remarkable ruin at Ake, at the south, which deserves mention. +Here, on the summit of a great mound, very level, and 225 feet by 50 in +extent, stand 36 shafts or columns, in three parallel rows. The columns +are about 15 feet high and 4 feet square. The ruins of Ake, which cover +a great space, are ruder and more massive than most of the others. The +island of Cozumel and the adjacent coast of Yucatan were populous when +the Spaniards first went there, but the great towns then inhabited are +now in ruins. + +[Illustration: Fig. 44.--Great Mound at Xcoch.] + +Water is scarce on this peninsula, and a sufficient supply is not +obtained without considerable difficulty. The ancient inhabitants +provided for this lack of water by constructing aguadas or artificial +ponds. These, or many of them, doubtless, are as old as the oldest of +the ruined cities. Intelligence, much skill in masonry, and much labor +were required to construct them. They were paved with several courses of +stone laid in cement, and in their bottoms wells or cavities were +constructed. More than forty such wells were found in the bottom of one +of these aguadas at Galal, which has been repaired and restored to use. +A section of the bottom of this aguada is shown in Figure 45. In some +places long subterranean passages lead down to pools of water, which are +used in the dry season. One of these subterranean reservoirs, and the +cavernous passage leading to it, are shown in Figure 46. The reservoir +is 450 feet below the surface of the ground, and the passage leading to +it is about 1400 feet long. Branching passages, not shown, lead to two +or three other basins of water. + +[Illustration: Fig. 45.--Bottom of an Aguada.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 46.--Subterranean Reservoir.] + +The wooden lintels, which are common in Yucatan, do not appear in the +other ruins, and there is a difference in the style of ornamentation +between those at Palenque or Copan, for instance, and those at Uxmal, +but every where the architecture is regulated by the same idea, the +differences indicating nothing more than different periods and +different phases of development in the history of the same people. + +[Illustration: Fig. 47.--Plan of the Walls at Tuloom.] + +Some of the great edifices in these old ruins, such as the "Palace" at +Palenque, and the "Casa del Gobernador" at Uxmal, remind us of the +"communal buildings" of the Pueblos, and yet there is a wide difference +between them. They are not alike either in character or purpose, +although such great buildings as the "Palace" may have been designed for +the occupation of several families. There is no indication that +"communal" residences were ever common in this part of the country. At +the time of the Conquest the houses of the people were ordinary family +dwellings, made of wood, and we may reasonably suppose this fashion of +building was handed down from the earlier ages. Herrera, who supposed, +mistakenly, that all the great stone edifices were temples, said, in +his account of Yucatan, "There were so many and such stately stone +buildings that it was amazing; and the greatest wonder was that, having +no use of any metal, they were able to raise such structures, which seem +to have been temples; for their houses were all of timber, and +thatched." But they had the use of metals, and they had the art of +making some of them admirable for use in cutting stone and carving wood. + +[Illustration: Fig. 48.--Watch-tower at Tuloom.] + +Among the buildings of later date are some of those on the western +coast, which were still inhabited three hundred and fifty years ago. The +city of Tuloom was inhabited then. Figure 47 shows a ground plan of the +walls of this city, with the position of some of the ruined monuments. + +Within the walls are remains of finely constructed buildings on elevated +foundations, none of them, however, very large. One of them had a wooden +roof, and timber seems to have been considerably used here. The walls +still standing were made of hewn stone. Remains of stone edifices exist +all along this coast, but the whole region is now covered by a dense +growth of trees and other vegetation. Tuloom was seen in 1518 by +Grijalva, who sailed along the coast. At that time the island of +Cozumel, where noteworthy ruins are found, was inhabited by many people. +Figure 48 shows one of the watch-towers on the walls of Tuloom. + + + + +VI. + +ANTIQUITY OF THE RUINS. + + +The Mexican and Central American ruins make it certain that in ancient +times an important civilization existed in that part of the continent, +which must have begun at a remote period in the past. If they have any +significance, this must be accepted as an ascertained fact. A large +proportion of them had been forgotten in the forests, or become mythical +and mysterious, long before the arrival of the Spaniards. + +In 1520, three hundred and fifty years ago, the forest which so largely +covers Yucatan, Guatemala, and Chiapa was growing as it grows now; yes, +four hundred and fifty years ago, for it was there a century previous to +this date, when, the Maya kingdom being broken up, one of its princes +fled into this forest with a portion of his people, the Itzas, and +settled at Lake Peten. It was the same then as now. How many additional +centuries it had existed no one can tell. If its age could be told, it +would still be necessary to consider that the ruins hidden in it are +much older than the forest, and that the period of civilization they +represent closed long before it was established. + +In the ages previous to the beginning of this immense forest, the region +it covers was the seat of a civilization which grew up to a high degree +of development, flourished a long time, and finally declined, until its +cities were deserted, and its cultivated fields left to the wild +influences of nature. It may be safely assumed that both the +forest-covered ruins and the forest itself are far older than the Aztec +period; but who can tell how much older? Copan, first discovered and +described three hundred years ago, was then as strange to the natives +dwelling near it as the old Chaldean ruins are to the Arabs who wander +over the wasted plains of Lower Mesopotamia. Native tradition had +forgotten its history and become silent in regard to it. How long had +ruined Copan been in this condition? No one can tell. Manifestly it was +forgotten, left buried in the forest without recollection of its +history, long before Montezuma's people, the Aztecs, rose to power; and +it is easily understood that this old city had an important history +previous to that unknown time in the past when war, revolution, or some +other agency of destruction put an end to its career and left it to +become what it is now. + +Moreover, these old ruins, in all cases, show us only the cities last +occupied in the periods to which they belong. Doubtless others still +older preceded them; and, besides, it can be seen that some of the +ruined cities which can now be traced were several times renewed by +reconstructions. We must consider, also, that building magnificent +cities is not the first work of an original civilization. The +development was necessarily gradual. Its first period was more or less +rude. The art of building and ornamenting such edifices arose slowly. +Many ages must have been required to develop such admirable skill in +masonry and ornamentation. Therefore the period between the beginning of +this mysterious development of civilized life and the first builders who +used cut stone laid in mortar and cement, and covered their work with +beautifully sculptured ornaments and inscriptions, must have been very +long. + +We have no measure of the time, no clew to the old dates, nothing +whatever, beyond such considerations as I have stated, to warrant even a +vague hypothesis. It can be seen clearly that the beginning of this old +civilization was much older than the earliest great cities, and, also, +that these were much more ancient than the time when any of the later +built or reconstructed cities whose relics still exist, were left to +decay. If we suppose Palenque to have been deserted some six hundred +years previous to the Spanish Conquest, this date will carry us back +only to the last days of its history as an inhabited city. Beyond it, in +the distant past, is a vast period, in which the civilization +represented by Palenque was developed, made capable of building such +cities, and then carried on through the many ages during which cities +became numerous, flourished, grew old, and gave place to others, until +the long history of Palenque itself began. + +Those who have sought to discredit what is told of the Aztec +civilization and the empire of Montezuma have never failed to admit +fully the significance of Copan, Palenque, and Mitla. One or two +writers, pursuing the assumption that the barbarous tribes at the north +and the old Mexicans were of the same race, and substantially the same +people, have undertaken to give us the history of Montezuma's empire +"entirely rewritten," and show that his people were "Mexican savages." +In their hands Montezuma is transformed into a barbarous Indian chief, +and the city of Mexico becomes a rude Indian village, situated among the +islands and lagoons of an everglade which afforded unusual facilities +"for fishing and snaring birds." One goes so far as to maintain this +with considerable vehemence and amusing unconsciousness of absurdity. He +is sure that Montezuma was nothing more than the principal chief of a +parcel of wild Indian tribes, and that the Pueblos are wild Indians +changed to their present condition by Spanish influence. There is +something in this akin to lunacy. + +But this topic will receive more attention in another place. I bring it +to view here because those who maintain so strangely that the Aztecs +were Indian savages, admit all that is claimed for the wonderful ruins +at the south, and give them a very great antiquity. They maintain, +however, that the civilization represented by these ruins was brought to +this continent in remote pre-historic times by the people known as +Phoenicians, and their method of finding the Phoenicians at Palenque, +Copan, and every where else, is similar in character and value to that +by which they transform the Aztec empire into a rude confederacy of wild +Indians. + + +DISTINCT ERAS TRACED. + +It is a point of no little interest that these old constructions belong +to different periods in the past, and represent somewhat different +phases of civilization. Uxmal, which is supposed to have been partly +inhabited when the Spaniards arrived in the country, is plainly much +more modern than Copan or Palenque. This is easily traced in the ruins. +Its edifices were finished in a different style, and show fewer +inscriptions. Round pillars, somewhat in the Doric style, are found at +Uxmal, but none like the square, richly-carved pillars, bearing +inscriptions, discovered in some of the other ruins. Copan and Palenque, +and even Kabah, in Yucatan, may have been very old cities, if not +already old ruins, when Uxmal was built. Accepting the reports of +explorers as correct, there is evidence in the ruins that Quirigua is +older than Copan, and that Copan is older than Palenque. The old +monuments in Yucatan represent several distinct epochs in the ancient +history of that peninsula. Some of them are kindred to those hidden in +the great forest, and remind us more of Palenque than of Uxmal. Among +those described, the most modern, or most of these, are in Yucatan; they +belong to the time when the kingdom of the Mayas flourished. Many of the +others belong to ages previous to the rise of this kingdom; and in ages +still earlier, ages older than the great forest, there were other +cities, doubtless, whose remains have perished utterly, or were long ago +removed for use in the later constructions. + +The evidence of repeated reconstructions in some of the cities before +they were deserted has been pointed out by explorers. I have quoted what +Charnay says of it in his description of Mitla. At Palenque, as at +Mitla, the oldest work is the most artistic and admirable. Over this +feature of the monuments, and the manifest signs of their difference in +age, the attention of investigators has lingered in speculation. They +find in them a significance which is stated as follows by Brasseur de +Bourbourg: "Among the edifices forgotten by time in the forests of +Mexico and Central America, we find architectural characteristics so +different from each other, that it is as impossible to attribute them +all to the same people as to believe they were all built at the same +epoch." In his view, "the substructions at Mayapan, some of those at +Tulha, and a great part of those at Palenque," are among the older +remains. These are not the oldest cities whose remains are still +visible, but they may have been built, in part, upon the foundations of +cities much more ancient. + + +NOTHING PERISHABLE LEFT. + +No well considered theory of these ruins can avoid the conclusion that +most of them are very ancient, and that, to find the origin of the +civilization they represent, we must go far back into the "deeps of +antiquity." On all the fields of desolation where they exist, every +thing perishable has disappeared. Wooden lintels are mentioned, but +these can hardly be regarded as constituting an exception when the +character of the wood, and the circumstances that contributed to their +preservation, are considered. Moreover, wooden lintels seem to have been +peculiar to Yucatan, where many of the great edifices were constructed +in the later times, and some of them of perishable materials. Every +where in the older ruins, nothing remains but the artificial mounds and +foundations of earth, the stone, the cement, the stucco hard as marble, +and other imperishable materials used by the builders. + +If the edifices had all been made of wood, there would now be nothing to +show us that the older cities had ever existed. Every trace of them +would have been obliterated long before our time, and most of them would +have disappeared entirely long before the country was seen by the +Spaniards. The places where they stood, with no relics save the mounds +and pyramidal platforms, would resemble the works of our Mound-Builders, +and not a few "sound historical critics" would consider it in the +highest degree absurd to suggest that cities with such structures have +ever existed there. Under the circumstances supposed, how wisely +skepticism could talk against a suggestion of this kind at Copan, Mitla, +or Palenque! and how difficult it would be to find a satisfactory answer +to its reasonings! Nevertheless, those mysterious structures have not +wholly disappeared, and we can easily understand that there was a time +when large areas connected with them were covered with buildings of a +less durable character. + +I have referred to a writer who maintains, with more vehemence than +candor, that the Aztecs, and all the other people found in the +country, were "savages" not greatly different from the wild Indians +farther north, while he admits the significance and great antiquity of +these ruins. His conception of their antiquity is somewhat extreme, for +he says they must have existed "for thousands of years" when the +Spaniards arrived. If he had maintained that civilized communities were +there "thousands of years" previous to that time, developing the skill +in architecture, decoration, and writing, to which the monuments bear +witness, it might be possible to agree with him. Some of us, however, +would probably stipulate that he should not count too many "thousands," +nor claim a similar antiquity for the ruins now visible. It is not easy +to suppose that any of these old monuments, with their well-preserved +sculptures and inscriptions, represent the first period of the ancient +history they suggest, nor that they have existed as ruins many +"thousands of years," for the climate of Mexico and Central America does +not preserve such remains like that of Egypt. + +Nevertheless, some of them must be very old. The forest established +since the ruin began, the entire disappearance of every thing more +perishable than stone, the utter oblivion which veiled their history in +the time of Montezuma, and probably long previous to his time, all these +facts bear witness to their great antiquity. In many of them, as at +Quirigua and Kabah, the stone structures have become masses of debris; +and even at Copan, Palenque, and Mitla, only a few of them are +sufficently[TN-4] well preserved to show us what they were in the +great days of their history. Meanwhile, keep in mind that the ruined +cities did not begin their present condition until the civilization that +created them had declined; and, also, that if we could determine exactly +the date when they were deserted and left to decay, we should only reach +that point in the past where their history as inhabited cities was +brought to a close. + +Take Copan, for instance. This city may have become a ruin during the +time of the Toltecs, which began long before the Christian era, and +ended some five or six centuries probably before the country was invaded +by Cortez. It was built before their time, for the style of writing, and +many features of the architecture and ornamentation, show the +workmanship of their predecessors, judging by the historical intimations +found in the old books and traditions. We may suppose it to have been an +old city at the time of the Toltec invasion, although not one of the +first cities built by that more ancient and more cultivated people by +whom this old American civilization was originated. The present +condition of the monuments at Quirigua is still more suggestive of great +age. + + +"THE OLDEST OF CIVILIZATIONS." + +Some investigators, who have given much study to the antiquities, +traditions, old books, and probable geological history of Mexico and +Central America, believe that the first civilization the world ever saw +appeared in this part of Ancient America, or was immediately connected +with it. They hold that the human race first rose to civilized life in +America, which is, geologically, the oldest of the continents; and that, +ages ago, the portion of this continent on which the first civilizers +appeared was sunk beneath the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Usually the +ingulfing of this portion of the land is supposed to have been effected +by some tremendous convulsion of nature; and there is appeal to +recollections of such a catastrophe, said to have been preserved in the +old books of Central America, and also in those of Egypt, from which +Solon received an account of the lost Atlantis. + +According to this hypothesis, the American continent formerly extended +from Mexico, Central America, and New Granada far into the Atlantic +Ocean toward Europe and Africa, covering all the space now occupied by +the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the West India islands, and +going far beyond them toward the east and northeast. This lost portion +of the continent was the Atlantis of which the old annals of Egypt told +so much in the time of Solon, as we learn from Plato; and it was the +original seat of the first human civilization, which, after the great +cataclysm, was renewed and perpetuated in the region where we now trace +the mysterious remains of ancient cities. Those desiring to know what +can be said in support of this view of Ancient America must read the +later volumes of Brasseur de Bourbourg, especially his "Quatre Lettres +sur le Mexique," and his "Sources de l'Histoire Primitive du Mexique," +etc. He is not a perspicuous writer; he uses but little system in +treating the subject, and he introduces many fanciful speculations which +do more to embarrass than to help the discussion; but those who read +the books patiently can find and bring together all that relates to the +point in question, and consider it in their own way. They can also find +it set forth and defended in a small volume by George Catlin, entitled +"The Lifted and Subsided Rocks of America," published in London, not +long since, by Truebner and Company. + +I shall give more attention to this theory in the next chapter. I refer +to it here on account of the very great antiquity it claims for the +ancient American civilization. It represents that the advanced human +development whose crumbling monuments are studied at Copan, Mitla, and +Palenque antedates every thing else in the human period of our globe, +excepting, perhaps, an earlier time of barbarism and pastoral +simplicity; that its history goes back through all the misty ages of +pre-historic time to an unknown date previous to the beginning of such +civilization in any part of the Old World. It is hardly possible to make +it more ancient. + + +AMERICAN CITIES SEEN BY TYRIANS. + +The view just stated touches the imagination and stirs the feelings like +a genuine "wonder story;" but this should not be allowed to deny it a +fair hearing. Those who reject it should disprove it before they hasten +to pronounce it "absurd" and "impossible," else it may be suspected that +their accustomed views of antiquity are due more to education, and to +the habit of following a given fashion of thinking, than to actual +reflection. It needs demonstration; and we may reasonably suggest that, +in the present state of our knowledge of the past, demonstration is +impossible. Meanwhile, a clear historical record appears to make it +certain that flourishing towns and cities were seen and visited in +America three thousand years ago, by persons who went to them across the +Atlantic. + +It is said, more or less clearly, by more than one Greek writer, that +the Phoenicians and Carthaginians knew the way to a continent beyond +the Atlantic. One fact preserved in the annals of Tyrian commerce, and +mentioned by several ancient writers, is related by Diodorus Siculus +very particularly as a matter of authentic history. His narration begins +with the following statement: + +"Over against Africa lies a very great island, in the vast ocean, many +days' sail from Libya westward. The soil there is very fruitful, a great +part whereof is mountainous, but much likewise champaign, which is the +most sweet and pleasant part, for it is watered by several navigable +streams, and beautified with many gardens of pleasure planted with +divers sorts of trees and an abundance of orchards. The towns are +adorned with stately buildings and banqueting houses pleasantly situated +in their gardens and orchards." The great ruins in Yucatan, and +elsewhere in Mexico and Central America, bear witness that there was, +anciently, such a country as this, across the ocean, "many days' sail +from Libya westward;" but Diodorus Siculus lived before the Christian +era, and how was this known to him and others more than fifteen hundred +years before America was discovered by Columbus? He tells us as follows: +"The Phoenicians (Tyrians) having found out the coasts beyond the +Pillars of Hercules, sailed along by the coast of Africa. One of their +ships, on a sudden, was driven by a furious storm far off into the main +ocean. After they had lain under this violent tempest many days, they at +length arrived at this island." + +This reminds us of the constrained voyage of Biarni, the Northman, from +Iceland to the coast of Massachusetts, in the year 985 A.D.[163-*] He, +too, was storm-driven "many days," and in this way forced to the +discovery of New England. He started for Greenland, and finally reached +it by way of Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod. The tempest-driven ship of +the Tyrians must have been carried to the West Indies, and to the coast +of Honduras or Yucatan, where the Tyrians saw the gardens, cities, and +stately edifices. The description of what they saw brings to mind +similar accounts of what was seen in Yucatan by the Spaniards, when they +began to sail along the coast of that peninsula in the beginning of the +sixteenth century; Juan Diaz de Solis and Vincente Yanez Pincon in 1506, +and Hernandez de Cordova in 1517. They, too, saw handsome towns and +stately buildings. + +This undesigned voyage of the Tyrian ship seems to have been made +previous to the building of Gadir, or Gades. Perhaps they made other +voyages to that region, but it was a custom of the Phoenicians to be +very secret in regard to the methods and paths of their commerce. A +complete history of their commerce and navigation from the earliest +times would unquestionably give us views of the past quite as startling +to the prevalent assuming, unreasoning habits of belief, or rather +disbelief, concerning antiquity, as that hypothesis of Atlantis and the +earliest civilization. What is told by Diodorus authorizes us to suppose +that the Tyrians who went across the Atlantic as described beheld some +of the ancient American cities which are now found in ruins, for it is +certain that nothing of the kind existed any where else "many days' sail +from Libya [Northern Africa] westward." Their voyage was made more than +eleven hundred years previous to the Christian era. If the old Central +American books may be trusted, this was not very long previous to the +beginning of the Toltec domination. + +Beyond this date, the history of the "Colhuas," who are described as the +original civilizers, must have covered a very long period; how long we +may imagine, but can not know. Gadir, now Cadiz, founded eleven hundred +years previous to the Christian era, is still an inhabited city; it has +been several times reconstructed, but never deserted. When it was built, +Tartessus, then a very old city, still existed, although it was in ruins +long before Christ appeared. How long had Palenque been in existence +when that Tyrian ship was driven across the Atlantic? And how long had +that region been a region of cities and civilization? There is no +history which can answer these questions. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[163-*] See Appendix A. + + + + +VII. + +WHENCE CAME THAT OLD CIVILIZATION? + + +Various theories, some of them very wild and irrational, have been +advanced to explain the origin of what is seen in these relics of +Ancient America. If it had been the fashion to explore and study them as +their importance deserves, as Egypt and Nineveh have been explored and +studied, our knowledge of them would now be much more extensive and +valuable, and it might be possible to go farther toward a solution of +the problem they present. But not many persons have sought to explore +and understand these remains, and not more than two or three have really +sought in earnest to examine the old traditions and books of the +country. The abundant inscriptions at Palenque fade in their forest +solitude while waiting for the Champollion who shall interpret their +mysteries. Something is known, but we have no history of these old +cities, no authentic historical record of the people who built them. +Therefore theorizing has very naturally been stimulated to great +activity, and most of this theorizing has been regulated by the old, +unreasoning assumption that civilization found in any place, especially +in the olden times, must have been brought and established there as a +foreign production. Generally the hypotheses used in this case have +presumed as a matter of course that the original civilizers came to +this continent from Europe or Asia. + + +THE "LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL." + +One of these theories is (or was), that the original civilizers of +Mexico and Central America were the "lost ten tribes of Israel." This +extremely remarkable explanation of the mystery was devised very early, +and it has been persistently defended by some persons, although nothing +can be more unwarranted or more absurd. It was put forward by the +Spanish monks who first established missions in the country, a class of +men to whom the world is indebted for a great variety of amazing +contributions to the literature of hagiology; and the same men, in a way +equally conclusive, explained the sculptured crosses found in the old +ruins by assuming that the Gospel was preached in America by St. Thomas. +Lord Kingsborough adopted their views, and gave up nearly the whole of +one of his immense volumes on Mexican Antiquities to an elaborate digest +of all that had been written to explain and support these absurdities. +Others have maintained this Israelitish hypothesis without deeming it +necessary to estimate in a reasonable way what was possible to those +Israelites. + +According to this truly monkish theory, the "lost ten tribes of Israel" +left Palestine, Syria, Assyria, or whatever country they dwelt in at the +time, traversed the whole extent of Asia, crossed over into America at +Behring's Strait, went down the Pacific coast, and established a +wonderful civilization in that part of the continent where the great +ruins are found. The kingdom of the ten tribes was destroyed not long +previous to the year 700 B.C. How many years are allowed, after their +escape from captivity, for this unparalleled journey, has not yet been +ascertained. But, if such a journey had been possible, it would have +resulted in utter barbarism rather than any notable phase of civilized +life. Even the Jews who remained faithful to Moses, although important +on account of their scriptures and their religion, were not remarkable +for civilization. They were incapable of building their own Temple +without aid from the Tyrians. Moreover, there is not any where either a +fact, a suggestion, or a circumstance of any kind to show that the "lost +ten tribes" ever left the countries of Southwestern Asia, where they +dwelt after the destruction of their kingdom. They were "lost" to the +Jewish nation because they rebelled, apostatized, and, after their +subjugation by the Assyrians in 721 B.C., were to a great extent +absorbed by other peoples in that part of Asia. Some of them probably +were still in Palestine when Christ appeared. This wild notion, called a +theory, scarcely deserves so much attention. It is a lunatic fancy, +possible only to men of a certain class, which in our time does not +multiply. + + +THE "MALAY" THEORY. + +Another hypothesis, much less improbable, though not satisfactory, is +that civilization was brought to America in ancient times by the Malays. +There was a great island empire of the Malays, whose history extended +far back into pre-historic times, how far back can not now be known. It +was still in existence when the Portuguese first went to India around +the Cape of Good Hope; and