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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+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: Vestiges of the Mayas
+       or, Facts Tending to Prove that Communications and Intimate
+       Relations Must Have Existed, in very Remote Times, Between
+       the Inhabitants of Mayab and Those of Asia and Africa
+
+Author: Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2009 [EBook #30752]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Note
+
+A number of typographical errors 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.
+
+The following less-common characters are used in this version of the book.
+If they do not display properly, please try changing your font.
+
+  ☉  Sun symbol
+  ā  a with macron
+  ɔ  open o
+
+
+
+
+  VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS,
+
+  OR,
+
+  _Facts tending to prove that Communications and Intimate Relations
+  must have existed, in very remote times, between the inhabitants of_
+
+  MAYAB
+
+  AND THOSE OF
+
+  ASIA AND AFRICA.
+
+  BY
+
+  AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D.,
+
+  Member of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., of the
+  California Academy of Sciences, and several other Scientific Societies.
+  Author of various Essays and Scientific Works.
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  JOHN POLHEMUS, PRINTER AND STATIONER,
+  102 NASSAU STREET.
+
+  1881.
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+_MR. PIERRE LORILLARD._
+
+Who deserves the thanks of the students of American Archæology more than
+you, for the interest manifested in the explorations of the ruined
+monuments of Central America, handiwork of the races that inhabited this
+continent in remote ages, and the material help given by you to Foreign
+and American explorers in that field of investigations?
+
+Accept, then, my personal thanks, with the dedication of this small
+Essay. It forms part of the result of many years’ study and hardships
+among the ruined cities of the Incas, in Peru, and of the Mayas in
+Yucatan.
+
+    Yours very respectfully,
+
+      AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D.
+
+NEW YORK, _December 15, 1881_.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered according to an Act of Congress, in December, 1881,
+
+  BY AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON,
+
+  In the Office of the LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS in Washington, D.C.
+
+
+
+
+VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS.
+
+
+Yucatan is the peninsula which divides the Gulf of Mexico from the
+Caribbean Sea. It is comprised between the 17° 30´ and 21° 50´, of
+latitude north, and the 88° and 91° of longitude west from the Greenwich
+meridian.
+
+The whole peninsula is of fossiferous limestone formation. Elevated a
+few feet only above the sea, on the coasts, it gradually raises toward
+the interior, to a maximum height of above 70 feet. A bird’s-eye view,
+from a lofty building, impresses the beholder with the idea that he is
+looking on an immense sea of verdure, having the horizon for boundary;
+without a hill, not even a hillock, to break the monotony of the
+landscape. Here and there clusters of palm trees, or artificial mounds,
+covered with shrubs, loom above the green dead-level as islets, over
+that expanse of green foliage, affording a momentary relief to the eyes
+growing tired of so much sameness.
+
+About fifty miles from the northwestern coast begins a low, narrow range
+of hills, whose highest point is not much above 500 feet. It traverses
+the peninsula in a direction a little south from east, commencing a few
+miles north from the ruined city of Uxmal, and terminating some distance
+from the eastern coast, opposite to the magnificent bay of Ascension.
+
+Lately I have noticed that some veins of red oxide of iron exist among
+these hills--quarries of marble must also be found there; since the
+sculptured ornaments that adorn the facade of all the monuments at Uxmal
+are of that stone. To-day the inhabitants of Yucatan are even ignorant
+of the existence of these minerals in their country, and ocher to paint,
+and marble slabs to floor their houses, are imported from abroad. I
+have also discovered veins of good lithographic stones that could be
+worked at comparatively little expense.
+
+The surface of the country is undulating; its stony waves recall
+forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems as if, in
+times long gone by, the soil was upheaved, _en masse_, from the bottom
+of the sea, by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many
+centuries ago, since isolated columns of _Katuns_ 1m. 50c. square,
+erected at least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular
+position, as at the time when another stone was added to those already
+piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life of the nation.
+
+It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding
+countries--Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India Islands--are
+frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of Yucatan is
+entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of mother earth. This
+immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to the innumerable and
+extensive caves with which the whole country is entirely honeycombed;
+and the large number of immense natural wells, called Senotes, that are
+to be found everywhere. These caves and senotes afford an outlet for the
+escape of the gases generated in the superficial strata of the earth.