we have several accounts of this empire +written by travelers who saw and described it six hundred years before +this first Indian voyage of the Portuguese was undertaken. El Mas'udi, +who was one of these travelers, used very strong terms to describe its +extent, intelligence, and power. Speaking of its sovereign, he said, +"The islands under his sceptre are so numerous that the fastest sailing +vessel is not able to go round them in two years," implying that his +sway was acknowledged by the island world over a large portion of the +Pacific. This Malayan empire was maritime and commercial; it had fleets +of great ships; and there is evidence that its influence reached most of +the Pacific islands. This is shown by the fact that dialects of the +Malay language have been found in most of these islands as far in this +direction as Easter Island. The language of the Sandwich Islanders, for +instance, is Malayan, and has a close relationship to that now spoken in +the Malay islands. + +The metropolis of this great empire was in the island of Java, where old +ruins still bear witness to the former "civilization, wealth, and +splendor" celebrated by El Mas'udi. Mr. A. R. Wallace, in his work on +the Malay Archipelago, says, "Few Englishmen are aware of the number and +beauty of the architectural remains in Java. They have never been +popularly illustrated or described, and it will therefore take most +persons by surprise to learn that they far surpass those of Central +America, perhaps even those of India." The purpose of his visit to the +island did not allow him to explore ruins, but he describes some of +them. He saw what still remains of an ancient city called "Modjo-pahit," +and says, "There were two lofty brick masses, apparently the sides of a +gateway. The extreme perfection and beauty of the brick-work astonished +me. The bricks are exceedingly fine and hard, with sharp angles and true +surfaces. They were laid with great exactness, without visible mortar or +cement, yet somehow fastened together so that the joints are hardly +perceptible, and sometimes the two surfaces coalesce in a most +incomprehensible manner. Such admirable brick-work I have never seen +before or since. There was no sculpture here, but abundance of bold +projections and finely-worked mouldings. Traces of buildings exist for +many miles in every direction, and almost every road and pathway shows a +foundation of brick-work beneath it, the paved roads of the old city." +In other places he saw sculptures and beautifully carved figures in high +relief. + +The Malays still read and write, have some literature, and retain many +of the arts and usages of civilization, but they are now very far below +the condition indicated by these ruins, and described by El Mas'udi, who +traveled among them a thousand years ago. It is by no means improbable +that their ships visited the western coast of America, and traded with +the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians in the days of their greatest power +and activity. It is not easy to believe they could fail to do so after +taking such control of Easter Island as to leave their language there; +and, according to the old traditions of both Mexico and Peru, the +Pacific coast in both countries was anciently visited by a foreign +people who came in ships. But they did not come to America as +civilizers; there is nothing Malayan in either the antiquities or the +ancient speech of these countries. + +What is known of the former great condition and power of the Malays +furnishes important suggestions relative to the ancient history of the +islands of Eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean,[170-*] as well as those +of the Indian Ocean. + +The people who inhabit the eastern side of Formosa, it is said, use a +Malay dialect, and have no resemblance whatever to the Mongols. Who can +fully explain the little known Ainos, who formerly occupied the whole, +or nearly the whole of Japan? The unmistakable traces of Malay influence +every where in the islands of the Pacific can have but one meaning. The +Malays formerly sailed on that ocean, occupied its islands, and +doubtless visited America. + +That there was communication between Eastern Asia and America in very +ancient times, through the Malays or otherwise, is in a high degree +probable. This continent was known to the Japanese and Chinese long +before the time of Columbus. Accounts of it were recorded in their books +previous to his time. They called it "Fusang," and evidently, at some +period, had been accustomed to make voyages to some part of the American +coast. But neither the Malays, the Chinese, nor the Japanese came here +as civilizers, for there is no trace of either of these peoples in the +old ruins, in the ancient language of the country, or in any thing we +know of the people whom these American ruins represent. + + +THE PHOENICIAN THEORY. + +Some of the more intelligent investigators have maintained, with no +little confidence, that this ancient American civilization came +originally from the Phoenicians. Among those who use reason in their +inquiries sufficiently to be incapable of accepting the absurdities of +monkish fancy, this hypothesis has found more favor than any other. +Wherever inquiry begins by assuming that the original civilizers came +from some other part of the world, it seems more reasonable than any +other, for more can be said to give it the appearance of probability. + +The people known to us as Phoenicians were pre-eminent as the colonizing +navigators of antiquity. They were an enlightened and enterprising +maritime people, whose commerce traversed every known sea, and extended +its operations beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" into the "great exterior +ocean." The early Greeks called them Ethiopians (not meaning either +black men or Africans), and said they went every where, establishing +their colonies and their commerce in all the coast regions, "from the +extreme east to the extreme west." But the great ages of this people are +in the distant past, far beyond the beginning of what we call history. +History has knowledge only of a few of their later communities, the +Sabeans of Southern Arabia, the Phoenicians (meaning chiefly the +Tyrians), and the Carthaginians. What a change there would be in the +prevalent conceptions of the past if we could have a complete record of +this race from the beginning of its development! + +It is not difficult to believe that communities of the Phoenician or +Ethiopian race were established all around the Mediterranean, and even +beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, in ages quite as old as Egypt or +Chaldea, and that they had communication with America before Tyre or +Sidon was built. Why did the ancients say so much of a "great Saturnian +continent" beyond the Atlantic if nobody in the pre-historic ages had +ever seen that continent? It was there, as they said and as we know; but +whence came their knowledge of it, and such knowledge as led them to +describe it as "larger than Asia (meaning Asia Minor), Europe, and Libya +together?" This ancient belief must have been due to Phoenician or +Ethiopian communication with America in earlier times, which was +imperfectly recollected, or perhaps never completely revealed to other +nations; and this must have taken place at a very remote period, for +imperfect recollection of the great continent across the Atlantic, +including what Solon heard in Egypt of Atlantis, was more ancient than +the constrained voyage of that Tyrian ship of which Diodorus Siculus +gives an account; and it can be seen that the early Greeks had a better +knowledge even of Western Europe than those of later times. A dark age, +so far as relates to geographical knowledge, set in upon the countries +around the AEgean Sea and on the coast of Asia Minor after the +independence and enterprise of Tyre and the other Phoenician cities +were destroyed by the Assyrians, toward the close of the ninth century +before Christ, which was disturbed some four hundred and fifty or five +hundred years later by the conquests of Alexander the Great. + +The known enterprise of the Phoenician race, and this ancient knowledge +of America, so variously expressed, strongly encourage the hypothesis +that the people called Phoenicians came to this continent, established +colonies in the region where ruined cities are found, and filled it with +civilized life. It is argued that they made voyages on the "great +exterior ocean," and that such navigators must have crossed the +Atlantic; and it is added that symbolic devices similar to those of the +Phoenicians are found in the American ruins, and that an old tradition +of the native Mexicans and Central Americans described the first +civilizers as "bearded white men," who "came from the East in ships." +Therefore, it is urged, the people described in the native books and +traditions as "Colhuas" must have been Phoenicians. + +But if it were true that the civilization found in Mexico and Central +America came from people of the Phoenician race, it would be true also +that they built in America as they never built any where else, that they +established a language here radically unlike their own, and that they +used a style of writing totally different from that which they carried +into every other region occupied by their colonies. All the forms of +alphabetical writing used at present in Europe and Southwestern Asia +came directly or indirectly from that anciently invented by the race to +which the Phoenicians belonged, and they have traces of a common +relationship which can easily be detected. Now the writing of the +inscriptions at Palenque, Copan, and elsewhere in the ruins has no more +relatedness to the Phoenician than to the Chinese writing. It has not a +single characteristic that can be called Phoenician any more than the +language of the inscriptions or the style of architecture with which it +is associated; therefore we can not reasonably suppose this American +civilization was originated by people of the Phoenician race, whatever +may be thought relative to the supposed ancient communication between +the two continents and its probable influence on civilized communities +already existing here. + + +THE "ATLANTIC" THEORY. + +I have already stated in general terms the hypothesis advanced by +Brasseur de Bourbourg and some other writers. This may be called the +"Atlantic" theory, for it attributes the civilization of Ancient America +to the Atlantides or Atlantic race, who occupied the lost "island of +Atlantis." Brasseur de Bourbourg has studied the monuments, writings, +and traditions left by this civilization more carefully and thoroughly +than any other man living. He has fancies which may be safely rejected, +and he has theories which, doubtless, will always lack confirmation; but +he has much, also, which demands respectful consideration. There is a +great deal in his books to provoke criticism; those well acquainted with +the antiquities and ancient speech of Egypt may reasonably give way to +a smile of incredulity while reading what he says in support of the +notion that the great civilization of Egypt also came originally from +this Atlantic race. Nevertheless, his volumes are important, because +they furnish materials which others can use more carefully, and because +he has learned to decipher some of the Central American writings and +brought to view certain paths of inquiry which others may pursue with a +more rigid method. + +As already stated, his Atlantic theory of the old American civilization +is, that it was originated on this continent, but on a portion of the +continent which is now below the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It +supposes the continent extended, anciently, from New Granada, Central +America, and Mexico in a long, irregular peninsula, so far across the +Atlantic that the Canary, Madeira, and Azores or Western Islands may be +remains of this portion of it. High mountains stood where we now find +the West India islands. Beyond these, toward Africa and Europe, was a +great extent of fertile and beautiful land, and here arose the first +civilization of mankind, which flourished many ages, until at length +this extended portion of the continent was ingulfed by a tremendous +convulsion of nature, or by a succession of such convulsions which made +the ruin complete. After the cataclysm, a part of the Atlantic people +who escaped destruction settled in Central America, where perhaps their +civilization had been previously introduced. The reasons urged in +support of this hypothesis make it seem plausible, if not probable, to +imaginative minds. + +In the first place, Brasseur de Bourbourg claims that there is in the +old Central American books a constant tradition of an immense +catastrophe of the character supposed; that this tradition existed every +where among the people when they first became known to Europeans; and +that recollections of the catastrophe were preserved in some of their +festivals, especially in one celebrated in the month of _Izcalli_, which +was instituted to commemorate this frightful destruction of land and +people, and in which "princes and people humbled themselves before the +divinity, and besought Him to withhold a return of such terrible +calamities." This tradition affirms that a part of the continent +extending into the Atlantic was destroyed in the manner supposed, and +appears to indicate that the destruction was accomplished by a +succession of frightful convulsions. Three are constantly mentioned, and +sometimes there is mention of one or two others. "The land was shaken by +frightful earthquakes, and the waves of the sea combined with volcanic +fires to overwhelm and ingulf it." Each convulsion swept away portions +of the land, until the whole disappeared, leaving the line of the coast +as it is now. Most of the inhabitants, overtaken amid their regular +employments, were destroyed; but some escaped in ships, and some fled +for safety to the summits of high mountains, or to portions of the land +which, for the time, escaped immediate destruction. Quotations are made +from the old books in which this tradition is recorded which appear to +verify his report of what is found in them. To criticise intelligently +his interpretation of their significance, one needs to have a knowledge +of those books and traditions equal at least to his own. + +In the second place, he appeals to the story of Atlantis, preserved in +the annals of Egypt, and related to Solon by the priests of Sais. It is +stated in Plutarch's life of Solon that while in Egypt "he conferred +with the priests of Psenophis, Sonchis, Heliopolis, and Sais, and +learned from them the story of Atlantis." Brasseur de Bourbourg cites +Cousin's translation of Plato's record of this story as follows: + +"Among the great deeds of Athens, of which recollection is preserved in +our books, there is one which should be placed above all others. Our +books tell that the Athenians destroyed an army which came across the +Atlantic Sea, and insolently invaded Europe and Asia; for this sea was +then navigable, and beyond the strait where you place the Pillars of +Hercules there was an island larger than Asia [Minor] and Libya +combined. From this island one could pass easily to the other islands, +and from these to the continent which lies around the interior sea. The +sea on this side of the strait (the Mediterranean) of which we speak +resembles a harbor with a narrow entrance; but there is a genuine sea, +and the land which surrounds it is a veritable continent. In the island +of Atlantis reigned three kings with great and marvelous power. They had +under their dominion the whole of Atlantis, several other islands, and +some parts of the continent. At one time their power extended into +Libya, and into Europe as far as Tyrrhenia; and, uniting their whole +force, they sought to destroy our countries at a blow, but their defeat +stopped the invasion and gave entire independence to all the countries +on this side of the Pillars of Hercules. Afterward, in one day and one +fatal night, there came mighty earthquakes and inundations, which +ingulfed that warlike people; Atlantis disappeared beneath the sea, and +then that sea became inaccessible, so that navigation on it ceased on +account of the quantity of mud which the ingulfed island left in its +place." + +This invasion took place many ages before Athens was known as a Greek +city. It is referred to an extremely remote antiquity. The festival +known as the "Lesser Panathenaea," which, as symbolic devices used in it +show, commemorated this triumph over the Atlantes, is said to have been +instituted by the mythical Erichthonius in the earliest times remembered +by Athenian tradition. Solon had knowledge of the Atlantes before he +went to Egypt, but he heard there, for the first time, this account of +their "island" and of its disappearance in a frightful cataclysm. But +Atlantis is mentioned by other ancient writers. An extract preserved in +Proclus, taken from a work now lost, which is quoted by Boeckh in his +commentary on Plato, mentions islands in the exterior sea beyond the +Pillars of Hercules, and says it was known that in one of these islands +"the inhabitants preserved from their ancestors a remembrance of +Atlantis, an extremely large island, which for a long time held dominion +over all the islands of the Atlantic Ocean." + +Brasseur de Bourbourg claims that these traditions, on both sides of the +Atlantic, mean the same thing. The "island of Atlantis," larger than +Libya and Asia Minor together, was the extended portion of the American +continent. These concurring traditions can not be devoid of historical +significance. The constant references by ancient Greek writers to the +Atlantes, who are always placed at the extremity of Europe and Africa, +on the ocean which bears their name, may reasonably be regarded as vague +and faded recollections of such a history connected with that ocean as +that implied by what was said of their island in the annals of Egypt. In +support of his view of what is meant by the traditions, he adds this +philological argument: + +"The words _Atlas_ and _Atlantic_ have no satisfactory etymology in any +language known to Europe. They are not Greek, and can not be referred to +any known language of the Old World. But in the Nahuatl language we find +immediately the radical _a_, _atl_, which signifies water, war, and the +top of the head. (Molina, _Vocab. en lengua mexicana y castellana_, +etc.) From this comes a series of words, such as _atlan_, on the border +of or amid the water, from which we have the adjective _Atlantic_. We +have also atlaca, to combat or be in agony; it means likewise to hurl or +dart from the water, and in the preterit makes _atlaz_. A city named +_Atlan_ existed when the continent was discovered by Columbus, at the +entrance of the Gulf of Uraba, in Darien, with a good harbor; it is now +reduced to an unimportant pueblo named _Acla_." + +In the third place, he quotes opinions expressed without any regard +whatever to his theory to show that scientific men who have considered +the question believe that there was formerly a great extension of the +land into the Atlantic in the manner supposed. The first quotation is +from Moreau de Saint-Mery's "Description topographique et politique de +la Partie Espagnole a l'Isle de Saint-Domingue," published in 1796, as +follows: + +"There are those who, in examining the map of America, do not confine +themselves to thinking with the French Pliny that the innumerable +islands situated from the mouth of the Orinoco to the Bahama Channel +(islands which include several _Grenadins_ not always visible in very +high tides or great agitations of the sea) should be considered as +summits of vast mountains whose bases and sides are covered with water, +but who go farther, and suppose these islands to be the tops of the most +elevated of a chain of mountains which crowned a portion of the +continent whose submersion has produced the Gulf of Mexico. But to +sustain this opinion it must be added that another vast surface of land +which united the islands of this archipelago to the continent, from +Yucatan to the mouth of the Orinoco, was submerged in the same way, and +also a third surface which connected them with the peninsula of Florida +and with whatever land may have constituted the northern termination; +for we can not imagine that these mountains whose summits appear above +water stood on the terminating line of the continent." + +He quotes, also, another authority which "can not be suspected," namely, +M. Charles Martins, who said, in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ for March +1, 1867, "Now, hydrography, geology, and botany agree in teaching us +that the Azores, the Canaries, and Madeira are the remains of a great +continent which formerly united Europe to North America." He could have +added other quotations in the same strain. Those geologists who believe +that "our continents have long remained in nearly the same relative +position" would probably give the supposed change a much greater +antiquity than Brasseur de Bourbourg would be likely to accept; and the +geological "Uniformitarians" would deny with emphasis that so great a +change in the shape of a continent was ever effected by such means, or +with such rapidity as he supposes. But the latest and most advanced +school of geological speculation does not exclude "Catastrophism," and, +therefore, will not deny the possibility of sudden and great changes by +this method. + +Doubtless the antiquity of the human race is much greater than is +usually assumed by those whose views of the past are still regulated by +mediaeval systems of chronology. Archaeology and linguistic science, not +to speak here of geology, make it certain that the period between the +beginning of the human race and the birth of Christ would be more +accurately stated if the centuries counted in the longest estimate of +the rabbinical chronologies should be changed to millenniums. And they +present also another fact, namely, that the antiquity of civilization is +very great, and suggest that in remote ages it may have existed, with +important developments, in regions of the earth now described as +barbarous, and even, as Brasseur de Bourbourg supposes, on ancient +continents or portions of continents now out of sight below the surface +of the oceans. The representation of some speculators that the condition +of the human race since its first appearance on earth has been a +condition of universal and hopeless savagery down to a comparatively +modern date, is an assumption merely, an unwarranted assumption used in +support of an unproved and unprovable theory of man's origin. Its use in +the name of science by advocates of this theory, like the theory itself, +shows that the constructive power of fancy and imagination will +sometimes supersede every thing else, and substitute its ingenious +constructions for legitimate conclusions, even in scientific +speculation. + +We may claim reasonably that Brasseur de Bourbourg's Atlantic theory is +not proved, and on this ground refuse to accept it. So far as appears, +it is a fanciful theory which can not be proved. No one is under +obligation to attempt disproving it. It may, in some cases, win +supporters by enlisting in its favor all the forces of imagination, to +which it appeals with seductive plausibility. On the other hand, it will +be rejected without much regard to what can be said in its favor, for it +interferes with current unreasoning beliefs concerning antiquity and +ancient history, and must encounter vehement contradiction from habits +of thought fixed by these beliefs. True, some of the stock views of +antiquity, by which it will be earnestly opposed, are themselves far +more destitute of foundation in either fact or reason; but this will +make no difference, as the habit of never allowing them to be subjected +to the searching power of reason does not permit such persons either to +believe or deny any thing connected with this topic in a reasonable +manner. + +Some of the uses made of this theory can not endure criticism. For +instance, when he makes it the basis of an assumption that all the +civilization of the Old World went originally from America, and claims +particularly that the supposed "Atlantic race" created Egypt, he goes +quite beyond reach of the considerations used to give his hypothesis a +certain air of probability. It may be, as he says, that for every +pyramid in Egypt there are a thousand in Mexico and Central America, but +the ruins in Egypt and those in America have nothing in common. The two +countries were entirely different in their language, in their styles of +architecture, in their written characters, and in the physical +characteristics of their earliest people, as they are seen sculptured or +painted on the monuments. An Egyptian pyramid is no more the same thing +as a Mexican pyramid than a Chinese pagoda is the same thing as an +English light-house. It was not made in the same way, nor for the same +uses. The ruined monuments show, in generals and in particulars, that +the original civilizers in America were profoundly different from the +ancient Egyptians. The two peoples can not explain each other. + +This, however, does not require us to assert positively that the Central +American "Colhuas" and the legendary Atlantes could not possibly have +been the same people, or people of the same race. Room may be left for +any amount of conjecture not inconsistent with known facts, without +making it necessary to accept a theory of the origin of the old Mexican +race which at present can neither be proved nor disproved. + + +IT WAS AN ORIGINAL CIVILIZATION. + +It has been said, very justly, by one explorer of the Mexican and +Central American ruins, that "the American monuments are different from +those of any other known people, of a new order, and entirely and +absolutely anomalous; they stand alone." The more we study them, the +more we find it necessary to believe that the civilization they +represent was originated in America, and probably in the region where +they are found. It did not come from the Old World; it was the work of +some remarkably gifted branch of the race found on the southern part of +this continent when it was discovered in 1492. Undoubtedly it was very +old. Its original beginning may have been as old as Egypt, or even +farther back in the past than the ages to which Atlantis must be +referred; and it may have been later than the beginning of Egypt. Who +can certainly tell its age? Whether earlier or later, it was original. + +Its constructions seem to have been a refined and artistic development +of a style of building different from that of any other people, which +began with ruder forms, but in all the periods of its history preserved +the same general conception. They show us the idea of the Mound-Builders +wrought out in stone and embellished by art. The decorations, and the +writing also, are wholly original. There is no imitation of the work of +any people ever known in Asia, Africa, or Europe. It appears evident +that the method of building seen in the great ruins began with the ruder +forms of mound-work, and became what we find it by gradual development, +as the advancing civilization supplied new ideas and gave higher skill. +But the culture and the work were wholly original, wholly American. + +The civilized life of the ancient Mexicans and Central Americans may +have had its original beginning somewhere in South America, for they +seem more closely related to the ancient South Americans than to the +wild Indians north of the Mexican border; but the peculiar development +of it represented by the ruins must have begun in the region where they +are found. I find myself more and more inclined to the opinion that the +aboriginal South Americans are the oldest people on this continent; that +they are distinct in race; and that the wild Indians of the North came +originally from Asia, where the race to which they belong seems still +represented by the Koraks and Chookchees found in that part of Asia +which extends to Behring's Strait. + +If, as there is reason to believe, the countries on the Mediterranean +had communication with America in very ancient times, they found here a +civilization already developed, and contributed nothing to change its +style of building and decorating cities. They may have influenced it in +other respects; for, if such communication was opened across the +Atlantic, it was probably continued for a long time, and its +interruption may or may not be due, as Brasseur de Bourbourg supposes, +to the cataclysm which ingulfed Atlantis. Religious symbols are found +in the American ruins which remind us of those of the Phoenicians, +such as figures of the serpent, which appear constantly, and the cross, +supposed by some to represent the mounting of the magnetic needle, which +was among the emblems peculiar to the goddess Astarte. A figure appears +occasionally in the sculptures, in which some have sought to recognize +Astarte, one at Palenque being described as follows: "It is a female +figure moulded in stucco, holding a child on her left arm and hand, just +as Astarte appears on the Sidonian medals." I find it impossible to see +that this figure has any resemblance whatever to the Phoenician +goddess. They are not alike either in dress, posture, or expression. +Dupaix describes it correctly in saying it represents a person +apparently "absorbed in devotion"--a worshiper, and not a goddess. +Moreover, Astarte usually appears on the medals standing on the forward +deck of a vessel, holding a cross with one hand, and pointing forward +with the other. And, finally, this figure seems to represent, not a +woman, but a priest. There was sun-worship in America, and the phallic +ceremonies existed in some places in the time of Cortez. In Asia these +ceremonies and figures of the serpent were usually associated with +sun-worship. Humboldt was sure that these symbols came to America from +the Old World. A more careful study of the subject might have led him to +modify this belief. But, whether we adopt his explanation or some other, +the traditions on both sides of the Atlantic are without meaning unless +it be admitted that there was communication between the two continents +in times of which we have no history. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[170-*] See Appendix C. + + + + +VIII. + +AMERICAN ANCIENT HISTORY. + + +If a consecutive history of the ancient people of Central America and +Mexico were ever written, it has been lost. Probably nothing of the kind +ever was written in the manner which we call history, although there +must have been regular annals of some kind. The ruins show that they had +the art of writing, and that, at the south, this art was more developed, +more like a phonetic system of writing than that found in use among the +Aztecs. The inscriptions of Palenque, and the characters used in some of +the manuscript books that have been preserved, are not the same as the +"Mexican Picture Writing." It is known that books or manuscript writings +were abundant among them in the ages previous to the Aztec period. They +had an accurate measure of the solar year and a system of chronology, +and many of their writings were historical. Among the Mayas, and in +other communities of the same family, writing was largely used in the +time of the Spaniards. It was common also among the Aztecs, but they +used "picture writing." Las Casas wrote on this point as follows: + +"It should be known that in all the commonwealths of these countries, in +the kingdoms of New Spain and elsewhere, among other professions duly +filled by suitable persons was that of chronicler and historian. These +chroniclers had knowledge of the origin of the kingdoms, and of whatever +related to religion and the gods, as well as to the founders of towns +and cities. They recorded the history of kings, and of the modes of +their election and succession; of their labors, actions, wars, and +memorable deeds, good and bad; of the virtuous men or heroes of former +days, their great deeds, the wars they had waged, and how they had +distinguished themselves; who had been the earliest settlers, what had +been their ancient customs, their triumphs, and defeats. They knew, in +fact, whatever pertained to history, and were able to give an account of +all past events. * * * These chroniclers had likewise to calculate the +days, months, and years; and though they had no writing like ours, they +had their symbols and characters through which they understood every +thing; and they had great books, which were composed with such ingenuity +and art that our characters were really of no great assistance to them. +Our priests have seen those books, and I myself have seen them likewise, +though many were burned at the instigation of the monks, who were afraid +they might impede the work of conversion." + +Books such as those here described by Las Casas must have contained +important historical information. The older books, belonging to the ages +of Copan and Palenque, went to decay doubtless long previous to his +time, in the wars and revolutions of the Toltec period, or by the wear +of time. The later books, not otherwise lost, were destroyed by Aztec +and Spanish vandalism. According to tradition, and the testimony of +writings still in existence when the Spaniards went there, the Aztec or +Mexican sovereign Ytzcoatl destroyed many of the old Toltec books. His +aim was probably to exterminate among the people all memory of the +previous times. Such things have been done with similar motives, as we +know, in other countries, by successful usurpers and conquerors. We +learn from Spanish writers that a still greater destruction of the old +books was effected by the more ignorant and fanatical of the Spanish +priests who were established in the country as missionaries after the +Conquest. This is stated by Las Casas, himself one of the missionaries. +Besides the many smaller bonfires of this fanaticism, there is record of +a great conflagration, under the auspices of Bishop Zumarraga, in which +a vast collection of these old writings was consumed. As the writing was +all on paper (which had long been used in the country), the burning was +easily accomplished. + + +THE OLD BOOKS NOT ALL LOST. + +The Franciscan and Dominican fanatics, whose learning and religion +consisted of ignorance and bigotry, hoped to exterminate among the +people all recollection of their former history, ideas, and religious +customs. A few of the books, however, escaped; none, indeed, that were +very old, for it does not appear that any of the manuscripts rescued +from destruction were written or copied earlier than the age which +closed the Aztec domination. None of the great books of annals +described by Las Casas are among them, but they relate to the ancient +times, and most of them are copies or reproductions of much older books. + +[Illustration: Fig. 49.--Inscriptions carved on Stone.] + +Among these destroying Spanish ecclesiastics, there was here and there +one who quietly secured some of the manuscripts, or copies of them. +These were kept from the flames. Others were secreted by the people; and +subsequently, in years after the conquest was completed, some of the +more intelligent churchmen wrote histories of the country, or portions +of it, which were preserved in manuscript. Sahagun wrote such a history, +which shows that he had studied the traditions and some of the old +books; this work is printed in the great collection of Lord +Kingsborough. Diego de Landa, first bishop of Yucatan, wrote a history +of the Mayas and their country, which was preserved in manuscript at +Madrid in the library of the Royal Academy of History. It is one of the +most important works on the country written by a Spaniard, because it +contains a description and explanation of the phonetic alphabet of the +Mayas. Landa's manuscript seems to have lain neglected in the library, +for little or nothing was heard of it until it was discovered and +studied by Brasseur de Bourbourg, who, by means of it, has deciphered +some of the old American writings. He says "the alphabet and signs +explained by Landa have been to me a Rosetta stone." Figure 49 +represents a specimen of the inscriptions as carved upon stone. Figure +50 gives them as they appear in manuscript. + +[Illustration: Fig. 50.--Manuscript Writing.] + +An extensive and important manuscript work, written two hundred years +ago by Francisco Ximenes, an ecclesiastic, is preserved in Guatemala. +He, being drawn to inquiries concerning the antiquities and ancient +history of the country, was able to get possession of several of the +old books, one of them being that known as "Popol-Vuh." His manuscript, +arranged in four great volumes (one of which, it is said, has +disappeared), contains valuable information in regard to the ancient +history and traditions of Guatemala. One of the volumes has a copy of +the "Popol-Vuh" in the native tongue, and another has a Spanish +translation of the work. He left also a manuscript Dictionary of the +principal Guatemalan dialects (which belong to the Maya family), +entitled "Tesoro de las Lenguas Quiche, Cakchiquel, y Tzutohil." +Probably other manuscripts of the same character exist at Madrid and in +Central America which are not yet known to those who can understand +their importance. + +As already stated, none of the great books of annals have been +discovered, but some of the old American manuscripts now preserved in +several of the libraries and private collections of Europe are +important. Three are specified as particularly valuable to students of +American antiquity: that called the "Codex Chimalpopoca," an old Toltec +book, written in the Toltec language; one now entitled the "Codex +Cakchiquel;" and the "Popol-Vuh." The latter, written in the Quiche +dialect, was translated into Spanish two hundred years ago by Ximenes, +but his translation remained in Guatemala unprinted and quite unknown +until it was discovered in our time. Brasseur de Bourbourg, who is +master of the Quiche language, and to whom we are indebted for most that +is known of the manuscripts of Ximenes, thought this Spanish translation +very imperfect; therefore he has translated the work into French. + +The "Popol-Vuh" was written in 1558 as an abridged reproduction of a +very ancient Quiche book which contained an account of the history, +traditions, religion, and cosmogony of the Quiches. The first part of it +is devoted to the cosmogony and traditional lore; the rest gives an +account of the Quiches, who, at the time of the Conquest, were the +dominant people in the Central American regions south of the great +forest. If the history were consecutive and clear, it would not take us +back into the past more than three or four centuries beyond 1558, for +the Quiche domination was probably not much older than that of the +Aztecs. But the history is not clear. Putting aside the mythical and +legendary portion of it which relates to origins and migrations, we can +see that it extends over some fourteen generations, which may indicate +that Quiche became an independent and ruling power about 1200 A.D. + +For those who study the book it is full of interest. It shows us their +conceptions of the Supreme Being and his relation to the world; it +enables us to see what they admired in character as virtue, heroism, +nobleness, and beauty; it discloses their mythology and their notions of +religious worship; in a word, it bears witness to the fact that the +various families of mankind are all of "one blood," so far, at least, as +to be precisely alike in nature. + +The cosmogony and mythical lore of the Quiches seem to have their root +in the beliefs and facts of a time far more ancient than the national +beginning of this people. In assuming the form in which we find them, +they must have passed through several phases of growth, which changed +their appearance and obscured their meaning. Manifestly the history of +the country did not begin with the Quiches. The account of the creation, +with every thing else in this cosmogony and mythology, is original, like +the civilization to which they belong. + +According to the "Popol-Vuh," the world had a beginning. There was a +time when it did not exist. Only "Heaven" existed, below which all space +was an empty, silent, unchanging solitude. Nothing existed there, +neither man, nor animal, nor earth, nor tree. Then appeared a vast +expanse of water on which divine beings moved in brightness. "They said +'earth!' and instantly the earth was created. It came into being like a +vapor; mountains rose above the waters like lobsters and were made. Thus +was the earth created by the Heart of Heaven." Next came the creation of +animals; but the gods were disappointed because the animals could +neither tell their names nor worship the Heart of Heaven. + +Therefore it was resolved that man should be created. First, man was +made of earth, but his flesh had no cohesion; he was inert, could not +turn his head, and had no mind, although he could speak; therefore he +was consumed in the water. Next, men were made of wood, and these +multiplied, but they had neither heart nor intellect, and could not +worship, and so they withered up and disappeared in the waters. A third +attempt followed: man was made of a tree called tzite, and woman of the +pith of a reed; but these failed to think, speak, or worship, and were +destroyed, all save a remnant which still exists as a race of small +monkeys found in forests. + +A fourth attempt to create the human race was successful, but the +circumstances attending this creation are veiled in mystery. It took +place before the beginning of dawn, when neither sun nor moon had risen, +and was a wonder-work of the Heart of Heaven. Four men were created, and +they could reason, speak, and see in such a manner as to know all things +at once. They worshiped the Creator with thanks for existence, but the +gods, dismayed and scared, breathed clouds on their eyes to limit their +vision, and cause them to be men and not gods. Afterward, while the four +men were asleep, the gods made for them beautiful wives, and from these +came all the tribes and families of the earth. + +No account of the rescued fragments of this old literature of Ancient +America should omit giving due credit to Chevalier Boturini, the +Milanese, who went from Italy to America in 1735 as an agent of the +Countess Santibaney, who claimed to be a descendant of Montezuma. He, +too, was a devotee, and believed that St. Thomas preached the Gospel in +America; but he had antiquarian tastes, and was sufficiently intelligent +to understand the importance of the old manuscripts which had furnished +so much fuel for the bonfires of fanaticism. During the eight years of +his residence in Mexico and Central America he hunted diligently for +those still in existence, and made a considerable collection, including +in it some of the Mexican "picture writings." But when about to leave, +he was despoiled of his treasure and flung into prison by the Spanish +viceroy. He finally left the country with a portion of them, but was +captured by an English cruiser and again despoiled. The manuscripts +left in Mexico were finally sold at auction while Humboldt was there; he +secured a portion of them. Another portion was brought to France about +1830 by M. Aubin, who made important additions to it. M. Aubin himself +spent years searching for remains of the old writings, and he has now, +it is supposed, the most valuable collection in Europe. + +It is likely that most of the recovered books may be translated by those +who can bring to the work habits of patient study and a thorough +knowledge of the native dialects. Dictionaries of these dialects, as +they were spoken at the time of the Conquest, were prepared by some of +the Spanish priests, and other facilities are not wanting. It is +surprising, however, that no one has translated the "Codex Chimalpopoca" +(which seems the most important) if the language in which it is written +is in fact sufficiently modern to be managed as easily as that of "Popol +Vuh." It must be translatable, for its general tenor is known, and +passages of it are quoted. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that he has +undertaken a translation. But who will translate the inscriptions at +Copan and Palenque? Is the language in which they were written an old +form of speech, from which the dialects of the Maya family, or a portion +of them, were derived? They have not been translated. No one has found a +clew to their meaning. The characters are understood, but they appear to +show an older form of the language, which at present can not be +deciphered. Brasseur de Bourbourg's "Rosetta Stone," discovered in +Landa's manuscript, will not serve him here. Another more potent must +be found before these old inscriptions can be made to give up their +secrets.[197-*] + + +THE ANCIENT HISTORY SKETCHED. + +It is impossible to know what was contained in the books of annals +written by the official chroniclers of these ancient American countries, +for these books are lost. They existed at the time of the Conquest; some +of them were seen and described by Las Casas; but, so far as is known, +not one of these books of regular annals, such as he described, has +escaped destruction; therefore it is impossible to know any thing +certainly of their character as histories. + +The books preserved furnish little more than vague outlines of the past, +with obscure views of distinct periods in the history, created by +successive dominations of different peoples or different branches of the +same people. What they enable us to know of the old history resembles +what is known of the early times of the Greeks, who had no ancient +histories excepting such as were furnished by their "poets of the +cycle." In one case we are told of Pelasgians, Leleges, Cadmeans, +Argives, and Eolians very much as in the other we are told of Colhuas, +Chichimecs, Quinames, and Nahuas. + +But the outline is not wholly dark; it does not exclude the possibility +of a reasonable attempt at hypothesis. When Cortez entered Mexico, the +Aztecs, Montezuma's people, had been in power more than two centuries. +Most of the ancient history, of which something is said in these books, +relates to ages previous to their time, and chiefly to their +predecessors, the Toltecs. According to these writings, the country +where the ruins are found was occupied in successive periods by three +distinct peoples, the Chichimecs, the Colhuas, and the Toltecs or +Nahuas. The Toltecs are said to have come into the country about a +thousand years before the Christian era. Their supremacy appears to have +ceased, and left the country broken up into small states, two or three +centuries before the Aztecs appeared. They were preceded by the Colhuas, +by whom this old civilization was originated and developed. The most +ancient people, those found in the country by the Colhuas, are called +Chichimecs. They are described as a barbarous people who lived by +hunting and fishing, and had neither towns nor agriculture. This term +Chichimecs appears to have been a generic appellation for all +uncivilized aborigines. Brasseur de Bourbourg says, "Under the generic +name Chichimecs, which has much embarrassed some writers, the Mexican +traditions include the whole aboriginal population of the New World, and +especially the people by whom it was first occupied at the beginning of +time." + +Some of the traditions state that the Colhuas came from the east in +ships. Sahagun mentions that a tradition to this effect was current in +Yucatan. The precise value of these traditional reports is uncertain; +but, if accepted as vague historical recollections, they could be +explained by supposing the civilized people called Colhuas came from +South America through the Caribbean Sea, and landed in Yucatan and +Tabasco. They are uniformly described as the people who first +established civilization and built great cities. They taught the +Chichimecs to cook their food, cultivate the earth, and adopt the ways +of civilized life; and the Chichimecs civilized by their influence are +sometimes called Quinames. + +The Colhuas are connected with vague references to a long and important +period in the history previous to the Toltec ages. They seem to have +been, in some respects, more advanced in civilization than the Toltecs. +What is said of events in their history relates chiefly to their great +city called Xibalba, the capital of an important kingdom to which this +name was given. The Toltecs, in alliance with the uncivilized Chichimecs +of the mountains, subjugated this city and kingdom, and thus brought to +a close the period which may be termed Colhuan. This kingdom appears to +have included Guatemala, Yucatan, Tabasco, Tehuantepec, Chiapa, +Honduras, and other districts in Central America; and it may have +included all Southern Mexico, for places north of the Tampico River are +mentioned as being within its limits when the Toltecs came into the +country. Some of the principal seats of the Colhuan civilization were in +the region now covered by the great forest. Some investigators have +sought to identify the city of Xibalba with the ruined city known to us +as Palenque. Brasseur de Bourbourg says: "Palenque appears to have been +the same city to which the books give the name of Xibalba;" but this is +nothing but conjecture. We may as reasonably suppose Copan, Quirigua, or +some other old ruin, to have been Xibalba. + +Those who attempt to believe this old American civilization was brought +across the Atlantic by the Phoenicians in very remote times, assume, +against the plain testimony of the monuments, that the Colhuas came to +America from some country on the Mediterranean. They may have come from +some other part of this continent. In my judgment, it is not improbable +that they came by sea from South America. Brasseur de Bourbourg would +say they were people of the Atlantic race, who, having escaped +destruction by the cataclysm, found their way to Yucatan and Tabasco. +But there is little beside conjecture to support any theory of their +origin. We have only the fact that, according to the old books and +traditions of the country, they occupied that region at a remote period, +and originated the civilization whose monuments are found there. +Tradition places their first settlements on the Gulf coast in Tabasco, +between Tehuantepec and Yucatan. It is inferred that the Mayas, +Tzendals, Quiches, and some other communities of the old race, were +descendants of the Colhuas, their speech being more highly developed +than that of any native community not connected with this family, and +their written characters having a close resemblance to those of the +oldest inscriptions. + + +THE TOLTECS OUR MOUND-BUILDERS. + +As the remains of the Mound-Builders show clearly that they had +commercial intercourse with the Mexican and Central American countries, +and as it seems probable that they had otherwise a very close relation +to the people of those countries, it would be surprising to find no +mention of their country in the old books and traditions of the Central +Americans and Mexicans. If we could have the lost books, especially +those of the more ancient time, and learn to read them, it might be +possible to know something of the origin and history of the +Mound-Builders. It is believed that distinct reference to their country +has been found in the books still in existence, and there appears to be +reason for this belief. Brasseur de Bourbourg, one of the few +investigators who have explored them, says: + +"Previous to the history of the Toltec domination in Mexico, we notice +in the annals of the country two facts of great importance, but equally +obscure in their details: first, the tradition concerning the landing of +a foreign race, conducted by an illustrious personage, who came from an +eastern country; and, second, the existence of an ancient empire known +as Huehue-Tlapalan, from which the Toltecs or Nahuas came to Mexico, in +consequence of a revolution or invasion, and from which they had a long +and toilsome migration to the Aztec plateau." + +He believes that Huehue-Tlapalan was the country of the Mound-Builders +in the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. According to the native books he +has examined, it was somewhere at a distance in the northeast; and it is +constantly said that some of the Toltecs came by land and some by sea. +Sahagun learned from the old books and traditions, and stated in the +introduction to the first book of his history, that the Toltecs came +from that distant northeastern country; and he mentions a company that +came by sea, settled near the Tampico River, and built a town called +Panuco. Brasseur de Bourbourg finds that an account of this or another +company was preserved at Xilanco, an ancient city situated on the point +of an island between Lake Terminos and the sea, and famous for its +commerce, wealth, and intelligence. The company described in this +account came from the northeast in the same way, it is said, to the +Tampico River, and landed at Panuco. It consisted of twenty chiefs and a +numerous company of people. Torquemada found a record which describes +them as people of fine appearance. They went forward into the country +and were well received. He says they were industrious, orderly, and +intelligent, and that they worked metals, and were skillful artists and +lapidaries. All the accounts say the Toltecs came at different times, by +land and sea, mostly in small companies, and always from the northeast. +This can be explained only by supposing they came by sea from the mouth +of the Mississippi River or from the Gulf coast near it, and by land +through Texas. But the country from which they came was invariably +Huehue-Tlapalan. + +Cabrera says Huehue-Tlapalan was the ancient country of the Toltecs. Its +simple name was Tlapalan, but they called it Huehue, old, to distinguish +it from three other Tlapalans which they founded in the districts of +their new kingdom. Torquemada says the same. We are not authorized to +reject a fact so distinctly stated and so constantly reported in the old +books. The most we can do against it with any show of reason is to +receive it with doubt. Therefore it seems not improbable that the "Old +Tlapalan" of Central American tradition was the country of our +Mound-Builders. + +Another circumstance mentioned is not without significance. It is said, +in connection with this account of the Toltec migration, that +Huehue-Tlapalan was successfully invaded by Chichimecs, meaning +barbarous aboriginal tribes, who were united under one great leader. +Here is one statement (a little condensed) touching this point: "There +was a terrible struggle, but, after about thirteen years, the Toltecs, +no longer able to resist successfully, were obliged to abandon their +country to escape complete subjugation. Two chiefs guided the march of +the emigrating nation. At length they reached a region near the sea +named 'Tlapalan-Conco,' where they remained several years. But they +finally undertook another migration and reached Mexico, where they built +a town called 'Tollanzinco,' and later the city of Tullan, which became +the seat of their government." + +This is substantially what is told of the defeat and migrations of the +Toltecs. The history of Ixtlilxochitl adds doubtful modifications and +particulars not found in the "Codex Chimalpopoca." (See Quatre Lettres, +etc.) This Chichimec invasion of Huehue-Tlapalan is placed at a period +which, in the chronology of the native books, was long previous to the +Christian era, and is mentioned to explain the beginning of the Toltec +movement toward Mexico; but the account of it is obscure. + +To find a system of chronology in these old books is not surprising when +we consider that even the Aztecs of Montezuma's time knew enough of +astronomy to have a correct measure of the year. The Aztecs adopted the +methods of astronomy and chronology which were used by their +predecessors. They divided the year into eighteen months of twenty days +each; but, as this gave the year only three hundred and sixty days, five +supplementary days were added to each year, and a sixth day to every +fourth year. The bissextile is known to have been used by the Mayas, +Tzendals, and Quiches, and it was probably common. + +We can not reasonably refuse to give some attention to their chronology, +even while doubting its value as a means of fixing dates and measuring +historical periods. Its method was to count by equal periods of years, +as we count by centuries, and their chronology presents a series of +periods which carries back their history to a very remote time in the +past. Brasseur de Bourbourg says: "In the histories written in the +Nahuatl language, the oldest certain date is nine hundred and fifty-five +years before Christ." This, he means, is the oldest date in the history +of the Nahuas or Toltecs which has been accurately determined. The +calculation by which it is found is quoted from the later portion of the +"Codex Chimalpopoca" as follows: "Six times 400 years plus 113 years" +previous to the year 1558 A.D. This is given as the date of a division +of the land by the Nahuas. The division was made 2513 years previous to +1558 A.D., or in 955 B.C. If this date could be accepted as authentic, +it would follow that the Nahuas or Toltecs left Huehue-Tlapalan more +than a thousand years previous to the Christian era, for they dwelt a +long time in the country of Xibalba as peaceable settlers before they +organized the civil war which raised them to power. + + +SOME CONFIRMATION OF THIS HISTORY. + +That the ancient history of the country was something like what is +reported in the old writings seems not improbable when we consider the +condition in which the native population was found three hundred and +fifty years ago. This shows that Mexico and Central America had been +subjected to disrupting political changes caused by violent transfers of +supreme influence from one people to another several times in the course +of a long history. Such a history is indicated by the monuments, and its +traces were noticeable in peculiarities of the native inhabitants of the +various districts at the time of the Spanish Conquest. They are still +manifest to travelers who study the existing representatives of the old +race and the old dialects sufficiently to find them. There were several +distinct families or groups of language, and, in many cases, the people +represented by each family of dialects were in a state of separation or +disruption. To a considerable extent they existed in fragmentary +communities, sometimes widely separated. + +The most important group of related dialects was that which included the +speech of the Mayas, Quiches, and Tzendals, which, it is supposed, +represented the language of the original civilizers, the Colhuas. +Dialects of this family are found on both sides of the great forest. +There were other dialects supposed to indicate Toltec communities; and +there were communities south of Mexico, in Nicaragua, and even farther +south, which used the Aztec speech. Very likely all these differing +groups of language came originally from the same source, and really +represent a single race, but comparative philology has not yet reported +on them. Mention is made of another people, called Waiknas or Caribs, +and conjecture sees in them remains of the aboriginal barbarians termed +Chichimecs. They dwelt chiefly in the "dense, dank forests" found +growing on the low alluvion of the Atlantic coast. So far as is known, +their speech had no affinity with that of any other native community. +People of this race constitute a chief element in the mixed population +of the "Mosquito Coast," known as Moscos. + +In Yucatan the old inhabitants were Mayas, and people using dialects +related to theirs were numerous in Tabasco, Chiapa, Guatemala, and the +neighboring districts, while all around the country were scattered +communities supposed to be of Toltec origin, as their speech could not +be classed with these dialects nor with that of the Aztecs. The most +reasonable explanation of this condition of the people is that furnished +by the old chronicles and traditions. The country must have been +occupied, during successive periods, by different peoples, who are +represented by these broken communities and unlike groups of language. +When all the native writings still in existence shall have been +translated, and especially when the multitude of inscriptions found in +the ruins shall have been deciphered, we may be able to see in a clearer +light the ruins, the people, and their history. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[197-*] See Appendix D. + + + + +IX. + +THE AZTEC CIVILIZATION. + + +If a clever gleaner of the curious and notable things in literature +should write on the curiosities of historical speculation, he would be +sure to take some account of "A New History of the Conquest of Mexico" +published in Philadelphia in 1859. The special aim of this work is to +deny utterly the civilization of the Aztecs. The author has ability, +earnestness, and knowledge of what has been written on the subject; he +writes with vigor, and with a charming extravagance of dogmatic +assumption, which must be liked for its heartiness, while it fails to +convince those who study it. This writer fully admits the significance +of the old ruins, and maintains that a great civilization formerly +existed in that part of the continent. This he ascribes to the +Phoenicians, while he gives it an extreme antiquity, and thinks the +present ruins have existed as ruins "for thousands of years," explaining +these words to mean that their history "is separated by a cycle of +thousands of years from the civilization of our day." In his view, the +people who constructed the old cities were subjugated and destroyed, +long ages since, "by inroads of northern savages," who were the only +people in the country when the Spaniards arrived. + +The chief business of this "New History" is to set forth these views. +Under the treatment of its author, Montezuma becomes a rude Indian +sachem, his kingdom a confederation of barbarous Indian tribes like that +of the Iroquois, the city of Mexico a cluster of mud huts or wigwams in +an everglade, its causeways rude Indian footpaths, its temples and +palaces pure fictions of lying Spanish romance, and all previous +histories of the Aztecs and their country extravagant inventions with a +"Moorish coloring." He would have us believe that what he calls "the +pretended civilization of Montezuma and his Aztecs" was a monstrous +fable of the Spaniards, a "pure fabrication," encouraged by the civil +authority in Spain, and supported by the censorship of the Inquisition. +Therefore he undertakes to destroy "the fabric of lies," unveil those +"Mexican savages" the Aztecs, and tell a "new" story of their actual +character and condition. + +Of course, views so preposterous do not find much favor. If the Mexicans +had been nothing more than this, the experience of Cortez among them +would have been like that of De Soto in his long and disastrous march +through Florida, the Gulf regions, and the country on the lower +Mississippi. Cortez and his men had a different fortune, because their +march was among people who had towns, cities, settled communities, and +the appliances and accumulations of civilized life. Doubtless some of +the Spaniards exaggerated and romanced for effect in Spain, but they did +not invent either the city of Mexico or the kingdom of Montezuma. We can +see clearly that the Mexicans were a civilized people, that Montezuma's +city of Mexico was larger than the present city, and that an important +empire was substantially conquered when that city was finally subjugated +and destroyed. + +That the ancient city of Mexico was a great city, well built partly of +timber and partly of cut stone laid in a mortar of lime, appears in all +that is said of the siege, and of the dealings of Cortez with its people +and their rulers. Montezuma, wishing to remove false notions of the +Spaniards concerning his wealth, said to Cortez during their first +interview, "The Tlascalans, I know, have told you that I am like a god, +and that all about me is gold, silver, and precious stones; but you now +see that I am mere flesh and blood, and that _my houses are built of +lime, stone, and timber_." Lime, stone, and timber! This was the poorest +view of the old city of Mexico that could be given to those who saw it. +It is not easy to understand how a denial of the Aztec civilization was +possible. + + +THE DISCOVERY AND INVASION. + +The first inhabitants of that part of the continent seen by Spaniards +were Mayas from Yucatan. Columbus met them in 1502 at an island near +Ruatan, off the coast of Honduras. While he was stopping at this island, +these Mayas came there "in a vessel of considerable size" from a port in +Yucatan, thirty leagues distant. It was a trading vessel, freighted with +a variety of merchandise, and it used sails. Its cargo consisted of a +variety of textile fabrics of divers colors, wearing apparel, arms, +household furniture, and cacao, and the crew numbered twenty men. +Columbus, who treated them very kindly, described these strangers as +well clothed, intelligent, and altogether superior to any other people +he had discovered in America. Adventurers hunting for prey soon began to +make voyages in that direction and report what they saw. Sailing along +the coast of Yucatan, they discovered cities, and "the grandeur of the +buildings filled them with astonishment." On the main land and on one or +two islands they saw great edifices built of stone. The seeming riches +and other attractions of the country led the Spaniards to invade +Yucatan, but they were defeated and driven off. At this time they gained +considerable knowledge of Mexico, and persuaded themselves that immense +wealth could be found there. + +Finally, in March, 1519, Cortez landed near the place where Vera Cruz +was afterward built, and moved on through the country toward the city of +Mexico. Studying, in all the histories of the Conquest, only their +incidental references to the civilized condition of the people, we can +see plainly what it was. As the invaders approached Tlascala, they found +"beautiful whitewashed houses" scattered over the country. The +Tlascalans had towns, cities, agriculture, and markets. Cortez found +among them all that was needed by his troops. His supremacy in Tlascala +was easily established; and it was not difficult to induce the people to +aid him cordially in his operations against Mexico, for they hated the +Aztecs, by whom they had recently been subjugated. In a description of +their capital, he stated that it was as large as the city of Granada, in +Spain. + +He went next to Cholulu, where, near the great mound, was an important +city, in which they saw a "great plaza." Bernal Diaz said of this city, +"I well remember, when we first entered this town and looked up to the +elevated white temples, how the whole place put us completely in mind of +Valladolid." The "white temples" were "elevated" because they stood on +high pyramidal foundations, just as they are seen in the old ruins. It +is probable, however, that these were built of adobe bricks or of +timber. The city very likely was much older than the Aztec empire. A +Spanish officer named Ordaz ascended Mount Popocatapetl, and one thing +he saw was "the Valley of Mexico, with its city, its lagunas and +islands, and its scattered hamlets, a busy throng of life being every +where visible." + + +THE CITY OF MEXICO. + +At the city of Mexico Cortez had a great reception, negotiation having +established the form of friendly relations between him and Montezuma. +Quarters were provided in the city for the Spanish portion of his army, +a vast edifice being set apart for their use which furnished ample +accommodations for the whole force. The place could be entered only by +causeways. They marched on a wide avenue which led through the heart of +the city, beholding the size, architecture, and beauty of the Aztec +capital with astonishment. This avenue was lined with some of the finest +houses, built of a porous red stone dug from quarries in the +neighborhood. The people gathered in crowds on the streets, on the flat +roofs, in the doorways, and at the windows to witness the arrival of the +Spaniards. Most of the streets were narrow, and had houses of a much +less imposing character. The great streets went over numerous canals, on +well-built bridges. Montezuma's palace was a low, irregular pile of +stone structures extending over a large space of ground. + +Among the _teocallis_ of the Aztec capital the "great temple" stood +foremost. It was situated in the centre of a vast inclosure, which was +surrounded by a heavy wall eight feet high, built of prepared stone. +This inclosure was entered by four gateways opening on the four +principal streets of the city. The "temple" was a solid structure built +of earth and pebbles, and faced from top to bottom with hewn stone laid +in mortar. It had five stages, each receding so as to be smaller than +that below it. In general outline it was a rectangular pyramid three +hundred feet square at the base, with a level summit of considerable +extent, on which were two towers, and two altars where "perpetual fires" +were maintained. Here the religious ceremonies were conducted. The +ascent was by a circular flight of steps on the outside which went four +times around the structure. The water in the lagoons being salt, the +city was supplied with water by means of an aqueduct which extended to +Chapultepec. + +Such substantially is the account given of the old city of Mexico and +its great temple by every writer who saw them before the Conquest, and +all the struggles which took place for possession of this capital had a +character that would have been impossible any where save in a large +city. In every account of the attacks on the great temple, we can see +that it was a great temple; and we may perceive what the old city was by +reading any account of the desperate and bloody battles in which the +Spaniards were driven from it, after standing a ten days' siege in the +great stone building they occupied. + + +THE CONQUEST. + +This battle took place in the latter part of June, 1520, several months +after the friendly reception, and was occasioned by the treacherous and +most atrocious proceedings of the Spaniards, which drove the Mexicans to +madness. Nearly a year passed before Cortez made another attack on the +Mexican capital. During this time he found means among the Tlascalans to +build a flotilla of thirteen vessels, which were transported in pieces +to Lake Tezcuco and there put together. This would have been impossible +if he had not found in the country suitable tools and mechanics. By +means of these vessels armed with cannon, and assisted by a great army +of native allies consisting of Tlascalans, Cholulans, and many others, +he took control of the lagunas, secured possession of the causeways, and +attacked the city in vain for forty-five days, although his men several +times penetrated to the great square. He now resolved to enter by +gradual advances, and destroy every thing as he went. This he did, +burning what was combustible, and tearing down most of the edifices +built of stone; nevertheless, thirty or forty days more passed before +this work of destruction was complete. The inhabitants of the city were +given over to extermination. + +The conquerors proceeded immediately to rebuild the city, native +architects chiefly being employed to do the work. Materials for the +rebuilding were taken from the ruins; probably many of the old Aztec +foundations were retained, and there may now be edifices in the city of +Mexico which stand on some of these foundations. Twelve acres of the +great inclosure of the Aztec temple were taken for a Spanish plaza, and +are still used for this purpose, while the site of the temple is +occupied by a cathedral. The plaza is paved with marble. Like the rest +of the great inclosure, it was paved when the Spaniards first saw it, +and the paving was so perfect and so smooth that their horses were +liable to slip and fall when they attempted to ride over it. + +Some relics recovered from ruins of the old temple have been preserved. +Among them is the great Aztec calendar which belonged to it, on which +are carved hieroglyphics representing the months of the year. This +calendar was found in 1790 buried in the great square. It was carved +from a mass of porous basalt, and made eleven feet eight inches in +diameter. It was a fixture of the Aztec temple; it is now walled into +one side of the cathedral. The "stone of sacrifice," another relic of +the temple, nine feet in diameter, and covered with sculptured +hieroglyphics, can still be seen in the city, and in the suburbs, it is +said, vestiges of the ruins of long lines of edifices can be traced. +Calendars made of gold and silver were common in Mexico. Before Cortez +reached the capital, Montezuma sent him two "as large as cartwheels," +one representing the sun, the other the moon, both "richly carved." +During the sack of the city a calendar of gold was found by a soldier in +a pond of Guatemozin's garden. But these Spaniards did not go to Mexico +to study Aztec astronomy, nor to collect curiosities. In their hands +every article of gold was speedily transformed into coin. + +In every Spanish description of the city we can see its resemblance to +cities whose ruins are found farther south. If the Spaniards had +invented the temple, they would not have made it unlike any thing they +had ever before seen or heard of, by placing its altar on the summit of +a high pyramid. This method of constructing temples is seen in the old +ruins, but it was unknown to Cortez and his men until they found it in +Mexico. The only reasonable or possible explanation of what they said of +it is, that the temple actually existed at the Aztec capital, and that +the Spaniards, being there, described what they saw. The uniform +testimony of all who saw the country at that time shows that the +edifices of towns and cities, wherever they went, were most commonly +built of cut stone laid in mortar, or of timber, and that in the more +rural districts thatch was frequently used for the roofs of dwellings. +Moreover, we are told repeatedly that the Spaniards employed "Mexican +masons," and found them "very expert" in the arts of building and +plastering. There is no good reason to doubt that the civilized +condition of the country, when the Spaniards found it, was superior to +what it has been at any time since the Conquest. + + +WHO WERE THE AZTECS? + +The Mexicans, or Aztecs, subjugated by Cortez, were themselves invaders, +whose extended dominion was probably less than two hundred and fifty +years old, although they had been much longer in the Valley of Mexico. +There were important portions of the country, especially at the south, +to which their rule had not been extended. In several districts besides +those of the Mayas and the Quiches the natives still maintained +independent governments. The Aztec conquest of the central region, +between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, was completed only a few +years previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, and the conquest of this +region had not been fully secured at some points, as appeared in the +readiness of the Tlascalans and others to act in alliance with Cortez. +But the Aztecs did not come from abroad. They belonged in the country, +and seem to have been originally an obscure and somewhat rude branch of +the native race. + +It is very probable that the Colhuas and Nahuas or Toltecs of the old +books and traditions, together with the Aztecs, were all substantially +the same people. They established in the country three distinct family +groups of language, it is said, but the actual significance of this +difference in speech has not been clearly determined. These unlike +groups of language have not been sufficiently analyzed and studied to +justify us in assuming that they did not all come from the same original +source, or that there is a more radical difference between them than +between the Sclavonic, Teutonic, and Scandinavian groups in Europe. +These ancient Americans were distinct from each other at the time of the +Conquest, but not so distinct as to show much difference in their +religious ideas, their mythology, their ceremonies of worship, their +methods of building, or in the general character of their civilization. + +If the Toltecs and our Mound-Builders were the same people, they +probably went from Mexico and Central America to the Valley of the +Mississippi at a very remote period, as Colhuan colonies, and after a +long residence there returned so much changed in speech and in other +respects as to seem a distinct people. The Aztecs appear to have dwelt +obscurely in the south before they rose to power. They must have been at +first much less advanced in civilization than their predecessors, but +ready to adopt the superior knowledge and methods of the country they +invaded. + + +THEY CAME FROM THE SOUTH. + +It has sometimes been assumed that the Aztecs came to Mexico from the +north, but there is nothing to warrant this assumption, nothing to make +it probable, nothing even to explain the fact that some persons have +entertained it. People of the ancient Mexican and Central American race +are not found farther north than New Mexico and Arizona, where they are +known as Pueblos, or Village Indians. In the old times that was a +frontier region, and the Pueblos seem to represent ancient settlers who +went there from the south. There was the border line between the Mexican +race and the wild Indians, and the distinction between the Pueblos and +the savage tribes is every way so uniform and so great that it is +well-nigh impossible to believe they all belong to the same race. In +fact, no people really like our wild Indians of North America have ever +been found in Mexico, Central America, or South America. + +Investigation has made it probable that the Mexicans or Aztecs went to +the Valley of Mexico from the south. Mr. Squier says: "The hypothesis of +a migration from Nicaragua and Cuscutlan to Anahuac is altogether more +consonant with probabilities and with tradition than that which derives +the Mexicans from the north; and it is a significant fact, that in the +map of their migrations presented by Gemelli, the place of the origin of +the Aztecs is designated by the sign of water (_atl_ standing for +Aztlan), a pyramidal temple with grades, and near these a palm-tree." +Humboldt thought this indicated a southern origin. + +Communities of Aztecs still exist as far south as Nicaragua and Costa +Rica, with some variations in their speech, but not so great, probably, +as to make them unintelligible to each other. The Spanish historian, +Oviedo, called attention to the fact that an isolated community of +Aztecs was found occupying the territory between Lake Nicaragua and the +Pacific. They were called Niquirans, and Mr. Squier seems to have +verified this fact. The result of his investigation is that the people +of the district specified are Aztecs, and that, "from the comparative +lateness of the separation or some other cause," their distinguishing +features were easily recognized, their speech being nearly identical +with the native speech heard in the Valley of Mexico. Oviedo said of +them: "The Niquirans who speak the Mexican language have the same +manners and appearance as the people of New Spain (Mexico)." In the +neighboring districts, communities closely related to the Mayas are +found, and others that appear to belong to the Toltec family. Aztecs are +found still farther south, and there appear to be conclusive reasons for +believing that Montezuma's people went from the south to Anahuac or +Mexico. + +According to the native histories as reported by Clavigero, the Aztecs +began their migration northward from Aztlan about the year 1160 A.D., +and founded the more important of their first settlements in the Valley +of Mexico about the year 1216 A.D., a little over three hundred years +previous to the Spanish invasion. Another result of investigation adds a +century to this estimate. This result is reached as follows: the +Mexicans stated constantly that their calendar was reformed some time +after they left Aztlan, and that in the year 1519 eight cycles of +fifty-two years each and thirteen years of a ninth cycle had passed +since that reform was made. This carries back the beginning of their +migration considerably beyond the year 1090 A.D. + +Their sway seems to have been confined for a long time to Anahuac. They +grew to supremacy in part probably by the arrival of new immigrants, +but chiefly by conquest of the small states into which the country was +divided. They could learn from their more cultivated neighbors to reform +their calendar, compute time with greater accuracy, and make important +improvements in other respects. They must also have modified their +religious system to some extent, for it does not appear that they had +adopted the worship of Kukulcan (whose name they transformed into +Quetzalcohuatl) before they came to Mexico. But they brought with them +an effective political organization, and very likely they were better +fitted than most of their new neighbors for the rude work of war. + +Before the city of Mexico was built, the seat of their government was at +Tezcuco. The character of their civilization after they rose to +pre-eminence was shown in their organization, in their skill as +builders, in the varied forms of their industry, and in the development +of their religious ceremonies. It is manifest that they adopted all the +astronomical knowledge and appliances found in the neighboring states +which they subjugated. Their measure of the solar year and their +numbering of the months were precisely like what had long existed in +this part of the country; and they had the same astronomical implements +or contrivances. One of these contrivances, found at Chapultepec, is +described as follows: + +"On the horizontal plane of a large, carefully-worked stone, three +arrows were cut in relief, so that the shaft ends came together and made +equal angles in the centre. The points were directed eastward, the two +outside showing the two solstitial points, and that in the centre the +equinoctial. A line on the carved band holding them together was in +range with holes in two stones which stood exactly north and south. A +cord drawn tightly through the holes in these two stones would, at the +moment of noon, cast its shadow on the line drawn across the band. It +was a perfect instrument for ascertaining east and west with precision, +and for determining the exact time by the rising and setting of the sun +at the equinoxes and solstices. This stone has now been broken up and +used to construct a furnace." + +These Aztecs were manifestly something very different from "Mexican +savages." At the same time, they were less advanced in many things than +their predecessors. Their skill in architecture and architectural +ornamentation did not enable them to build such cities as Mitla and +Palenque, and their "picture writing" was a much ruder form of the +graphic art than the phonetic system of the Mayas and Quiches. It does +not appear that they ever went so far in literary improvement as to +adopt this simpler and more complete system for any purpose whatever. If +the country had never, in the previous ages, felt the influence of a +higher culture than that of the Aztecs, it would not have now, and never +could have had, ruined cities like Mitla, Copan, and Palenque. Not only +was the system of writing shown by the countless inscriptions quite +beyond the attainments of Aztec art, but also the abundant sculptures +and the whole system of decoration found in the old ruins. + + + + +X. + +ANCIENT PERU. + + +The ruins of Ancient Peru are found chiefly on the elevated table-lands +of the Andes, between Quito and Lake Titicaca; but they can be traced +five hundred miles farther south, to Chili, and throughout the region +connecting these high plateaus with the Pacific coast. The great +district to which they belong extends north and south about two thousand +miles. When the marauding Spaniards arrived in the country, this whole +region was the seat of a populous and prosperous empire, complete in its +civil organization, supported by an efficient system of industry, and +presenting a very notable development of some of the more important arts +of civilized life. These ruins differ from those in Mexico and Central +America. No inscriptions are found in Peru; there is no longer a +"marvelous abundance of decorations;" nothing is seen like the monoliths +of Copan or the bas-reliefs of Palenque. The method of building is +different; the Peruvian temples were not high truncated pyramids, and +the great edifices were not erected on pyramidal foundations. The +Peruvian ruins show us remains of cities, temples, palaces, other +edifices of various kinds, fortresses, aqueducts (one of them four +hundred and fifty miles long), great roads (extending through the whole +length of the empire), and terraces on the sides of mountains. For all +these constructions the builders used cut stone laid in mortar or +cement, and their work was done admirably, but it is every where seen +that the masonry, although sometimes ornamented, was generally plain in +style and always massive. The antiquities in this region have not been +as much explored and described as those north of the isthmus, but their +general character is known, and particular descriptions of some of them +have been published. + + +THE SPANISH HUNT FOR PERU. + +The Spanish conquest of Peru furnishes one of the most remarkable +chapters in the history of audacious villainy. It was the work of +successful buccaneers as unscrupulous as any crew of pirates that ever +robbed and murdered on the ocean. After their settlements began on the +islands and the Atlantic coast, rumors came to them of a wonderful +country somewhere at a distance in the west. They knew nothing of +another ocean between them and the Indies; the western side of the +continent was a veiled land of mystery, but the rumors, constantly +repeated, assured them that there was a country in that unknown region +where gold was more abundant than iron among themselves. Their strongest +passions were moved; greed for the precious metals and thirst for +adventures. + +Balboa was hunting for Peru when he discovered the Pacific, about 1511 +A.D. He was guided across the isthmus by a young native chief, who told +him of that ocean, saying it was the best way to the country where all +the common household utensils were made of gold. At the Bay of Panama +Balboa heard more of Peru, and went down the coast to find it, but did +not go south much beyond the eighth degree of north latitude. In his +company of adventurers at this time was Francisco Pizarro, by whom Peru +was found, subjugated, robbed, and ruined, some fifteen or twenty years +later. Balboa was superseded by Pedrarias, another greedy adventurer, +whose jealousy arrested his operations and finally put him to death. The +town of Panama was founded in 1519 by this Pedrarias, chiefly as a point +on the Pacific from which he could seek and attack Peru. Under his +direction, in 1522, the search was attempted by Pascual de Andagoya, but +he failed to get down the coast beyond the limit of Balboa's +exploration. Meanwhile clearer and more abundant reports of the rich and +marvelous nation to be found somewhere below that point were circulated +among the Spaniards, and their eagerness to reach it became intense. + +In 1524, three men could have been seen in Panama busily engaged +preparing another expedition to go in search of the golden country. +These were Francisco Pizarro, a bold and capable adventurer, who could +neither read nor write; Diego de Almagro, an impulsive, passionate, +reckless soldier of fortune, and Hernando de Luque, a Spanish +ecclesiastic, Vicar of Panama, and a man well acquainted with the world +and skilled in reading character, acting at this time, it is said, for +another person who kept out of view. They had formed an alliance to +discover and rob Peru. Luque would furnish most of the funds, and wait +in Panama for the others to do the work. Pizarro would be +commander-in-chief. The vessels used would necessarily be such as could +be built at Panama, and, therefore, not very efficient. + +Pizarro went down the coast, landing from time to time to explore and +rob villages, until he reached about the fourth degree of north +latitude, when he was obliged to return for supplies and repairs. It +became necessary to reconstruct the contract and allow Pedrarias an +interest in it. On the next voyage, one of the vessels went half a +degree south of the equator, and encountered a vessel "like a European +caravel," which was, in fact, a Peruvian _balsa_, loaded with +merchandise, vases, mirrors of burnished silver, and curious fabrics of +cotton and woolen. + +It became again indispensable to send back to Panama for supplies and +repairs, and Pizarro was doomed to wait for them seven months on an +island. He next visited Tumbez, in Peru, and went to the ninth degree of +south latitude; but he was obliged to visit Spain to get necessary aid +before he could attempt any thing more, and it was not until the year +1531 that the conquest of Peru was actually undertaken. + +In 1531 Pizarro finally entered Tumbez with his buccaneers, and marched +into the country, sending word to the Inca that he came to aid him +against his enemies. There had been a civil war in the country, which +had been divided by the great Inca, Huayna Capac, the conqueror of +Quito, between his two sons, Huascar and Atahuallpa, and Huascar had +been defeated and thrown into prison, and finally put to death. At a +city called Caxamalca, Pizarro contrived, by means of the most atrocious +treachery, to seize the Inca and massacre some ten thousand of the +principal Peruvians, who came to his camp unarmed on a friendly visit. +This threw the whole empire into confusion, and made the conquest easy. +The Inca filled a room with gold as the price of his ransom; the +Spaniards took the gold, broke their promise, and put him to death. + + +THE RUINS NEAR LAKE TITICACA. + +It is now agreed that the Peruvian antiquities represent two distinct +periods in the ancient history of the country, one being much older than +the other. Mr. Prescott accepts and repeats the opinion that "there +existed in the country a race advanced in civilization before the time +of the Incas," and that the ruins on the shores of Lake Titicaca are +older than the reign of the first Inca. In the work of Rivero and Von +Tschudi, it is stated that a critical examination of the monuments +"indicates two very different epochs in Peruvian art, at least so far as +concerns architecture; one before and the other after the arrival of the +first Inca." Among the ruins which belong to the older civilization are +those at Lake Titicaca, old Huanuco, Tiahuanaco, and Gran-Chimu, and it +probably originated the roads and aqueducts. At Cuzco and other places +are remains of buildings which represent the later time; but Cuzco of +the Incas appears to have occupied the site of a ruined city of the +older period. Figure 51 gives a view of the ancient Peruvian masonry. +Montesinos supposes the name of Cuzco was derived from _cosca_, a +Peruvian word signifying to level, or from heaps of earth called +_coscos_, which abounded there. In his account of the previous times +there is mention that an old city built there was in ruins. Perhaps the +first Inca found on its site nothing but _coscos_, or heaps of ruins. + +[Illustration: Fig. 51.--Ancient Peruvian Masonry.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 52.--Ruins of "Temple" on the Island of Titicaca.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 53.--Ruins on Titicaca Island.] + +At Lake Titicaca some of the more important remains are on the islands. +On Titicaca Island are the ruins of a great edifice described as "a +palace or temple." Remains of other structures exist, but their ruins +are old, much older than the time of the Incas. Figures 52 and 53 +represent different ruins on the island of Titicaca. They were all built +of hewn stone, and had doors and windows, with posts, sills, and +thresholds of stone, the doorways being narrower above than below. On +the island of Coati there are remarkable ruins. The largest building +here is also described as "a palace or temple," although it may have +been something else. It was not high, but very large in extent. It stood +around three sides of a parallelogram, with some peculiarities of +construction connected with the ends or wings. Making allowance for the +absence of the pyramidal foundations, it has more resemblance to some of +the great constructions in Central America than to any thing peculiar to +the later period of Peruvian architecture. Another ruin on this island +is shown in Figure 54. The antiquities on the islands and shores of this +lake need to be more completely explored and described, and probably +interesting discoveries could be made at some points by means of +well-directed excavations. + +[Illustration: Fig. 54.--Ruins on the Island of Coati.] + +A few miles from Lake Titicaca, at Tiahuanaco, are ruins which were very +imposing when first seen by the Spaniards in the time of Pizarro. It is +usual to speak of them as the oldest ruins in Peru, which may or may +not be correct. They must, however, be classed with those at the lake. +Not much now remains of the edifices, which were in a very ruinous +condition three hundred and forty years ago. They were described by +Cieca de Leon, who accompanied Pizarro, and also by Diego d'Alcobaca. +Cieca de Leon mentions "great edifices" that were in ruins, "an +artificial hill raised on a groundwork of stone," and "two stone idols +resembling the human figure, and apparently made by skillful +artificers." These "idols" were great statues, ten or twelve feet high. +One of them, which was carried to La Paz in 1842, measured "three and a +half yards" in length. Sculptured decorations appear on them, and, +according to Cieca de Leon, the figures seemed to be "clothed in long +vestments" different from those worn in the time of the Incas. Of a very +remarkable edifice, whose foundations could be traced near these +statues, nothing remained then "but a well-built wall, which must have +been there for ages, the stones being very much worn and crumbled." +Cieca de Leon's description goes on as follows: + +"In this place, also, there are stones so large and so overgrown that +our wonder is incited, it being incomprehensible how the power of man +could have placed them where we see them. They are variously wrought, +and some of them, having the form of men, must have been idols. Near the +walls are many caves and excavations under the earth, but in another +place, farther west, are other and greater monuments, such as large +gateways with hinges, platforms, and porches, each made of a single +stone. It surprised me to see these enormous gateways made of great +masses of stone, some of which were thirty feet long, fifteen high, and +six thick." + +[Illustration: Fig. 55.--Monolithic Gateway at Tiahuanaco.] + +Many of the stone monuments at Tiahuanaco have been removed, some for +building, some for other purposes. In one case, "large masses of +sculptured stone ten yards in length and six in width" were used to make +grinding stones for a chocolate mill. The principal monuments now seen +on this field of ruins are a vast mound covering several acres, where +there seems to have been a great edifice, fragments of columns, erect +slabs of stone which formed parts of buildings, and several of the +monolithic gateways, the largest of which was made of a single stone ten +feet high and thirteen broad. Figure 55 gives a view of one. The doorway +is six feet four inches high, and three feet two inches wide. Above it, +along the whole length of the stone, which is now broken, is a cornice +covered with sculptured figures. "The whole neighborhood," says Mr. +Squier, "is strewn with immense blocks of stone elaborately wrought, +equaling, if not surpassing in size, any known to exist in Egypt or +India." + +[Illustration: Fig. 56.--Remains of Fortress Walls at Cuzco.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 57.--End View of Fortress Walls at Cuzco.] + +At Cuzco, two or more degrees north of Lake Titicaca, there are ruins of +buildings that were occupied until the rule of the Incas was overthrown. +Remains of the old structures are seen in various parts of the present +town, some of them incorporated into new edifices built by the +Spaniards. Cyclopean remains of walls of the Temple of the Sun now +constitute a portion of the Convent of St. Domingo. In the days of the +Incas, this temple stood "a circuit of more than four hundred paces," +and was surrounded by a great wall built of cut stone. Remains of the +old fortifications are seen; and there is an extensive ruin here which +shows what is supposed to be all that remains of the palace of the +Incas. Figures 56 and 57 give views of remains of the ancient fortress +walls at Cuzco. Occasionally there is search at Cuzco, by means of +excavation, for antiquities. Within a few years an important discovery +has been made; a lunar calendar of the Incas, made of gold, has been +exhumed. At first it was described as "a gold breastplate or sun;" but +William Bollaert, who gives an account of it, finds that it is a +calendar, the first discovered in Peru. Many others, probably, went to +the melting-pot at the time of the Conquest. This is not quite circular. +The outer ring is five inches and three tenths in diameter, and the +inner four inches. It was made to be fastened to the breast of an Inca +or priest. The figures were stamped on it, and there "seem to be +twenty-four compartments, large and small, including three at the top. +At the bottom are two spaces; figures may or may not have been there, +but it looks as if they had been worn away." It was found about the year +1859. + +The uniform and constant report of Peruvian tradition places the +beginning of this old civilization in the Valley of Cuzco, near Lake +Titicaca. There appeared the first civilizers and the first civilized +communities. This beautiful valley is the most elevated table-land on +the continent, Lake Titicaca being 12,846 feet above the sea level. Were +it not within the tropics, it would be a region of eternal snow, for it +is more than 4000 feet higher than the beginning of perpetual snow on +Mont Blanc. Near it are some of the higher peaks of the Andes, among +them Sorato, Illimani, and Sahama. + + +OTHER RUINS IN PERU. + +The ancient Peru conquered and robbed by Pizarro is now divided into +Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili as far down as the thirty-seventh +degree of south latitude. Its remains are found to some extent in all +these countries, although most abundantly in Peru. + +The ruins known as "the Palaces of Gran-Chimu" are situated in the +northwestern part of Peru, near Truxillo. Here, in the time of the first +Incas, was an independent state, which was subjugated by the Inca set +down in the list of Montesinos as the grandfather of Huayna Capac, about +a century before the Spaniards arrived. For what is known of these ruins +we are chiefly indebted to Mariano Rivero, director of the National +Museum at Lima. They cover a space of three quarters of a league, +without including the walled squares found on every side. The chief +objects of interest are the remains of two great edifices called +palaces. "These palaces are immense areas surrounded by high walls of +brick, the walls being now ten or twelve yards high and six feet thick +at the base." There was in each case another wall exterior to this. +Within the palace walls were squares and dwellings, with narrow passages +between them, and the walls are decorated. In the largest palace are the +remains of a great reservoir for water, which was brought to it by +subterranean aqueducts from the River Moche, two miles distant. Outside +the inclosures of these palaces are remains of a vast number of +buildings, which indicate that the city contained a great population. +The Spaniards took vast quantities of gold from the _huacas_ or tombs +at this place. The amount taken from a single tomb in the years 1566 and +1592 was officially estimated at nearly a million dollars. Figure 58 +presents an end view of the walls at Gran-Chimu. Figures 59 and 60 +represent some of the decorations at Chimu-Canchu. + +[Illustration: Fig. 58.--End View of Walls at Gran-Chimu.] + +[Illustration: Figs. 59 and 60.--Decorations at Chimu-Canchu.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 61.--Edifice, with Gateway, at Old Huanuco.] + +Remarkable ruins exist at Cuelap, in Northern Peru. "They consist of a +wall of wrought stones 3600 feet long, 560 broad, and 150 high, +constituting a solid mass with a level summit." Probably the interior +was made of earth. On this mass was another, "600 feet long, 500 broad, +and 150 high." In this, and also in the lower structure, there are many +rooms made of wrought stone, in which are a great number of niches or +cells one or two yards deep, which were used as tombs. Other old +structures exist in that neighborhood. Farther south, at Huanuco el +Viego, or Old Huanuco, are two peculiar edifices and a terrace, and near +them the faded traces of a large town. The two edifices were built of a +composition of pebbles and clay, faced with hewn stone. One of them is +called the "Look-out," but it is impossible to discover the purpose for +which it was built. The interior of the other is crossed by six walls, +in each of which is a gateway, the outer one being finely finished, and +showing a sculptured animal on each of the upper corners. It has a large +court, and rooms made of cut stones. Connected with this structure was a +well-built aqueduct. Figures 61 and 62 give views of the so-called +palace and its ground plan. Figure 63 represents the Look-out. + +[Illustration: Fig. 62.--Ground Plan of Edifice at Old Huanuco.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 63.--"Look-out" at Old Huanuco.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 64.--Ruins at Pachacamac.] + +Seven leagues from Lima, near the sea, are the much-dilapidated ruins, +shown in Figure 64, of a large city of the Incas, which was built +chiefly of adobes or sun-dried bricks. It is called Pachacamac. Ruins of +towns, castles, fortresses, and other structures are found all about the +country. At one place, near Chavin de Huanta, there are remarkable ruins +which are very old. The material used here was like that seen at Old +Huanuco. From the interior of one of the great buildings there is a +subterranean passage which, it is said, goes under the river to the +opposite bank. Very ancient ruins, showing remains of large and +remarkable edifices, were seen near Huamanga, and described by Cieca de +Leon. The native traditions said this city was built by "bearded white +men, who came there long before the time of the Incas, and established a +settlement." It is noticed every where that the ancient Peruvians made +large use of aqueducts, which they built with notable skill, using hewn +stones and cement, and making them very substantial. Some of them are +still in use. They were used to carry water to the cities and to +irrigate the cultivated lands. A few of them were very long. There is +mention of one which was a hundred and fifty miles long, and of another +which was extended four hundred and fifty miles across sierras and over +rivers, from south to north. + + +THE GREAT PERUVIAN ROADS. + +Nothing in Ancient Peru was more remarkable than the public roads. No +ancient people has left traces of works more astonishing than these, so +vast was their extent, and so great the skill and labor required to +construct them. One of these roads ran along the mountains through the +whole length of the empire, from Quito to Chili. Another, starting from +this at Cuzco, went down to the coast and extended northward to the +equator. These roads were built on beds or "deep under-structures" of +masonry. The width of the roadways varied from twenty to twenty-five +feet, and they were made level and smooth by paving, and in some places +by a sort of macadamizing with pulverized stone mixed with lime and +bituminous cement. This cement was used in all the masonry. On each side +of the roadway was "a very strong wall more than a fathom in thickness." +These roads went over marshes, rivers, and great chasms of the sierras, +and through rocky precipices and mountain sides. The great road passing +along the mountains was a marvelous work. In many places its way was cut +through rock for leagues. Great ravines were filled up with solid +masonry. Rivers were crossed by means of a curious kind of suspension +bridges, and no obstruction was encountered which the builders did not +overcome. The builders of our Pacific Railroad, with their superior +engineering skill and mechanical appliances, might reasonably shrink +from the cost and the difficulties of such a work as this. Extending +from one degree north of Quito to Cuzco, and from Cuzco to Chili, it was +quite as long as the two Pacific railroads, and its wild route among the +mountains was far more difficult. + +Sarmiento, describing it, said, "It seems to me that if the emperor +(Charles V.) should see fit to order the construction of another road +like that which leads from Quito to Cuzco, or that which from Cuzco goes +toward Chili, I certainly think he would not be able to make it, with +all his power." Humboldt examined some of the remains of this road, and +described as follows a portion of it seen in a pass of the Andes, +between Mansi and Loxa: "Our eyes rested continually on superb remains +of a paved road of the Incas. The roadway, paved with well-cut, dark +porphyritic stone, was twenty feet wide, and rested on deep foundations. +This road was marvelous. None of the Roman roads I have seen in Italy, +in the South of France, or in Spain, appeared to me more imposing than +this work of the ancient Peruvians." He saw remains of several other +shorter roads which were built in the same way, some of them between +Loxa and the River Amazon. Along these roads at equal distances were +edifices, a kind of caravanseras, built of hewn stone, for the +accommodation of travelers. + +These great works were described by every Spanish writer on Peru, and in +some accounts of them we find suggestions in regard to their history. +They are called "roads of the Incas," but they were probably much older +than the time of these rulers. The mountain road running toward Quito +was much older than the Inca Huayna Capac, to whom it has sometimes been +attributed. It is stated that when he started by this route to invade +the Quitus, the road was so bad that "he found great difficulties in the +passage." It was then an old road, much out of repair, and he +immediately ordered the necessary reconstructions. Gomara says, "Huayna +Capac restored, enlarged, and completed these roads, but he did not +build them, as some pretend." These great artificial highways were +broken up and made useless at the time of the Conquest, and the +subsequent barbarous rule of the Spaniards allowed them to go to decay. +Now only broken remains of them exist to show their former character. + + +THE PERUVIAN CIVILIZATION. + +The development of civilization in Peru was very different from that in +Mexico and Central America. In both regions the people were +sun-worshipers, but their religious organizations, as well as their +methods of building temples, were unlike. Neither of these peoples seems +to have borrowed from the other. It may be that all the old American +civilizations had a common origin in South America, and that all the +ancient Americans whose civilization can be traced in remains found +north of the Isthmus came originally from that part of the continent. +This hypothesis appears to me more probable than any other I have heard +suggested. But, assuming this to be true, the first migration of +civilized people from South America must have taken place at a very +distant period in the past, for it preceded not only the history +indicated by the existing antiquities, but also an earlier history, +during which the Peruvians and Central Americans grew to be as different +from their ancestors as from each other. In each case, the development +of civilization represented by existing monuments, so far as we can +study it, appears to have been original. + +In some respects the Peruvian civilization was developed to such a +degree as challenged admiration. The Peruvians were highly skilled in +agriculture and in some kinds of manufactures. No people ever had a more +efficient system of industry. This created their wealth and made +possible their great public works. All accounts of the country at the +time of the Conquest agree in the statement that they cultivated the +soil in a very admirable way and with remarkable success, using +aqueducts for irrigation, and employing guano as one of their most +important fertilizers. Europeans learned from them the value of this +fertilizer, and its name, _guano_, is Peruvian. The remains of their +works show what they were as builders. Their skill in cutting stone and +their wonderful masonry can be seen and admired by modern builders in +what is left of their aqueducts, their roads, their temples, and their +other great edifices. + +They had great proficiency in the arts of spinning, weaving, and dyeing. +For their cloth they used cotton and the wool of four varieties of the +llama, that of the vicuna being the finest. Some of their cloth had +interwoven designs and ornaments very skillfully executed. Many of their +fabrics had rare excellence in the eyes of the Spaniards. Garcilasso +says, "The coverings of the beds were blankets and friezes of the wool +of the vicuna, which is so fine and so much prized that, among other +precious things from that land, they have been brought for the bed of +Don Philip II." Of their dyes, this account is given in the work of +Rivero and Von Tschudi: + +"They possessed the secret of fixing the dye of all colors, +flesh-color, yellow, gray, blue, green, black, etc., so firmly in the +thread, or in the cloth already woven, that they never faded during the +lapse of ages, even when exposed to the air or buried (in tombs) under +ground. Only the cotton became slightly discolored, while the woolen +fabrics preserved their primitive lustre. It is a circumstance worth +remarking that chemical analyses made of pieces of cloth of all the +different dyes prove that the Peruvians extracted all their colors from +the vegetable and none from the mineral kingdom. In fact, the natives of +the Peruvian mountains now use plants unknown to Europeans, producing +from them bright and lasting colors." + +They had great skill in the art of working metals, especially gold and +silver. Besides these precious metals, they had copper, tin, lead, and +quicksilver. Figures 65 and 66 show some of the implements used by the +Peruvians. Iron was unknown to them in the time of the Incas, although +some maintain that they had it in the previous ages, to which belong the +ruins at Lake Titicaca. Iron ore was and still is very abundant in Peru. +It is impossible to conceive how the Peruvians were able to cut and work +stone in such a masterly way, or to construct their great roads and +aqueducts without the use of iron tools. Some of the languages of the +country, and perhaps all, had names for iron; in official Peruvian it +was called _quillay_, and in the old Chilian tongue _panilic_. "It is +remarkable," observes Molina, "that iron, which has been thought unknown +to the ancient Americans, has particular names in some of their +tongues." It is not easy to understand why they had names for this +metal, if they never at any time had knowledge of the metal itself. In +the Mercurio Peruano, tome i., p. 201, 1791, it is stated that, +anciently, the Peruvian sovereigns "worked magnificent iron mines at +Ancoriames, on the west shore of Lake Titicaca;" but I can not give the +evidence used in support of this statement. + +[Illustration: Fig. 65.--Copper Knives.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 66.--Copper Tweezers.] + +Their goldsmiths and silversmiths had attained very great proficiency. +They could melt the metals in furnaces, cast them in moulds made of clay +and gypsum, hammer their work with remarkable dexterity, inlay it, and +solder it with great perfection. The gold and silver work of these +artists was extremely abundant in the country at the time of the +Conquest, but Spanish greed had it all melted for coinage. It was with +articles of this gold-work that the Inca Atahuallpa filled a room in +his vain endeavor to purchase release from captivity. One of the old +chroniclers mentions "statuary, jars, vases, and every species of +vessels, all of fine gold." Describing one of the palaces, he said: +"They had an artificial garden, the soil of which was made of small +pieces of fine gold, and this was artificially sowed with different +kinds of maize which were of gold, their stems, leaves, and ears. +Besides this, they had more than twenty sheep (llamas), with their +lambs, attended by shepherds, all made of gold." This may be the same +artificial garden which was mentioned by Francisco Lopez de Gomara, who +places it on "an island near Puna." Similar gardens of gold are +mentioned by others. It is believed that a large quantity of Peruvian +gold-work was thrown into Lake Titicaca to keep it from the Spanish +robbers. In a description of one lot of golden articles sent to Spain in +1534 by Pizarro, there is mention of "four llamas, ten statues of women +of full size, and a cistern of gold so curious that it incited the +wonder of all." + +Nothing is more constantly mentioned by the old Spanish chroniclers than +the vast abundance of gold in Peru. It was more common than any other +metal. Temples and palaces were covered with it, and it was very +beautifully wrought into ornaments, temple furniture, articles for +household use, and imitations of almost every object in nature. In the +course of twenty-five years after the Conquest, the Spaniards sent from +Peru to Spain more than four hundred million ducats (800,000,000 +dollars) worth of gold, all or nearly all of it having been taken from +the subjugated Peruvians as "booty." + +Figures 67 and 68 show a golden and a silver vase, reduced from the +actual size. Figures 69 and 70 represent various articles of pottery; +all these illustrations are copies from articles taken from old Peruvian +tombs. + +[Illustration: Fig. 67.--Golden Vase.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 68.--Silver Vase.] + +The most perfectly manufactured articles of Peruvian pottery were used +in the tombs. Some of those made for other uses were very curious. A +considerable number of articles made for common use have been preserved. +Mariano Rivero, a Peruvian, says: "At this day there exist in many +houses pitchers, large jars, and earthen pots of this manufacture, which +are preferred for their solidity to those manufactured by our own +potters." The ancient Peruvians were inferior to the Central Americans +in the arts of ornamentation and sculpture. + +[Illustration: Fig. 69.--Articles of Pottery.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 70.--Articles of Pottery.] + +Science among the Peruvians was not very highly developed, but +engineering skill of some kind is indicated by the great roads and +aqueducts. Their knowledge of the art of preparing colors and certain +useful medicines implied a study of plants. Their progress in astronomy +was not equal to that found in Central America; nevertheless, they had +an accurate measure of the solar year, but, unlike the Central +Americans, they divided the year into twelve months, and they used +mechanical contrivances successfully to fix the times of the solstices +and equinoxes. A class of men called _amautas_ was trained to preserve +and teach whatever knowledge existed in the country. It was their +business to understand the _quippus_, keep in memory the historical +poems, give attention to the science and practice of medicine, and train +their pupils in knowledge. These were not priests; they were the +"learned men" of Peru, and the government allowed them every facility +for study and for communicating instruction. How much they knew of +astronomy it is not easy to say. They had knowledge of some of the +planets, and it is claimed that there is some reason to believe they +used aids to eyesight in studying the heavens, such as some suppose +were used by our Mound-Builders. A discovery made in Bolivia a few years +since is cited in support of this belief. It is the figure of a man in +the act of using a tube to aid vision, which was taken from an ancient +tomb. Mr. David Forbes, an English chemist and geologist, obtained it in +Bolivia, and carried it to England in 1864. William Bollaert describes +it as follows in a paper read to the London Anthropological Society: + +"It is a nude figure, of silver, two inches and a half in height, on a +flat, pointed pedestal. In the right hand it has the mask of a human +face, but in the left a tube over half an inch in length, the narrow +part placed to the left eye in a diagonal position, as if observing some +celestial object. This is the first specimen of a figure in the act of +looking through a hollow tube directed to the heavens that has been +found in the New World. We can not suppose the Peruvians had any thing +that more nearly resembled a telescope. It was found in a chulpa, or +ancient Indian tomb, at Caquingora, near Corocoro (lat. 17 deg. 15' S., +and long. 68 deg. 35' W.), in Bolivia." He forgets the astronomical +monument described by Captain Dupaix. + +The art of writing in alphabetical characters, so far as appears, was +unknown to the Peruvians in the time of the Incas. No Peruvian books +existed at that time, and no inscriptions have been found in any of the +ruins. They had a method of recording events, keeping accounts, and +making reports to the government by means of the _quippu_. This was made +of cords of twisted wool fastened to a base prepared for the purpose. +These cords were of various sizes and colors, and every size and color +had its meaning. The record was made by means of an elaborate system of +knots and artificial intertwinings. The _amautas_ were carefully +educated to the business of understanding and using the _quippus_, and +"this science was so much perfected that those skilled in it attained +the art of recording historical events, laws, and decrees, so as to +transmit to their descendants the most striking events of the empire; +thus the _quippus_ could supply the place of documents." Each _quippu_ +was a book full of information for those who could read it. + +Among the _amautas_ memory was educated to retain and transmit to +posterity songs, historical narratives, and long historical poems. It is +said, also, that tragedies and comedies were composed and preserved in +this way, and that dramatic performances were among the regular +entertainments encouraged and supported by the Incas. Whether the art of +writing ever existed in the country can not now be determined. Some of +the Peruvian tongues had names for paper; the people knew that a kind of +paper or parchment could be made of plantain leaves, and, according to +Montesinos, writing and books were common in the older times, that is to +say, in ages long previous to the Incas. He explains how the art was +lost, as I shall presently show. + +It is not improbable that a kind of hieroglyphical writing existed in +some of the Peruvian communities, especially among the Aymaraes. +Humboldt mentions books of hieroglyphical writing found among the +Panoes, on the River Ucayali, which were "bundles of their paper +resembling our volumes in quarto." A Franciscan missionary found an old +man sitting at the foot of a palm-tree and reading one of these books to +several young persons. The Franciscan was told that the writing +"contained hidden things which no stranger ought to know." It was seen +that the pages of the book were "covered with figures of men, animals, +and isolated characters, deemed hieroglyphical, and arranged in lines +with order and symmetry." The Panoes said these books "were transmitted +to them by their ancestors, and had relation to wanderings and ancient +wars." There is similar writing on a prepared llama skin found among +other antiquities on a peninsula in Lake Titicaca, which is now in the +museum at La Paz, Bolivia. It appears to be a record of atrocities +perpetrated by the Spaniards at the time of the Conquest, and shows that +some of the Aymaraes could at that time write hieroglyphics. + + + + +XI. + +PERUVIAN ANCIENT HISTORY. + + +The Peruvians, like most other important peoples in all ages, had +mythical wonder-stories instead of authentic ancient history to explain +the origin of their nation. These were told in traditions and legends +preserved and transmitted from generation to generation by the +_amautas_. If they were also recorded in secret books of hieroglyphical +writing, such as those found among the Panoes on the Ucayali, which +"contained hidden things that no stranger ought to know," satisfactory +evidence of the fact has never been brought to light. In addition to +these, they had many historical traditions of much more importance, +related in long poems and preserved in the same way; and there were +annals and national documents recorded in the _quippus_. + +Some of the Spanish writers on Peru, who described what they saw in the +country at the time of the Conquest, discussed its history. If they had +used the proper sources of information with a more penetrating and +complete investigation, and studied the subject as it might have been +studied at that time, their historical sketches would now have great +value. The two most important works written at this time, the "Relacion" +of Sarmiento and the "Relaciones" of Polo de Ondegardo, were never +printed. But none of these writers sought to study Peruvian antiquity +beyond the period of the Incas, although some of them (Acosta for +instance) inquired sufficiently to see that Manco Capac was a mythical +personage prefixed to the dynastic line of the Incas without actually +belonging to it. This limited view of the ancient history, which was +inconsistent with what could be seen in the antiquities and traditions +of the country, was generally accepted, because nothing more could be +known in Europe, and its influence was established by the undue +importance accorded to the "Commentarios Reales" of Garcilasso de la +Vega, published in 1609. + + +GARCILASSO'S HISTORY. + +Garcilasso de la Vega, the son of a distinguished Spaniard of the same +name, was born at Cuzco in 1540. His mother, named Nusta, was a niece of +the great Inca Huayna Capac, and granddaughter of his no less eminent +predecessor, Tupac Yupanqui. The intimate blood relationship which +connected him with the Incas naturally drew attention to his work, and, +with more haste than reason, was treated as the best possible +qualification for writing Peruvian history; therefore his "Commentarios" +acquired a very great celebrity, and came to be regarded as the highest +authority on all questions relating to Peru previous to the Conquest. +The work never deserved this reputation, although it was not without +value as an addition to what had been written on the subject by +Spaniards. Garcilasso was not well qualified to write a faithful history +of Peru either by his knowledge or by the temper of his mind. His aim +was to glorify the Incas and their times, and much of his work was in +the strain of tales heard in childhood from his mother. + +The "Commentarios Reales" were written just as their author's training +had prepared him to write them. He lived in Cuzco without education +until he was nearly twenty years old, his intellectual development being +confined to the instruction necessary to make him a good Catholic. He +then went to Spain and never returned to Peru. The next period of his +life was devoted to seeking distinction in the Spanish military service; +but political influence was against him, and he could not attain the +object of his ambition. He finally retired to Cordova, acquired some +literary culture, and resolved to win distinction by writing a history +of his native country. His materials for such a history, in addition to +what could be learned from the earlier Spanish writers, consisted +entirely of what he had learned of his mother and his early Peruvian +associates at Cuzco, and of such acquisitions as could be gained by +means of correspondence with his acquaintances in Peru, after the +purpose to write a history was formed. It can be seen readily that +Garcilasso's history written in this way might have a certain value, +while it could not be safely accepted as an authority. The first part of +his work was published in 1609, when he was nearly seventy years old. + +According to his version of the Peruvian annals, the rule of the Incas +began with the mythical Manco Capac, and lasted over five hundred years; +and this version, with some variations in estimates of the time, has +been repeated ever since. The dynastic line of the Incas thus determined +is given in the work of Rivero and Von Tschudi as follows: + +1. Manco-Capac, mysterious "son of the sun," who began to reign in 1021 +A.D., and died in 1062, having reigned forty years. 2. Sinchi-Rocca, +who reigned thirty years, from 1062 to 1091. 3. Lloque-Yupanqui, +reigned thirty-five years, from 1091 to 1126. 4. Mayta-Capac, thirty +years, from 1126 to 1156. 5. Capac-Yupanqui, forty-one years, from 1156 +to 1197. 6. Inca Rocca, fifty-one years, from 1197 to 1249. 7. +Yahuar-Capac, forty years, from 1249 to 1289. 8. Viracocha, fifty-one +years, from 1289 to 1340; his son Inca Urco reigned after him eleven +days, and was then deposed "as a fool incapable of governing." 9. +Titu-Manco-Capac-Pachacutec, sixty years, from 1340 to 1400, living, +says tradition, to be one hundred and three years old. 10. Yupanqui, +thirty-nine years, from 1400 to 1439. 11. Tupac-Yupanqui (Garcilasso's +great-grandfather) thirty-six years, from 1439 to 1475. 12. +Huayna-Capac, "the most glorious of the Incas," fifty years, from 1475 +to 1525. After his death the empire was divided between his two sons +Huascar and Atahuallpa. This caused a civil war, which ended with the +death of Huascar in 1532. One year later Atahuallpa was himself +destroyed by Cortez. + +Manco-Capac, here set down as the first Inca, with a marvelous story of +his mysterious origin and his miraculous powers as a civilizer, was +undoubtedly borrowed from traditions of the origin of civilization in +the more ancient times, which had been used by the Incas in support of +their claim to direct descent from the sun. In reality, the first Inca +was Rocca, or Sinchi-Rocca, and several of the early Spanish writers +were sufficiently well informed to see this. The period of the Incas +must have been less than five hundred years if their dynasty consisted +of no more than twelve or thirteen sovereigns. In other respects, this +table of the sovereigns may be substantially correct, for there is a +general agreement in regard to the names and the order of succession, +although Montesinos maintains that the fifth Inca on the list was +borrowed by Garcilasso from traditions of a much more ancient sovereign +who was greatly celebrated in the historical poems, or confounded with +him. The period of the Incas was very distinct in Peruvian history, but +it is now understood that they represent only the last period in the +history of a civilization which began much farther back in the past. + + +FERNANDO MONTESINOS. + +The only Spanish writer who really studied the ancient history of Peru +in the traditional and other records of the country was Fernando +Montesinos, who went there about a century after the Conquest. He was +sent from Spain on service which took him to every part of Peru, and +gave him the best possible opportunities for investigation. He was a +scholar and a worker, with a strong inclination to such studies, and, +during two periods of residence in the country, he devoted fifteen years +to these inquiries with unremitting industry and great success. He soon +learned to communicate freely with the Peruvians in their own language; +then he applied himself to collect the historical poems, narratives, and +traditions. He succeeded in getting assistance from many of the older +men who had learned of the _amautas_, and especially of those who were +trained to read the _quippus_. Nothing was omitted which could aid his +purpose. In this way Montesinos made a great collection of what may be +called the _old Peruvian documents_, and gained a vast amount of +information which no other writer had used or even sought to acquire. + +The materials collected were more important than is at once understood +by those accustomed to depend wholly on writing and printing for the +preservation of literature, because they can not easily realize to what +extent the faculty of memory may be sharpened and developed by a class +of men devoted to this culture in communities where such mechanical aids +do not exist. It is known that long poems, stories, and historical +narratives have been preserved by unlettered peoples much below the +civilized condition of the Peruvians. Long poems, extending to three and +four hundred lines, were retained by memory, and transmitted from +generation to generation among the Sandwich Islanders. Many scholars +have believed that all the early literature of Greece, including the +Iliad, the Odyssey, and all other "poems of the Cycle," was preserved in +this way by the Rhapsodists for centuries, down to the time of +Peisistratus, and then for the first time reduced to writing. This shows +at least what they have believed was possible. In Max Mueller's "History +of Ancient Sanskrit Literature" it is argued strongly that the Vedas +were not written at first, but were transmitted orally, being learned by +heart in the great religious schools of the Indo-Aryans as an +indispensable part of education. This is likely to be true, whether we +assume that the Indo-Aryans had or had not the art of writing; for, in +the Vaidic age, the divine songs of the Veda were so intimately +associated with the mysteries of their religion that they may have been +held too sacred to be made common by written characters. + +Therefore it is no wise incredible, nor even surprising, that a +considerable amount of literature existed in Peru without the aid of +writing. On the contrary, it would be surprising if they had failed to +do what has been done by every other people in like circumstances. The +schools of the _amautas_ were national institutions specially set apart +for the business of preserving and increasing knowledge, teaching, and +literary work of every kind. In a country where civilization was so much +advanced in many respects, they could not have been entirely barren. +Those who criticise Montesinos admit that "his advantages were great," +that "no one equaled him in archaeological knowledge of Peru," and that +"he became acquainted with original instruments which he occasionally +transferred to his own pages, and which it would now be difficult to +meet elsewhere." The results of his investigation are embodied in a work +entitled "Memorias Antiguas Historiales del Peru." This, with another +work on the Conquest entitled "Annales," remained in manuscript at +Madrid until the "Memorias" was translated into French by M. +Ternaux-Compans, and printed in his collection of original documents +relating to the discovery and exploration of America. + + +HIS SCHEME OF PERUVIAN HISTORY. + +According to Montesinos, there were three distinct periods in the +history of Peru. First, there was a period which began with the origin +of civilization, and lasted until the first or second century of the +Christian era. Second, there was a period of disintegration, decline, +and disorder, introduced by successful invasions from the east and +southeast, during which the country was broken up into small states, and +many of the arts of civilization were lost; this period lasted more than +a thousand years. Third and last came the period of the Incas, who +revived civilization and restored the empire. He discards the +wonder-stories told of Manco-Capac and Mama Oello, and gives the +Peruvian nation a beginning which is, at least, not incredible. It was +originated, he says, by a people led by four brothers, who settled in +the Valley of Cuzco, and developed civilization there in a very human +way. The youngest of these brothers assumed supreme authority, and +became the first of a long line of sovereigns. + +Montesinos gives a list of sixty-four sovereigns who reigned in the +first period. The first was Puhua Manco, or Ayar-Uchu-Topa, the youngest +of the four brothers, whose power was increased by the willing +submission of "neighboring nations." His successor, called Manco-Capac, +is described as a remarkable character; "adjacent nations dreaded his +power," and in his time the kingdom was much increased. Next came +Huainaevi-Pishua, and "during his reign was known the use of letters, +and the _amautas_ taught astrology and the art of writing on leaves of +the plantain tree." Sinchi-Cozque won victories, and "adorned and +fortified the city of Cuzco." Inti-Capac-Yupanqui, another remarkable +character, divided the kingdom into districts and subdistricts, +introduced a complete civil organization, instituted the solar year of +three hundred and sixty-five days, and established the system of +couriers. Manco-Capac II. "made great roads from Cuzco to the +provinces." These are the first six rulers named on the list. + +In the next thirteen reigns nothing special is noted save attention to +civil affairs, occasional conquests, and "a great plague." The twentieth +sovereign, called Huascar-Titupac, "gave all the provinces new governors +of royal blood, and introduced in the army a cuirass made of cotton and +copper." The twenty-first, Manco-Capac-Amauta, "being addicted to +astronomy, convened a scientific council, which agreed that the sun was +at a greater distance from the earth than the moon, and that they +followed different courses." In the next twelve reigns, wars, conquests, +and some indications of religious controversy are noted. The +thirty-fourth ruler, called Ayay-Manco, "assembled the _amautas_ in +Cuzco to reform the calendar, and it was decided that the year should be +divided into months of thirty days, and weeks of ten days, calling the +five days at the end of the year a small week; they also collected the +years into decades or groups of tens, and determined that each group of +ten decades should form a sun." + +Among the next twenty-nine sovereigns, Capac-Raymi-Amauta, the +thirty-eighth of the line, and Yahuar-Huquiz, the fifty-first, were +"celebrated for astronomical knowledge," and the latter "intercalated a +year at the end of four centuries." Manco-Capac III., the sixtieth +sovereign of this line, is supposed to have reigned at the beginning of +the Christian era, and in his time "Peru had reached her greatest +elevation and extension." The next three reigns covered thirty-two +years, it is said. Then came Titu-Yupanqui-Pachacuti, the sixty-fourth +and last sovereign of the old kingdom, who was killed in battle with a +horde of invaders who came from the east and southeast across the Andes. +His death threw the kingdom into confusion. There was rebellion as well +as invasion, by which it was broken up into small states. The account of +what happened says: "Many ambitious ones, taking advantage of the new +king's youth, denied him obedience, drew away from him the people, and +usurped several provinces. Those who remained faithful to the heir of +Titu-Yupanqui conducted him to Tambotoco, whose inhabitants offered him +obedience. From this it happened that this monarch took the title of +King of Tambotoco." + +During the next twenty-six reigns the sway of the old royal house was +confined to this little state. These twenty-six successors of the old +sovereigns were merely kings of Tambotoco. The country, overrun by rude +invaders, torn by civil war, and harried by "many simultaneous +tyrants," became semi-barbarous; "all was found in great confusion; life +and personal safety were endangered, and civil disturbances caused an +entire loss of the use of letters." The art of writing seems to have +been mixed up with the issues of a religious controversy in the time of +the old kingdom. It was proscribed now, even in the little state of +Tambotoco, for we read that the fourteenth of its twenty-six rulers +"prohibited, under the severest penalties, the use of _quellca_ for +writing, and forbade, also, the invention of letters. _Quellca_ was a +kind of parchment made of plantain leaves." It is added that an +_amauta_, who sought to restore the art of writing was put to death. +This period of decline, disorder, and disintegration, which covered the +"dark ages" of Peru, lasted until the rise of the Incas brought better +times and reunited the country. + +Rocca, called Inca-Rocca, was the first of the Incas. He was connected +with the old royal family, but did not stand in the direct line of +succession. The story of his rise to power is told as follows: "A +princess of royal blood, named Mama-Ciboca, contrived, by artifice and +intrigue, to raise to the throne her son called Rocca, a youth of twenty +years, and so handsome and valiant that his admirers called him _Inca_, +which means lord. This title of _Inca_ began with him, and was adopted +by all his successors." He appears to have had great qualities as a +ruler. Not much time passed before he secured possession of Cuzco, made +war successfully against the neighboring princes, and greatly extended +his dominions. Under his successors, the empire thus begun continued to +grow, until it was extended from Quito to Chili, and became the Peruvian +empire which the Spaniards robbed and destroyed. + + +PROBABILITIES. + +It has been the fashion to depreciate Montesinos, but I find it +impossible to discover the reasons by which this depreciation can be +justified. It is alleged that he uses fanciful hypotheses to explain +Peru. The reply to this seems to me conclusive. In the first place, he +is, in this respect, like all other writers of his time. That was an age +of fanciful theories. Montesinos is certainly no worse than others in +this respect, while he has the merit of being somewhat more original. He +brought the Peruvian civilization from Armenia, and argued that Peru was +Solomon's Ophir. Undue importance has been accorded to several of the +old Spanish chroniclers, whose works contain suggestions and fancies +much more irrational. In the second place, his theories have nothing +whatever to do with his facts, by which they are sometimes contradicted. +He found in Peru materials for the scheme of its ancient history, which +he sets forth. Readers will form their own estimates of its value, but +no reasonable critic will confound this part of his work with his +fanciful explanations, which are sometimes inconsistent with it. For +instance, his theory assumes that the first monarch of the old kingdom +began his reign as far back in the past as the year 2500 B.C. But he +reports only sixty-four rulers of that old kingdom. Now, if there were +so many as sixty-four, and if we allow an average of twenty years to +each reign (which is sufficient), we can not carry back the beginning of +that first reign to the year 1200 B.C. + +There is another objection, which must be stated in the words of one of +the critics who have urged it: "Montesinos treats the ancient history of +Peru in a mode so original and distinct from all others that we can +perceive it to be a production alike novel and unknown." If this means +any thing, it means that it was highly improper for Montesinos to find +in Peru what was "unknown" to poorly-informed and superficial Spanish +writers, who had already been accepted as "authorities." It would have +been singular if his careful investigation, continued through fifteen +years, had not given him a great amount of information which others had +never taken pains to acquire. His treatment of the subject was "original +and distinct from all others," because he knew what other writers did +not know. His information did not allow him to repeat the marvelous +story of Manco-Capac and Mama Oello, nor to confine Peruvian history to +the time of the Incas. But when the result of his inquiries was +announced in Europe, Garcilasso and others regulated the fashion of +Peruvian studies, and the influence of their limited and superficial +knowledge of the subject has been felt ever since. + +The curious theories of Montesinos may be brushed aside as rubbish, or +be studied with other vagaries of that age in order to understand its +difference from ours; but whoever undertakes to criticise his facts +needs to be his equal in knowledge of Peru. His works, however, tell us +all that can ever be known of Peruvian ancient history, for the +facilities for investigation which existed in his time are no longer +possible. It may, however, be useful to consider that the main fact in +his report on the subject is no more "original and distinct" than the +testimony of the monuments around Lake Titicaca. The significance of +this testimony is now generally admitted. There _was_ a period in the +history of Peruvian civilization much earlier than that of the Incas, a +period still represented by these old monuments which, so far as relates +to this point, are as "novel" and "original" as Montesinos himself. + +That the civilization found in the country was much older than the Incas +can be seen in what we know of their history. Their empire had grown to +be what Pizarro found it by subjugating and absorbing a considerable +number of small states, which had existed as civilized states before +their time. The conquest of Quito, which was not inferior to the Valley +of Cuzco in civilization, had just been completed when the Spaniards +arrived. The Chimus, subjugated a few years earlier, are described as +even more advanced in civilization than any other Peruvian community. +The small states thus absorbed by Peru were much alike in manners, +customs, manufactures, methods of building, and general culture. It is +manifest that their civilization had a common origin, and that to find +its origin we must go back into the past far beyond Inca-Rocco, the +first of his line, who began the work of uniting them under one +government. + +Moreover, there were civilized communities in that part of the +continent which the Incas had not subjugated, such as the Muyscas on the +table-land of Bogota, north of Quito, who had a remarkable civil and +religious organization, a temple of the sun built with stone columns, a +regular system of computing time, a peculiar calendar, and who used +small circular gold plates as coin. They were described by Humboldt. + +The condition of the people composing the Peruvian empire at the time of +the Conquest bore witness to an ancient history something like that +reported by Montesinos. There were indications that the country had +undergone important revolutionary changes before this empire was +established. The Peruvians at that time were not all one people. The +political union was complete, but there were differences of speech, and, +to some extent, of physical characteristics. Three numerous and +important branches of the population were known as Aymaraes, Chinchas, +and Huancas. They used different tongues, although the Quichua dialect, +spoken by the Incas, and doubtless a dialect of the Aymaraes, to whom +the Incas belonged, was the official language in every part of the +empire. There was a separated and fragmentary condition of the +communities with respect to their unlike characteristics, which implied +something different from a quiet and uniform political history. These +differences and peculiarities suggest that there was a period when Peru, +after an important career of civilization and empire, was subjected to +great political changes brought about by invasion and revolution, by +which the nation was for a long time broken up into separate states. + +Here, as in Mexico and Central America, there was in the traditions +frequent mention of strangers or foreigners who came by sea to the +Pacific coast and held intercourse with the people; but this was in the +time of the old kingdom. As the Malays and other island people under +their influence formerly traversed the Pacific, this is not improbable. +Some have assumed that the Peruvians had no communication with the +Mexicans and Central Americans, and that the two peoples were unknown to +each other. This, however, seems to be contradicted by the fact that an +accurate knowledge of Peru was found among the people inhabiting the +Isthmus and the region north of it. The Spaniards heard of Peru on the +Atlantic coast of South America, but on the Isthmus Balboa gained clear +information in regard to that country from natives who had evidently +seen it. To what extent there was intercourse between the two civilized +portions of the continent is unknown. They had vessels quite as good as +most of those constructed at Panama by the Spanish hunters for Peru, +such as the _balsas_ of the Peruvians and the "shallop" of the Mayas +seen by Columbus, which made communication possible up and down the +coast; but whether regular intercourse between them was ever +established, and every thing else relating to this matter, must +necessarily be left to a calculation of probabilities. + + +CONCLUSION. + +If, as seems most likely, there was in South America an ancient +development of civilized human life, out of which arose the +civilizations found in Peru and Central America, its antiquity was much +greater than can be comprehended by the current chronologies. This, +however, can not make it improbable, for these chronologies are really +no more reasonable than the monkish fancies used in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries to explain these civilizations. We find the +hagiologists very absurd, but the condition of mind which made them +possible is closely akin to that which moves some men in our time to +deny or limit the past, and reject the results of any investigation +which tend to enlarge it. Rational inquiry constantly forces upon us the +suggestion that there was more in the unwritten history of the human +race than our inherited modes of thinking have allowed us to suppose, +and that the beginning of civilization is far more ancient than our long +accepted theories of antiquity are able to admit. + +What may be discovered in South America by a more complete geological +and palaeontological investigation it is not now possible to say. +Professor Orton, in his recent book, "The Andes and the Amazon," far +exceeds Montesinos in his estimate of the antiquity of Peruvian +civilization. He says on this point: + +"Geology and archaeology are combining to prove that Sorato and +Chimborazo have looked down upon a civilization far more ancient than +that of the Incas, and perhaps coeval with the flint-flakes of Cornwall +and the shell-mounds of Denmark. On the shores of Lake Titicaca are +extensive ruins which antedate the advent of Manco-Capac, and may be as +venerable as the lake-dwellings of Geneva. Wilson has traced six +terraces in going up from the sea through the province of Esmeraldas +toward Quito, and underneath the living forest, which is older than the +Spanish invasion, many gold, copper, and stone vestiges of a lost +population were found. In all cases these relics are situated below the +high-tide mark, in a bed of marine sediment, from which he infers that +this part of the country formerly stood higher above the sea. If this be +true, vast must be the antiquity of these remains, for the upheaval and +subsidence of the coast is exceedingly slow."--P. 109. + +This refers to discoveries made on the coast of Ecuador in 1860, by +James S. Wilson, Esq. At various points along this coast he found +"ancient or fossil pottery, vessels, images," and other manufactured +articles, all finely wrought. Some of these articles were made of gold. +The most remarkable fact connected with them is that they were taken +from "a stratum of ancient surface earth" which was covered with a +marine deposit six feet thick. The geological formation where these +remains were found is reported to be "as old as the drift strata of +Europe," and "identical with that of Guayaquil in which bones of the +mastodon are met with." The ancient surface earth or vegetable mould, +with its pottery, gold-work, and other relics of civilized human life, +was, therefore, below the sea when that marine deposit was spread over +it. This land, after being occupied by men, had subsided and settled +below the ocean, remained there long enough to accumulate the marine +deposit, and again been elevated to its former position above the sea +level. Since this elevation, forests have been established over it +which are older than the Spanish Conquest, and now it is once more +subsiding. In 1862, at a meeting of the Royal Geological Society, Sir +Roderick Murchison spoke of these discoveries as follows: + +"The discoveries Mr. Wilson has made of the existence of the works of +man in a stratum of mould beneath the sea level, and covered by several +feet of clay, the phenomenon being persistent for sixty miles, are of +the highest interest to physical geographers and geologists. The facts +seem to demonstrate that, within the human period, the lands on the west +coast of Equatorial America were depressed and submerged, and that after +the accumulation of marine clays above the terrestrial relics the whole +coast was elevated to its present position." + +Assuming the facts to be as Mr. Wilson reports (and they have not been +called in question), it follows that there was human civilization to a +certain extent in South America at the time of the older stone age of +Western Europe. The oldest Peruvian date of Montesinos is quite modern +compared with this. The fact may be considered in connection with +another mentioned in the section on American Ethnology, namely, that the +most ancient fauna on this continent, man probably included, is that of +South America. But, without regard to what may be signified by these +discoveries of Mr. Wilson, there is good reason for believing that the +Peruvian civilization was much more ancient than it has been the fashion +to admit. + +Peru would now be a very different country if the Spaniards had been +sufficiently controlled by Christianity and civilization to treat the +Peruvians justly, and seek nothing more than friendly intercourse with +them. But they went there as greedy buccaneers, unscrupulous robbers, +and brought every thing to ruin. At no time since the Spanish Conquest +has the country been as orderly, as prosperous, or as populous as they +found it. It has fallen to a much lower condition. Industry and thrift +have been supplanted by laziness and beggarly poverty. Ignorance and +incapacity have taken the place of that intelligence and enterprise +which enabled the old Peruvians to maintain their remarkable system of +agriculture, complete their great works, and made them so industrious +and skillful in their manufactures. The region covered by the Peruvian +empire has not half as many people now as it had in the time of the +Incas. Is it possible to imagine the present inhabitants of Ecuador, +Peru, and Bolivia cultivating their soil with intelligent industry, +building aqueducts five hundred miles long, and constructing +magnificently paved roads through the rocks and across the ravines of +the Andes, from Quito to Chili? One of the scholars connected with the +scientific expedition which visited South America in 1867, describing +the ancient greatness and present inferior condition of Quito, exclaims, +"May the future bring it days equal to those when it was called the +'City of the Incas!'" He might appropriately utter a similar wish for +the whole country. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + +A. + +THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA. + +It is generally known, I suppose, that original manuscript records of +Norse voyages to this continent have been carefully preserved in +Iceland, and that they were first published at Copenhagen in 1837, with +a Danish and a Latin translation. These narratives are plain, +straightforward, business-like accounts of actual voyages made by the +Northmen, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, to Greenland, +Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode +Island. Within the whole range of the literature of discovery and +adventure no volumes can be found which have more abundant internal +evidence of authenticity. It always happens, when something important is +unexpectedly added to our knowledge of the past, that somebody will +blindly disbelieve. Dugald Stewart could see nothing but "frauds of +arch-forgers" in what was added to our knowledge of ancient India when +the Sanskrit language and literature were discovered. In the same way, +here and there a doubter has hesitated to accept the fact communicated +by these Norse records; but, with the evidence before us, we may as +reasonably doubt any unquestioned fact of history which depends on +similar testimony. + +Any account of these voyages should be prefaced by some notice of +Iceland. Look on a map at the position of Iceland, and you will see at +once that it should not be classed as a European island. It belongs to +North America. It was, in fact, unknown to modern Europe until the year +861 A.D., when it was discovered by Nadodd, a Norse rover. There is some +reason to believe the Irish had previously sailed to this island, but no +settlement was established in it previous to the year 875, when it was +occupied by a colony of Norwegians under a chief named Ingolf. Owing to +civil troubles in Norway, he was soon followed by many of the most +intelligent, wealthy, and honorable of his countrymen. + +Thus Iceland, away in the Northern Ocean, became a place of great +interest. In the tenth and eleventh centuries the Icelanders had +become eminent among the Norse communities for intellectual culture +and accomplishment. They were far superior to their countrymen in +Norway. To them we are indebted for the existing records of Scandinavian +mythology. They were daring and adventurous navigators, and, when we +consider how near Iceland is to America, it should not surprise us to +hear that they found the American continent; on the contrary, it would +have been surprising if they had failed to find it. They first +discovered Greenland, and in 982 established a colony there. Afterward, +in the course of many voyages, they explored the coast of America much +farther south. + +Narratives of some of these voyages were carefully written and +preserved. There are two principal records. One is entitled "An Account +of Eirek the Red and Greenland." This appears to have been written in +Greenland, where Eirek settled, and where the Northmen had a colony +consisting of two hundred and eighty settlements. The other record is an +"Account of Thorfinn Karlsefne." This was written in Iceland by a +bishop, one of Thorfinn's immediate descendants. The Norse narrative +introduces Eirek's voyage of discovery as follows: + +"There was a man of noble family, whose name was Thorvald. He and his +son Eirek, surnamed the Red, were obliged to flee from Jadir (in the +southwest part of Norway) because, in some feud that arose, they +committed a homicide. They went to Iceland, which, at that time, was +thoroughly colonized." + +Thorvald died soon after reaching Iceland, but Eirek inherited his +restless spirit. The record says he was at length involved in another +feud in Iceland. Eirek, being unjustly treated by some of his neighbors, +committed another homicide, and the narrative relates what followed: +"Having been condemned by the court, he resolved to leave Iceland. His +vessel being prepared, and every thing ready, Eirek's partisans in the +quarrel accompanied him some distance. He told them he had determined to +quit Iceland and settle somewhere else, adding that he was going in +search of the land Gunniborn had seen when driven by a storm into the +Western Ocean, and promising to revisit them if his search should be +successful. Sailing from the western side of Iceland, Eirek steered +boldly to the west. At length he found land, and called the place +Midjokul. Then, coasting along the shore in a southerly direction, he +sought to find a place more suitable for settlement. He spent the winter +on a part of the coast which he named "Eirek's Island." A satisfactory +situation for his colony was found, and he remained there two +years.[TN-5] + +On returning to Iceland he called the discovered country "Greenland," +saying to his confidential friends, "A name so inviting will induce men +to emigrate thither." Finally, he went again to Greenland, accompanied +by "twenty-five ships" filled with emigrants and stores, and his colony +was established. "This happened," says the chronicle, "fifteen winters +before the Christian religion was introduced into Iceland;" that is to +say, Eirek made this second voyage to Greenland fifteen years previous +to 1000 A.D. Biarni, son of Heriulf, a chief man among these colonists, +was absent in Norway when his father left Iceland. On returning, he +decided to follow and join the colony, although neither he nor any of +his companions had ever seen Greenland, or sailed on the "Greenland +Ocean." Having arranged his business, he set sail, and made one of the +most remarkable and fearful voyages on record. + +On leaving Iceland they sailed three days with a fair wind; then arose a +storm of northeasterly winds, accompanied by very cloudy, thick weather. +They were driven before this storm for many days, they knew not whither. +At length the weather cleared, and they could see the sky. Then they +sailed west another day, and saw land different from any they had +previously known, for it "was not mountainous." In reply to the anxious +sailors, Biarni said this could not be Greenland. They put the ship +about and steered in a northeasterly direction two days more. Again they +saw land which was low and level. Biarni thought this could not be +Greenland. For three more days they sailed in the same direction, and +came to a land that was "mountainous, and covered with ice." This proved +to be an island, around which they sailed. Steering toward the north, +they sailed four days and again discovered land, which Biarni thought +was Greenland, and so it proved. They were on the southern coast, near +the new settlement. + +It is manifest that the first land Biarni saw was either Nantucket or +Cape Cod; the next was Nova Scotia, around Cape Sable; and the island +around which they coasted was Newfoundland. This voyage was made five +hundred and seven years earlier than the first voyage of Columbus. + +Biarni's report of his discoveries was heard with great interest, and +caused much speculation; but the settlers in Greenland were too busy +making their new homes to undertake voyages in that direction +immediately. Fourteen years later, Leif, a son of Eirek the Red, being +in Norway, was incited to fit out an expedition to go in search of the +strange lands Biarni had seen. On returning to Greenland "he had an +interview with Biarni, and bought his ship, which he fitted out and +manned with thirty-five men." The first land seen by Leif, after he +sailed from Greenland, was the island around which Biarni sailed. This +he named Helluland (the land of broad stones). Sailing on toward the +south, they came next to a land that was low and level, and covered with +wood. This they called Markland (the land of woods). The narrative goes +on: "They now put to sea with a northeast wind, and, sailing still +toward the south, after two days touched at an island [Nantucket?] which +lay opposite the northeast part of the main land." Then they "sailed +through a bay between this island and a cape running northeast, and, +going westward, sailed past the Cape;" and at length they "passed up a +river into a bay," where they landed. They had probably reached Mount +Hope Bay. + +They constructed rude dwellings, and prepared to spend the winter at +this place. It was about mid-autumn, and, finding wild grapes, they +called the country Vinland. Leif and his people were much pleased with +"the mildness of the climate and goodness of the soil." The next spring +they loaded their vessels with timber and returned to Greenland, where, +Eirek the Red having died, Leif inherited his estate and authority, and +left exploring expeditions to others. + +The next year Leif's brother Thorvald went to Vinland with one ship and +thirty men, and there passed the winter. The following summer he +explored the coast westward and southward, and seems to have gone as far +south as the Carolinas. In the autumn they returned to Vinland, where +they passed another winter. The next summer they coasted around Cape Cod +toward Boston Harbor, and, getting aground on Cape Cod, they called it +_Kialarness_, Keel Cape. Here the chronicle first speaks of the natives, +whom it calls "Skraellings." It says: "They perceived on the sandy shore +of the bay three small elevations. On going to them they found three +boats made of skins, and under each boat three men. They seized all the +men but one, who was so nimble as to escape with his boat;" and "_they +killed all those whom they had taken_." The doctrine of "natural +enemies" was more current among the old Northmen than that of human +brotherhood. + +A retribution followed swiftly. They were presently attacked by a swarm +of natives in boats. The "Skraellings" were beaten off; but Thorvald, +being fatally wounded in the skirmish, died, and was buried on a +neighboring promontory. His companions, after passing a third winter in +Vinland, returned to Greenland, having been absent three years. This, +considering the circumstances, was an adventurous voyage, a brave +exploring expedition sent from the arctic regions to make discoveries in +the mysterious world at the south. On reading the narrative, one longs +for that more ample account of the voyage which would have been given if +Thorvald himself had lived to return. + +The "Account of Eirek the Red and Greenland" tells of an expedition +planned by Eirek's youngest son, Thorstein, which was prevented by +Thorstein's death. It relates the particulars of a voyage to Vinland +made by Eirek's daughter, Freydis, with her husband and his two +brothers. Freydis is described as a cruel, hard-hearted, enterprising +woman, "mindful only of gain." The chronicle says her husband, named +Thorvald, was "weak-minded," and that she married him because he was +rich. During the voyage she contrived to destroy her husband's brothers +and seize their ship, for which evil deed she was made to feel her +brother Leif's anger on her return. The same chronicle gives an account +of a voyage northward, up Baffin's Bay, and through what is now called +Wellington Channel. There is also a romantic story of Thorstein's widow, +Gudrid, an exceedingly beautiful and noble-minded woman, which tells how +she was courted and married by Thorfinn Karlsefne, a man of +distinguished character and rank, who came from Iceland with ships, and +was entertained by Leif. + +Thorfinn came to Greenland in the year 1006, and, having married Gudrid, +Thorstein's widow, was induced by her to undertake a voyage to Vinland. +They left Greenland with three ships and a hundred and sixty men, taking +with them livestock and all things necessary to the establishment of a +colony. The vessels touched at Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and, having +reached Vinland, they passed up Buzzard's Bay, disembarked their +livestock, and preparations were made for winter residence. Here they +passed the winter; and here Gudrid gave birth to a son, who lived and +grew to manhood, and among whose lineal descendants was Thorvaldsen, the +Danish sculptor. + +The winter was severe; their provisions began to fail, and they were +threatened with famine. This occasioned many anxieties and some +adventures. One of the company, a fierce, resolute man, bewailed their +apostasy from the old religion, and declared that to find relief they +must return to the worship of Thor. But they found a supply of +provisions without trying this experiment. Thor's worshiper afterward +left the company with a few companions to pursue an expedition of his +own, and was killed by the natives. + +The next spring Thorfinn explored the coast farther west and south. Then +he went to the bay where Leif spent the winter, and there passed his +second winter in Vinland. He called the bay Hop. The Indians called it +Haup; we call it Hope. During the next season they saw many natives and +had much intercourse with them, which finally led to hostilities. The +natives, in great numbers, attacked them fiercely, but were signally +defeated. Freydis, being with the company, fought desperately in this +battle, and greatly distinguished herself as a terrible combatant, +although in that peculiar condition which does not specially qualify a +woman for such exploits. Thorfinn afterward explored Massachusetts Bay, +spent a third winter in Vinland, and then, with part of the company, +returned to Greenland. He finally went back to his home in Iceland, and +there remained during the rest of his life. + +The Indians had traditions which appear to have preserved recollections +of these visits of the Northmen. In 1787, Michael Lort, Vice-president +of the London Antiquarian Society, published a work, in which he quoted +the following extract of a letter from New England, dated more than half +a century earlier: "There was a tradition current with the oldest +Indians in these parts that there came a wooden house, and men of +another country in it, swimming up the Assoonet, as this (Taunton) river +was then called, who fought the Indians with mighty success." + +There was now a settlement in Vinland, at Hop Bay, and voyages to that +region became frequent. The old Norse narrative says: "Expeditions to +Vinland now became very frequent matters of consideration, for these +expeditions were considered both lucrative and honorable." The following +appears in Wheaton's History of the Northmen: "A part of Thorfinn's +company remained in Vinland, and were afterward joined by two Icelandic +chieftains. * * In the year 1059, it is said, an Irish or Saxon priest +named Jon or John, who had spent some time in Iceland, went to preach to +the colonists in Vinland, where he was murdered by the heathen." The +following is from the Introduction to Henderson's Iceland: "In the year +1121, Eirek, bishop of Greenland, made a voyage to Vinland." + +Thus it appears to be an authenticated fact that the Northmen had a +settlement or settlements in New England six hundred years previous to +the arrival of English settlers. It is probable that their Vinland +settlements consisted chiefly of trading and lumbering establishments. +The first explorers "loaded their vessels with timber" when ready to +return to Greenland, where the lack of timber was so great that the +settlers found it necessary to use stone for building material. The +Vinland timber-trade became naturally an important business, but neither +Greenland nor Iceland could furnish emigrants to occupy the country. +Traces of the old Norse settlements in Greenland are still visible in +the ruins of stone buildings. Near the Bay of Igalito, in Greenland, are +remains of a stone church. Vinland was covered with great forests, and +there it was much easier and cheaper to build houses of wood. + +The Norse records speak also of a region south of Vinland to which +voyages were made. It is called Huitramannaland. Indeed, two great +regions farther south are mentioned. There is a romantic story of one +Biorn Asbrandson, a noble Icelander, who, being crossed in his +matrimonial desires, went away toward Vinland; but his vessel was driven +much farther south by a storm. Nothing was heard of him until part of +the crew of a Norse vessel, on a voyage to Huitramannaland, were +captured by the natives, among whom Biorn was living as a chief. He +discovered an old acquaintance among the prisoners whom he found means +to release. He talked freely with his old friend of the past, and of +Iceland, but would not leave his savage friends. + +How little we know of what has been in the past ages, notwithstanding +our many volumes of history! We listen attentively to what gets a wide +and brilliant publication, and either fail to hear or doubt every thing +else. If these Norse adventurers had sailed from England or Spain, those +countries being what they were in the time of Columbus, their colonies +would not have failed, through lack of men and means to support and +extend them, and the story of their discoveries would have been told in +every language and community of the civilized world. But the little +communities in Iceland and Greenland were very different from rich and +powerful nations. Instead of being in direct communication with the +great movements of human life in Europe, recorded in what we read as +history, they were far off in the Northern Ocean, and, out of Norway, +almost unknown to Europe. Afterward, when the name and discoveries of +Columbus had taken control of thought and imagination, it became +difficult for even intelligent men, with the old Norse records before +them, to see the claims of the Northmen. + + +B. + +THE WELSH IN AMERICA. + +The story of the emigration to America of Prince Madoc, or Madog, is +told in the old Welsh books as follows: + +About the year 1168 or 1169 A.D., Owen Gwynedd, ruling prince of North +Wales, died, and among his sons there was a contest for the succession, +which, becoming angry and fierce, produced a civil war. His son Madoc, +who had "command of the fleet," took no part in this strife. Greatly +disturbed by the public trouble, and not being able to make the +combatants hear reason, he resolved to leave Wales and go across the +ocean to the land at the west. Accordingly, in the year 1170 A.D., he +left with a few ships, going south of Ireland, and steering westward. +The purpose of this voyage was to explore the western land and select a +place for settlement. He found a pleasant and fertile region, where his +settlement was established. Leaving one hundred and twenty persons, he +returned to Wales, prepared ten ships, prevailed on a large company, +some of whom were Irish, to join him, and sailed again to America. +Nothing more was ever heard in Wales of Prince Madog or his settlement. + +All this is related in old Welsh annals preserved in the abbeys of +Conway and Strat Flur. These annals were used by Humphrey Llwyd in his +translation and continuation of Caradoc's History of Wales, the +continuation extending from 1157 to 1270 A.D. This emigration of Prince +Madog is mentioned in the preserved works of several Welsh bards who +lived before the time of Columbus. It is mentioned by Hakluyt, who had +his account of it from writings of the bard Guttun Owen. As the Northmen +had been in New England over one hundred and fifty years when Prince +Madog went forth to select a place for his settlement, he knew very well +there was a continent on the other side of the Atlantic, for he had +knowledge of their voyages to America; and knowledge of them was also +prevalent in Ireland. His emigration took place when Henry II. was king +of England, but in that age the English knew little or nothing of Welsh +affairs in such a way as to connect them with English history very +closely. + +It is supposed that Madog settled somewhere in the Carolinas, and that +his colony, unsupported by new arrivals from Europe, and cut off from +communicated[TN-6] with that side of the ocean, became weak, and, after +being much reduced, was destroyed or absorbed by some powerful tribe of +Indians. In our colony times, and later, there was no lack of reports +that relics of Madog's Welshmen, and even their language, had been +discovered among the Indians; but generally they were entitled to no +credit. The only report of this kind having any show of claim to +respectful consideration is that of Rev. Morgan Jones, made in 1686, in +a letter giving an account of his adventures among the Tuscaroras. These +Tuscarora Indians were lighter in color than the other tribes, and this +peculiarity was so noticeable that they were frequently mentioned as +"White Indians." Mr. Jones's account of his experiences among them was +written in March, 1686, and published in the Gentleman's Magazine for +the year 1740, as follows: + + "REV. MORGAN JONES'S STATEMENT. + + "These presents certify all persons whatever, that in the year + 1660, being an inhabitant of Virginia, and chaplain to Major + General Bennet, of Mansoman County, the said Major General Bennet + and Sir William Berkeley sent two ships to Port Royal, now called + South Carolina, which is sixty leagues southward of Cape Fair, and + I was sent therewith to be their minister. Upon the 8th of April we + set out from Virginia, and arrived at the harbor's mouth of Port + Royal the 19th of the same month, where we waited for the rest of + the fleet that was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda with one Mr. + West, who was to be deputy governor of said place. As soon as the + fleet came in, the smallest vessels that were with us sailed up the + river to a place called the Oyster Point; there I continued about + eight months, all which time being almost starved for want of + provisions: I and five more traveled through the wilderness till we + came to the Tuscarora country. + + "There the Tuscarora Indians took us prisoners because we told them + that we were bound to Roanock. That night they carried us to their + town and shut us up close, to our no small dread. The next day they + entered into a consultation about us, and, after it was over, their + interpreter told us that we must prepare ourselves to die next + morning, whereupon, being very much dejected, I spoke to this + effect in the British [Welsh] tongue: 'Have I escaped so many + dangers, and must I now be knocked on the head like a dog!' Then + presently came an Indian to me, which afterward appeared to be a + war captain belonging to the sachem of the Doegs (whose original, I + find, must needs be from the Old Britons), and took me up by the + middle, and told me in the British [Welsh] tongue I should not die, + and thereupon went to the emperor of Tuscarora, and agreed for my + ransom and the men that were with me. + + "They (the Doegs) then welcomed us to their town, and entertained + us very civilly and cordially four months, during which time I had + the opportunity of conversing with them familiarly in the British + [Welsh] language, and did preach to them in the same language three + times a week, and they would confer with me about any thing that + was difficult therein, and at our departure they abundantly + supplied us with whatever was necessary to our support and well + doing. They are settled upon Pontigo River, not far from Cape + Atros. This is a brief recital of my travels among the Doeg + Indians. + + MORGAN JONES, + + "the son of John Jones, of Basateg, near Newport, in the County of + Monmouth. I am ready to conduct any Welshman or others to the + country. + + "New York, March 10th, 1685-6." + +Other accounts of his "travels" among the "Doegs" of the Tuscarora +nation were published much earlier, but no other has been preserved. His +veracity was never questioned. What shall be said of his statement? Were +the remains of Prince Madog's company represented in these "Doeg" +Tuscaroras? He is very explicit in regard to the matter of language, and +it is not easy to see how he could be mistaken. They understood his +Welsh, not without needing explanation of some things "difficult +therein." He was able to converse with them and preach to them in Welsh; +and yet, if he got an explanation of the existence of the Welsh language +among these "Doegs," or sought to know any thing in regard to their +traditional history, he omits entirely to say so. Without meaning to +doubt his veracity, one feels skeptical, and desires a more intelligent +and complete account of these "travels." + + +C. + +ANTIQUITIES OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS. + +There are indications that the Pacific world had an important ancient +history, and these multiply as our knowledge of that world increases. +The wide diffusion of Malay dialects in the Pacific islands suggests the +controlling influence by which that ancient history was directed. The +ancient remains at Easter Island are known; two of the "great images" +found there are now in the British Museum. All who have examined this +island believe these remains "were the work of a former race," and that +it had formerly "an abundant population." It is not generally known that +antiquities more important than these exist on many of the other islands +of the Pacific Ocean. + +An educated and very intelligent gentleman, who has lived many years on +one of these islands, and visited a considerable portion of Polynesia, +finds that the Pacific has antiquities which deserve attention. He has +sent me papers containing descriptions of some of them, taken from the +diary of an intelligent and observant shipmaster, much of whose life as +a mariner has been passed on the Pacific. These papers were prepared for +publication in a newspaper at Sydney. The gentleman sending them says in +his letter: "These researches are not very minute or accurate, but they +indicate that there is a vast field ready for exploration in the +Pacific, as well as in Central America and Egypt." + +The papers to which I refer begin with ruins observed in the island of +Ascension or Fanipe, and describe "the great temple" at Metallanine. +This was a large edifice, well built of stone, and connected with canals +and earth-works. "Vaults, passages, and platforms, all of basaltic +stones," are mentioned; also, "below the pavement of the main +quadrangle, on opposite sides, are two passages or gateways, each about +ten feet square, pierced through the outer wall down to the waters of +the canal." Within the walls is a "central pyramidal chamber or temple," +with a tree growing on it. The whole ruin is now covered with trees and +other vegetation. + +Other ruins exist in the island, one or two of which are described. +"Some are close upon the sea-shore, others are on the tops of solitary +hills, and some are found on plateaus or cleared spaces far inland, but +commanding views of the sea. One of the latter kind is a congeries of +ruinous heaps of square stones, covering at least five or six acres. It +is situated on a piece of table-land, surrounded by dense forest +growths, and itself covered with low jungle. There is the appearance of +a ditch, in the form of a cross, at the intersecting angles of which are +tall mounds of ruin, of which the original form is now undistinguishable +beyond the fact that the basements, constructed of large stones, +indicate that the structures were square. The natives can not be induced +to go near this place, although it abounds in wild pigeons, which they +are extremely fond of hunting." + +These ruined structures were not built by barbarous people such as now +inhabit the island of Ascension. There is no tradition relating to their +origin or history among the present inhabitants, who, it is said, +attribute them to "mauli," evil spirits. The "great temple" was occupied +for a time, "several generations ago," according to the natives, by the +shipwrecked crew of a Spanish buccaneer; and relics of these outlaws are +still found in its vaults, which they used as storehouses. + +On many low islands of the Marshall and Gilbert groups are curious +pyramids, tall and slender, built of stones. The natives regard them +with superstitious fear. The author of these papers, being a mariner, +suggests that they are "landmarks or relics of ancient copper-colored +voyagers of the Polynesian race during their great migrations." +Remarkable structures of this kind are found on Tapituea, one of the +Kingsmill islands, and on Tinian, one of the Ladrones, where, also, +remarkable Cyclopean structures are found. They are solid, truncated +pyramidal columns, generally about twenty feet high and ten feet square +at the base. The monuments on Tinian were seen by M. Arago, who +accompanied Bougainville. According to his description they form two +long colonnades, the two rows being thirty feet apart, and seeming to +have once been connected by something like roofing. On Swallow's Island, +some twelve degrees eastward of Tapituea, is a pyramid similar in +construction; and on the west side of this island is "a vast +quadrangular inclosure of stone, containing several mounds, or probably +edifices of some kind, of which the form and contents are not known by +reason of their being buried under drift-sand and guano." + +On Strong's Island, and others connected with it, are ruins similar to +those at Metallanine. On Lele, which is separated from Strong's Island +at the harbor by a very narrow channel, there is a "conical mountain +surrounded by a wall some twenty feet high, and of enormous thickness." +The whole island appears to present "a series of Cyclopean inclosures +and lines of great walls every where overgrown with forest." Some of the +inclosures are parallelograms 200 by 100 feet in extent; one is much +larger. The walls are generally twelve feet thick, and within are +vaults, artificial caverns, and secret passages. No white man is allowed +to live on Lele, and strangers are forbidden to examine the ruins, in +which, it is supposed, is concealed the plunder taken by the natives +from captured or stranded ships. On the southwest side of the harbor, at +Strong's Island, "are many canals lined with stone. They cross each +other at right angles, and the islands between their intersections were +artificially raised, and had tall buildings erected on them, some of +which are still entire. One quadrangular tower, about forty feet high, +is very remarkable. The forest around them is dense and gloomy; the +canals are broken and choked with mangroves." Not more than 500 people +now inhabit these islands; their tradition is, that an ancient city +formerly stood around this harbor, mostly on Lele, occupied by a +powerful people whom they call "Anut," and who had large vessels, in +which they made long voyages east and west, "many moons" being required +for one of these voyages. + +Great stone structures on some of Navigator's Islands, of which the +natives can give no account, are mentioned without being particularly +described. Some account is given of one remarkable structure. On a +mountain ridge 1500 feet above the sea, and near the edge of a precipice +500 feet high, is a circular platform built of huge blocks of volcanic +stone. It is 150 feet in diameter, and about 20 feet high. On one side +was the precipice, and on the other a ditch that may have been +originally 20 feet deep. Trees six feet in diameter are now growing in +the ruins of this platform. Remarkable ruins exist on some of the +Marquesas Islands, but they have not been clearly described. + +At first, when these antiquities were noticed by seamen, it was +suggested that they were the remains of works constructed by the old +buccaneers; but closer examination soon put aside this theory. Neither +the buccaneers, nor any other people from Europe, would have constructed +such works; and, besides, it is manifest that they were ruins before any +crew of buccaneers sailed on the Pacific. The remains on Easter Island +were described by Captain Cook. It has now been discovered that such +remains exist at various points throughout Polynesia, and greater +familiarity with the islands will very likely bring to light many that +have not yet been seen by Europeans. The author of these papers, +referring to the old discarded suggestion relative to the buccaneers, +says: "Centuries of European occupation would have been required for the +existence of such extensive remains, which are, moreover, not in any +style of architecture practiced by people of the Old World." + +It is stated that similar stone-work, consisting of "walls, strongholds, +and great inclosures," exists on the eastern side of Formosa, which is +occupied by a people wholly distinct in race from the Mongols who +invaded and occupied the other side. The influence to which these +ancient works are due seems to have pervaded Polynesia from the +Marquesas Islands at the east, to the Ladrone and Carolina Islands at +the west, and what is said of the present inhabitants of Ascension +Island might have a wider application, namely, "They create on the mind +of a stranger the impression of a people who have degenerated from +something higher and better." At a few points in Polynesia a small +portion of the people show Mongol traits. Dark-colored people, evidently +of the Papuan variety, somewhat mixed with the brown race it may be, are +found at various points in larger numbers; but the great body of the +Polynesians are a brown race, established (at a very remote period, +perhaps) by a mixture of the Papuans with the Malays. Now take into +consideration the former existence of a great Malayan empire, the wide +distribution of Malay dialects on the Pacific, and the various +indications that there was formerly in Polynesia something higher and +better in the condition of the people, and the ancient history indicated +by these ruins will not seem mysterious, nor shall we feel constrained +to treat as incredible the Central American and Peruvian traditions that +anciently strangers came from the Pacific world in ships to the west +coast of America for commercial intercourse with the civilized countries +existing here. + +Ruins similar in character are found in the Sandwich Islands, but here +the masonry is occasionally superior to that found elsewhere. A +gentleman interested in archaeological inquiries gives the following +account of a Hawaiian ruin which he visited in the interior, about +thirty miles from Hilo. He says he went with several companions to the +hill of Kukii, which he describes as follows: + +"The hill is so regular in its outline that it appears like a work of +art, a giant effort of the Mound-Builders. Its general form resembles +very much the pyramid of Cholulu in Mexico, and from this fact I felt a +great interest in climbing it. We proceeded, Conway, Eldhardt, Kaiser, +and I, on foot up the grassy slope of the hill. There was an absence of +all volcanic matter; no stone on the hill except what had been brought +there by the hand of man. As we arrived near the summit we came upon +great square blocks of hewn stone overgrown by shrubbery, and on +reaching the summit we found that it had been leveled and squared +according to the cardinal points, and paved. We found two square blocks +of hewn stone imbedded in the earth in an upright position, some fifteen +feet apart, and ranging exactly east and west. Over the platform was +rank grass, and a grove of cocoanuts some hundred years old. Examining +farther, I found that the upper portion of the hill had been terraced; +the terraces near the summit could be distinctly traced, and they had +evidently been faced with hewn stone. The stones were in perfect squares +of not less than three feet in diameter, many of them of much greater +size. They were composed of a dark vitreous basalt, the most durable of +all stone. It is remarkable that every slab was faced and polished upon +every side, so that they could fit together like sheets of paper. They +reminded me much of the polished stones in some of the walls of +Tiahuanuco, and other ruins in Peru. Many of the blocks were lying +detached; probably some had been removed; but there were still some +thirty feet of the facing on the lower terrace partly in position. But +all showed the ravages of time and earthquakes, and were covered with +accumulated soil, grass, and shrubbery. Conway and myself, in descending +the hill, had our attention attracted by a direct line of shrubbery +running from the summit to the base of the hill, on the western side, to +the cocoanut grove below. Upon examination, we found it to be the +remains of a stairway, evidently of hewn stone, that had led from the +foot of the hill to the first terrace, a height of nearly 300 feet. +Within this stairway, near the base, we found a cocoanut-tree growing, +more than 200 years old, the roots pressing out the rocks. The site for +a temple is grand and imposing, and the view extensive, sweeping the +ocean, the mountains, and the great lava plain of Puna. It was also +excellent in a military point of view as a lookout. From the summit it +appeared as an ancient green island, around which had surged and rolled +a sea of lava; and so it evidently has been. + +"By whom and when was this hill terraced and these stones hewn? There is +a mystery hanging around this hill which exists nowhere else in the +Sandwich Islands. The other structures so numerously scattered over the +group are made of rough stone; there is no attempt at a terrace; there +is no flight of steps leading to them; there is no hewn or polished +stone, nor is there any evidence of the same architectural skill +evinced. They are the oldest ruins yet discovered, and were evidently +erected by a people considerably advanced in arts, acquainted with the +use of metallic instruments, the cardinal points, and some mathematical +knowledge. Were they the ancestors of the present Hawaiians, or of a +different race that has passed away?" + +He inquired of the oldest natives concerning the history of this ruin, +but "they could give only vague and confused traditions in regard to it, +and these were contradictory. The only point on which they agreed was +that it had never been used within the memory of man." They also said +there was another old structure of the same kind in Kona, whose history +is lost. The language of the Sandwich Islands is so manifestly a dialect +of the Malayan tongue, that the influence of the Malays must have been +paramount in these islands in ancient times. + + +D. + +DECIPHERING THE INSCRIPTIONS. + +In the "Actes de la Societe Philologique," Paris, for March, 1870, Mons. +H. de Charencey gives some particulars of his attempt to decipher +"fragments" of one or two very brief inscriptions on the bas-relief of +the cross at Palenque. I know nothing of his qualifications for this +work, but he appears to have studied the characters of the Maya +alphabet preserved and explained by Landa. It is seen, however, that his +attempt to decipher the inscriptions is a complete failure. In fact, he +professes to have done no more than reproduce two or three words in +Roman characters. He gives us _Hunab-ku_, _Eznab_, and _Kukulcan_ as +words found on the cross. _Eznab_ is supposed to be the name of a month, +or of a day of the week, and the others names of divinities. He finds +that the characters of the inscriptions are not in all respects +identical with those found in Landa, and that Landa's list, especially +when tested by the inscriptions, is incomplete. There is not absolute +certainty in regard to the name Kukulcan; nevertheless, M. de Charencey +makes this speculative use of it: + +"The presence of the name 'Kukulcan' on the bas-relief of the cross is +important in a historical point of view. The name of this demigod, which +signifies 'the serpent with the quetzal plumes,' is the Maya form of the +Mexican name 'Quetzalcohuatl,' which has precisely the same meaning. But +we know that the name and worship of this god were brought to the high +plateaus of Central America toward the ninth century of our era, +consequently the bas-relief in question can not be more ancient." + +This assumes that the worship of Kukulcan was never heard of by the +Mayas until the Aztecs arrived in Mexico, an assumption for which there +is no warrant, and which proceeds in utter disregard of facts. It was +the Aztecs who had never heard of Kukulcan, or, at least, had not +adopted his worship, previous to this time. The Aztecs, when they +settled in Anahuac, did not impart new ideas, religion, or culture to +any body; on the contrary, they received much from the civilization of +their new neighbors, which was more advanced than their own. It is very +certain that neither the Mayas nor the Quiches borrowed any thing from +them. + +We need not go back so far as the ninth century to find the time when +the Aztecs adopted, or at least organized in Mexico, the worship of +Kukulcan, whose name they transformed into Quetzalcohuatl. His worship +did not begin with them; they did not introduce it; they found it in the +country as a very ancient worship, and adopted their form of it from the +people who yielded to their sway. + +If M. de Charencey will inquire with a little more care, he will +discover that Kukulcan was one of the very oldest personages in Central +American mythology, as _Con_ was one of the oldest in that of Peru. +Kukulcan, sometimes as Zamna, was associated with almost every thing in +civilization. He introduced the beginnings of civilized life, invented +the art of writing, and was to the Central Americans not wholly unlike +what Thoth was to the Egyptians, and Tautus, or Taut, to the +Phoenicians. If the bas-relief of the cross at Palenque were half as old +as his worship in Central America, it would be far more ancient than any +one has supposed. + + + + +GENERAL INDEX. + + +[The figures in this Index refer to pages.] + + Adobe used in Northern Mexico, 82; + in Peru for later constructions, 243; + used by Mound-Builders, 27. + + Ancient history of Mexico and Central America in the old books and + traditions, 197-200; + Aztecs preceded by Toltecs, and Toltecs by Colhuas, 198; + Colhuas the original civilizers, 198-9; + they may have come from South America, 198, 200; + Chichimecs the original barbarians, 198; + the Colhuas first settled in Tabasco, 199; + Mayas, Quiches, Tzendals, etc., originally Colhuas, 200, 205; + Colhuan kingdom of Xibalba, 199; + Colhuas, Toltecs, and Aztecs branches of the same people, 206; + such a history implied by the political condition in which the + country was found, 206; + theories of this old civilization considered, 165-183; + it was original in America, 184-6. + + Antiquity of man and civilization, 181-2, 273-5. + + Antiquity of the Mexican and Central American ruins, 151-59, 184; + the great forest was 450 years ago what it is now, 151; + it covers an ancient seat of civilization, 95, 151, 152; + Copan forgotten and mysterious before the Conquest, 152; + there was a long period of history preceded by development of the + civilization, 152, 153; + distinct epochs traced, 155, 156; + no perishable materials left in the ruins, 156-159; + an extreme notion of their antiquity, 157, 158, 207; + another notion makes this the "oldest civilization in the world," + 159-61; + Tyrians saw the old cities 3000 years ago, 162-64. + + Antiquity of the Mound-Builders, 45-51; + a new river terrace formed since they left, 47; + decayed condition of their skeletons shows antiquity, 48-9; + "primeval" forests found growing over their works, 50-1. + + Astronomical monument in Southern Mexico, 122-3; + at Chapultepec, 220-1; + in Peru, 254; + Mexican calendars, 214-15; + Peruvian calendars, 236. See Telescopic Tubes. + + Atlantis supposed to be an ingulfed part of America, 175-7; + its destruction recorded in Egypt and related to Solon, 177-8; + said to be recorded in old Central American books, 176; + Proclus on remembrance of Atlantis, 178; + derivation of the words Atlas, Atlantes, and Atlantic, 179; + opinions relative to former existence of such land, 180-1; + geological probabilities, 181; + memory of war with the Atlantes preserved at Athens, 178. + + Aztec civilization denied in a "New History," 207-8; + facts discredit this denial, 208-9; + Cortez found abundant supplies, 208, 210; + found Mexican mechanics, masons, and the like, 213, 214, 215; + the city of Mexico and its great temple, realities, 208, 212, 215; + both described, 211-12; + present remains of them, 214-15. + + Aztecs, the, were less civilized than their predecessors, 221; + they came from the south, 217-18; + when they left Aztlan, 219; + how long they had been in Mexico, 219; + what they learned and borrowed of their neighbors, 220-1; + did not adopt the phonetic system of writing, 221; + could not have left such ruined cities as Palenque and Mitla, 221; + Aztecs still found at the south, 218-19. + + + Balboa's hunt for Peru, 223-4. + + Basques, their fishing voyages to America, 62. + + Books of ancient America destroyed in Mexico and Central America by + the Aztec Ytzcoatl, 189; + by Spanish fanaticism, 188-9; + a few of the later books saved, 180-196; + some of the more important, 195-6; + books of hieroglyphics in Peru, 256. + + Boturini collected Mexican and Central American books, 195; + misfortunes of his collection, 195-6. + + Brasseur de Bourbourg on the antiquity of the Mound-Builders, 53; + on their Mexican origin, 57; + on their religion, 53; + on the Chichimecs, 198; + on Huehue Tlapalan, 201; + on Nahuatl chronology, 204; + his "Atlantic theory," 159, 160, 174-83; + he has great knowledge of American traditions and antiquities, 174; + discovered the works of Ximenes and Landa's Maya alphabet, 191, 192; + translated "Popol-Vuh," 192; + he is unsystematic, confused, and fanciful, 102, 160. + + Brereton on the wild Indians of New England, 62-5; + his invented stories of their copper and flax, 62, 63. + + + Calendars in Mexico, 214-15; + in Peru, 236. + + Central American and Southern Mexican ruins most important, 93; + their masonry and ornamentation, 99-101; + a great forest covers most of them, 94, 103, 104; + a road built into the forest in 1695, 95, 151-2; + this forest covers a chief seat of the ancient civilization, 95; + Cinaca-Mecallo, 124. + + Cevola, "Seven Cities" of, 85-9. + + Charencey, M. de, attempts to decipher an inscription, 292-3; + his singular speculation concerning the worship of Kukulcan, 293. + + Charnay, Desire, his account of Mitla, 121, 122. + + Chronology of the Mexican race, 203-4; + of the Peruvians, 265-6. + + Civilization, antiquity of, underrated, 181-2, 273. + + Cloth of Mound-Builders, fragments of, 41. + + Coin among the Muyscas, 271. + + "Coliseum" at Copan, 114. + + Columbus and the Mayas, 209-10. + + Copan, its ruins situated in wild region, 111; + first discovered in 1576, and were then mysterious to the natives, + 93, 111; + what Mr. Stephens saw there, 111, 112; + what Palacios found there 300 years ago, 113, 114; + the inscriptions, monoliths, and decorations, 112; + seems older than Palenque, 112, 113, 155. + + Copper of Lake Superior described, 43. + + Coronado's conquest of "Cevola," 85, 86. + + Cortez invades Mexico, 210; + his progress, 210-11; + well received at the city of Mexico, 211; + driven from the city, 213; + how the city was taken, 213-14; + it was immediately rebuilt, 214; + the plaza made of part of the inclosure of the great temple, 214; + Cortez could not have invented the temple, 215. + + Cross, the, not originally a Christian emblem, 109; + vastly older than Christianity as a symbolic device, 109, 110; + common in Central American ruins, 109; + the assumption that it was first used as a Christian emblem has + misled inquiry as to the age and origin of antiquities, 110. + + Cuzco, Montesinos on its name, 227; + was probably built by the Incas on the site of a ruined city of the + older times, 226-7; + the ruins at Cuzco, 226, 234-5. + + + Egyptian pyramids totally unlike those in America, 183; + no resemblance between Egyptians and the Mexican race, 183. + + Ethnology, American, discussed, 65-9; + South Americans the oldest aborigines, 68, 69, 185; + Huxley's suggestion, 69. + + + Gallatin, Albert, on Mound-Builders, 34. + + Garcilasso partly of Inca blood, 258; + not well qualified to write a history of Peru, 258-9; + he began with the fable of Manco-Capac, and confined all history + to the Incas, 259-61; + was received as an "authority," 269; + his influence has misdirected Peruvian studies, 269. + + Gila, valley of, its ruins, 82. + + Gold the most common metal in Peru, 250; + astonishing abundance of Peruvian gold-work, 249-50; + their gardens made of gold, 250; + amount of gold sent from Peru to Spain, 238, 250; + gold calendar found recently at Cuzco, 236. + + + Herrara[TN-7] on the buildings in Yucatan, 149. + + Huehue-Tlapalan, from which the Toltecs went to Mexico, 57, 75, 201-3; + supposed to be the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, 202, 203; + described in old Central American books, 202; + the Toltecs driven from Huehue-Tlapalan by the Chichimecs, or wild + Indians, 203; + it was at a distance northeast of Mexico, 201, 202; + Cabrera and others on Huehue-Tlapalan, 202. + + Humboldt on Phoenician symbols in America, 186; + on the origin of the Aztecs, 218; + on Peruvian great roads, 245; + on books of hieroglyphics found in Peru, 246, 255; + describes the pyramid of Papantla, 91, 92. + + Huxley on American ethnology, 69. + + + Incas of Peru, origin of the title, 267; + they represent only the last period of Peruvian history, 261; + their dynasty began 500 years or less before the Conquest, 260-1; + list of the Incas, 261; + Manco-Capac a fable, 260-1. + + Indians of North America, vain endeavors to connect them with the + Mound-Builders, 62; + came toward the Atlantic from the northwest, 59; + the Iroquois group may have come first, 58; + their distribution relative to the Algonquins, 59, 60; + date of Algonquin migration estimated, 60; + these Indians resemble the Koraks and Chookchees, 65, 185; + they are entirely distinct from Mound-Builders and Pueblos, 60, 65; + their barbarism original, 61. + + "Inscription Rock," 78. + + Inscriptions in Central America written in Maya characters, 196; + written perhaps in an old form of speech from which the Maya family + of dialects was derived, 196; + attempts to decipher them, 292. + + Iron, names for, in ancient Peru, 248. + + Israelitish theory of ancient America, 166-7. + + + Keweenaw Point, a copper district, 44. + + Kukulcan, his worship, 220, 293. + + + Lake Peten in the forest, Maya settlement there, 95; + Ursua's road from Yucatan to the lake, 95. + + Landa wrote on the Mayas of Yucatan, 191; + preserved the Maya alphabet, with explanations, 191. + + Languages in Mexico and Central America, 200, 205; + three groups, 216; + probably not radically distinct, 206, 216; + the most important group supposed to be Colhuan, 205. + + Las Casas on Central American annalists, 187-8; + what he says of the old books and their destruction, 188. + + + Maize, did Indians get it from Mound-Builders? 35. + + Malays, their ancient empire, 167-8; + their navigation of the Pacific, 168; + spread of their dialects, 168; + came to America, 169, 170, 272; + El Masudi[TN-8] on the Malays, 168; + were not civilizers in America, 170-1; + ruins of Malayan cities in Java, 163-9. + + Manco-Capac a fiction of the Incas, 260-1; + discarded by Montesinos and other early Spanish writers, 261, 269. + + Mandan Indians supposed Mound-Builders, 74. + + Mayas first seen by Columbus, 209; + their phonetic alphabet preserved, 191; + descendants of the first civilizers, 170. + + Mexican cities noticed by Spaniards, 211, 215; + what Montezuma said of his building materials, 209. + + Mexican "picture-writing" a peculiarity of the Aztecs, 221; + much inferior to the Maya writing, 221; + something like it at Chichen-Itza, 143; + Aztecs could not have left such inscriptions as those seen in the + ruined cities, 221. + + Mexican ruins in the central region, 89-92; + Tulha, 89; + Xochicalco, 89, 90; + Papantla, 91, 92; + Cholula, 90; + Teotihuacan, 90; + pyramids with galleries, 91; + unexplored antiquities in this region, 91. + + Mining works of Mound-Builders, 43-6; + mining method of the Mound-Builders, 43; + their mining tools found, 44, 46; + they left a detached mass of copper in a mine, 43-4; + antiquity of their mining works, 46, 53, 64. + + Mitla, its ruins show refined skill in the builders, 118, 121; + the decorations, 121; + present state of the ruins, 117-122. + + Montesinos, Fernando, explored and studied Peru fifteen years, 261; + unequaled in knowledge of its antiquities and traditional history, 263; + his means of information, 262; + how historical narratives and poems were preserved by the _amautas_, + 263; + how literature can be preserved by trained memory, 262-3; + Homer and the Vedas, 262-3. + + Montesinos on Peruvian history, 264-7; + there were three distinct periods, 264; + he rejects the Manco-Capac fable, 264; + does not begin the history with such stories, 264; + reports 64 kings in the first period, 264; + his account of the Peruvian sovereigns, 264-7; + the art of writing existed in the older time, 265; + how the first period closed, 266; + the second period, for 1000 years, a period of invasions, divisions, + small states, and general decline of civilization, 264, 267; + in this period the art of writing was lost, 267; + in it the 26 successors of the 64 kings were merely kings of + Tambotoco, 266; + how this period ended, 267-8; + the third period began with Rocca, the first Inca, 267; + why Montesinos has not been duly appreciated, 268-9; + his facts stand apart from his theories, 268; + probabilities favor his report of three periods, 270-1. + + Montezuma on his building-material, 209. + + Morgan, Lewis H., on the Indians, 59, 60, 66. + + Mound-Builders, their national name unknown, 14, 57; + their mound-work and its uses, 17-19; + like mound-work in Mexico and Central America, 70, 71, 72; + their civilization, 33-39; + used wood for building material, 70, 71; + their inclosures, 19-24; + their works at the south, 24, 27; + their principal settlements, 30, 31, 34; + their border settlements, 52; + had commerce with Mexico, 73; + relics of their manufactures, 40, 41, 61; + their long stay in the country, 51-55; + were not ancestors of wild Indians, 58-61; + came from Mexico, 70; + were connected with Mexico through Texas, 73; + probably were Toltecs, 74, 200-3. + + Muyscas, their civilization, 271. + + + Nahuatl or Toltec chronology, 203-4. + + Natchez Indians, were they degenerate Mound-Builders, 58, 56. + + Northmen in America, 279-85; + they discovered Greenland, 280; + their settlements in Greenland, 280-1, 284; + Biarni's constrained voyage to Massachusetts in 985 A.D., 163, 281; + subsequent voyages to New England, 281-4; + encounters with the Indians, 282, 283; + the Norse settlements in Vinland were probably lumbering and trading + establishments, 284; + not people enough in Greenland and Iceland to make extensive + settlements, 284; + written narratives of these discoveries, 279-80. + + + Origin of Mexican and Central American civilization, theories of, + 165-183; + the "lost tribes" theory absurd, 166-7; + the Malay theory untenable, 170-1; + the Phoenician theory fails to explain it, 173-4; + the Atlantic theory explained by Brasseur de Bourbourg not likely + to be received, 182; + it was an original American civilization, 184; + may have begun in South America, 185, 246, 272-3. + + Orton, Prof., on Peruvian antiquity, 273, 274. + + + Pacific islands, their antiquities, 288-92. + + Palenque, Stephens's first view of, 100; + this city's name unknown, 104; + supposed to have been the ancient Xibalba, 199; + some of its ruins described, 105-9; + extent of the old city can not be determined, 96, 105; + difficulties of exploration, 105, 110; + the cross at Palenque, 109; + aqueduct, 105. + + Papantla, its remarkable stone pyramid, 91, 92; + important ruins in the forests of Papantla and Misantla, 91. + + Paper, Peruvian name of, 267; + manufacture of, for writing, proscribed in the second period of + Peruvian history, 267. + + Peruvian ancient history, 257-67. + + Peruvian civilization, 246; + differed from Central American, 222-3, 246; + is seen in the civil and industrial organization, 247; + in their agriculture, 247; + in their manufactures, 247-51; + their dyes, 247-8; + their skill in gold-work, 249; + the abundance of gold-work, 249-50; + their schools of the _amautas_, 253, 263; + their literature, 255; + anciently had the art of writing, 255, 267; + had names for iron, and said to have worked iron mines, 248-9. + + Peruvian ruins, where found, 222, 237; + they represent two periods of civilization, 226; + remains on islands in Lake Titicaca, 227-8; + at Tiahuanaco, 233-4; + remarkable monolithic gateways, 233-4; + at old Huanuco, 239-40; + at Gran-Chimu, 237-8; + ruins of a large and populous city, 237; + Cuelap, 239; + Pachacamac, 243; + subterranean passage under a river, 243; + the aqueducts, 222, 237, 243; + the great roads, 243-6; + ruins at Cuzco, 234. + + Phoenicians, or people of that race, came probably to America in very + ancient times, 172, 173; + decline of geographical knowledge around the AEgean after Phoenicia + was subjugated, about B.C. 813, 272-3; + supposed Phoenician symbols in Central America, 186; + Phoenician race may have influenced Central American civilization, + but did not originate it, 173, 185; + Tyrians storm-driven to America, 162, 163. + + Pizarro seeks Peru, 224-5; + discovers the country, 225; + goes to Spain for aid, 225; + finally lands at Tumbez, 225; + marches to Caxamalca, 220; + perpetrates wholesale murder and seizes the Inca, 220; + the Inca fills a room with gold for ransom, and is murdered, 220, 249. + + "Popol-Vuh," an old Quiche book translated, 192; + what it contains, 193; + Quiche account of the creation, 194; + four attempts to create man, 194-5; + its mythology grew out of an older system, 193-4; + kingdom of Quiche not older than 1200 A.D., 193. + + Pueblos, 76, 77; + Pueblo ruins, 77-89; + occupied northern frontier of the Mexican race, 68, 217-18; + unlike the wild Indians, 67-8. + + + Quiches, notices of, 193. + + Quippus, Peruvian, 254-5. + + Quirigua, its ruins like those of Copan, but older, 114; + it is greatly decayed, 117; + has inscriptions, 117. + + Quito subjugated by Huayna-Capac, 225; + was civilized like Peru, 270; + modern traveler's remark on, 276. + + + Savage theory of human history, 182. + + "Semi-Village Indians," 67, 68. + + Serpent, figures of, 28; + great serpent inclosure, 28. + + Simpson, Lieut., describes a Pueblo ruin, 88, 89. + + Spinning and weaving in Peru, 247; + vestiges of these arts among the Mound-Builders, 41; + the Mayas had textile fabrics, 209. + + Squier on the Aztecs, 92; + on the more southern ruins in Central America, 123, 124; + on the monoliths of Copan, 112; + on Central American forests, 94; + on the ruins of Tiahuanaco, 234. + + + Telescopic tubes of the Mound-Builders, 42; + silver figure of a Peruvian using such a tube, 254; + such a tube on a Mexican monument, 123. + + "Tennis Court" at Chichen-Itza, 142. + + Titicaca Lake, its elevation above sea-level, 236. + + Tlascalans, what Cortez found among them, 210; + their capital, 211; + aided the Spaniards, 211. + + Toltecs identified with the Mound-Builders, 201-205; + how they came to Mexico, 201, 202; + date of their migration, 204. See Huehue Tlapalan. + + Tuloom, in Yucatan, 150. + + + Uxmal described, 131-137; + more modern than Palenque, 155; + partly inhabited, perhaps, when Cortez invaded Mexico, 131, 155. + + + Valley of Rio Verde, its ruins, 82, 85. + + + Wallace, A. R., on ruins in Java, 168-9. + + Welsh, the, in America, 285-7; + Prince Madog's emigration, 285; + his colony supposed to have been destroyed or absorbed by the + Indians, 286; + letter of Rev. Morgan Jones on his "travels" among the Doeg Indians + who spoke Welsh, 286-7. + + Whipple, Lieut., on Pueblo ruins, 78-85. + + Whittlesey on the ancient mining, 46, 54. + + Wilson's discoveries in Ecuador, 274-5. + + Writing, phonetic, among the Mayas, 187-91; + Aztec writing much ruder, 221; + writing in Peru, 254-6, 267; + Peruvian books of hieroglyphics, 256; + such writing on a llama skin found at Lake Titicaca, 256. + + + Xibalba, an ancient Colhuan kingdom, where it was situated, 199; + subjugated by the Toltecs, 199. + + Ximenes, Father Francisco, his manuscript work on Guatemala, 191-2; + his dictionary of the native tongues, 192; + discovered and translated "Popol Vuh," 192. + + Xochicalco, its pyramidal temple situated on an excavated and chambered + hill, 89, 90. + + + Yucatan, its native name is Maya, 125; + what is seen at Mayapan, 127, 128; + the old edifices at Uxmal, 131-137; + very ancient ruins at Kabah, 137-139; + curious construction at Chichen-Itza, 142; + remarkable remains at Ake, 144; + aguadas in Yucatan, 145, 146; + subterranean reservoirs, 146; + Merida built on the site of a ruined city, 126; + what the Spaniards saw when they first sailed along its coast, + 163, 210. + + + Zuni, an inhabited Pueblo described by Lieut. Whipple, 79, 80; + ruins of an "old Zuni" near it, 80, 81. + + +THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +The following errors were found: + + Page Error + TN-1 ix Quiragua should read Quirigua + TN-2 xi Los Monjas should read Las Monjas + TN-3 124 of "great size." should read of 'great size.'" + TN-4 158 sufficently should read sufficiently + TN-5 280 there two years. should read there two years." + TN-6 286 communicated should read communication + TN-7 296 Herrara should read Herrera + TN-8 297 El Masudi should read El Mas'udi + +The following words were inconsistently spelled or hyphenated: + + Cholula / Cholulu + Chiapa / Chiapas + Inca-Rocca / Inca-Rocco + Mesantla / Misantla + Popol-Vuh / Popol Vuh + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient America, in Notes on American +Archaeology, by John D. 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