+These, finding no resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these
+vents without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions
+that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and dismay.
+
+Some of those caves are said to be very extensive--None, however, has
+been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few, certainly extremely
+beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant stalactites depending from
+their roofs, that seem as if supported by the stalagmites that must have
+required ages to be formed gradually from the floor into the massive
+columns, as we see them to-day.
+
+In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible springs of clear,
+pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and fishes. No one can
+tell whence they come or where they go. All currents of water are
+subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on the surface; not even the
+smallest of streamlets, where the birds of the air, or the wild beasts
+of the forests, can allay their thirst during the dry season. The
+plants, if there are no chinks or crevices in the stony soil through
+which their roots can penetrate and seek the life-sustaining fluid
+below, wither and die. It is a curious sight that presented by the roots
+of the trees, growing on the precipituous[TN-1] brinks of the _senotes_,
+in their search for water. They go down and down, even a hundred feet,
+until they reach the liquid surface, from where they suck up the fluid
+to aliment the body of the tree. They seem like many cables and ropes
+stretched all round the sides of the well; and, in fact, serves as such
+to some of the most daring of the natives, to ascend or descend to enjoy
+a refreshing bath.
+
+These _senotes_ are immense circular holes, the diameter of which varies
+from 50 to 500 feet, with perpendicular walls from 50 to 150 feet deep.
+These holes might be supposed to have served as ducts for the
+subterranean gases at the time of the upheaval of the country. Now they
+generally contain water. In some, the current is easily noticeable; many
+are completely dry; whilst others contain thermal mineral water,
+emitting at times strong sulphurous odor and vapor.
+
+Many strange stories are told by the aborigines concerning the
+properties possessed by the water in certain senotes, and the strange
+phenomena that takes place in others. In one, for example, you are
+warned to approach the water walking backward, and to breathe very
+softly, otherwise it becomes turbid and unfit for drinking until it has
+settled and become clear again. In another you are told not to speak
+above a whisper, for if any one raises the voice the tranquil surface of
+the water immediately becomes agitated, and soon assumes the appearance
+of boiling; even its level raises. These and many other things are told
+in connection with the caves and senotes; and we find them mentioned in
+the writings of the chroniclers and historians from the time of the
+Spanish conquest.
+
+No lakes exist on the surface, at least within the territories occupied
+by the white men. Some small sheets of water, called aguadas, may be
+found here and there, and are fed by the underground current; but they
+are very rare. There are three or four near the ruins of the ancient
+city of Mayapan: probably its inhabitants found in them an abundant
+supply of water. Following all the same direction, they are, as some
+suppose, no doubt with reason, the outbreaks of a subterranean stream
+that comes also to the surface in the senote of _Mucuyché_. A mile or so
+from Uxmal is another aguada; but judging from the great number of
+artificial reservoirs, built on the terraces and in the courts of all
+the monuments, it would seem as if the people there depended more on the
+clouds for their provision of water than on the wells and senotes. Yet I
+feel confident that one of these must exist under the building known as
+the Governor’s house; having discovered in its immediate vicinity the
+entrance--now closed--of a cave from which a cool current of air is
+continually issuing; at times with great force.
+
+I have been assured by Indians from the village of Chemax, who pretend
+to know that part of the country well, that, at a distance of about
+fifty miles from the city of Valladolid, the actual largest settlement
+on the eastern frontier, in the territories occupied by the SANTA CRUZ
+Indians, there exists, near the ruins of _Kaba_, two extensive sheets of
+water, from where, in years gone by, the inhabitants of Valladolid
+procured abundant supply of excellent fishes. These ruins of Kaba, said
+to be very interesting, have never been visited by any foreigner; nor
+are they likely to be for many years to come, on account of the imminent
+danger of falling into the hands of those of Santa Cruz--that, since
+1847, wage war to the knife against the Yucatecans.
+
+On the coast, the sea penetrating in the lowlands have formed sloughs
+and lakes, on the shores of which thickets of mangroves grow, with
+tropical luxuriancy. Intermingling their crooked roots, they form such a
+barrier as to make landing well nigh impossible. These small lakes,
+subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, are the resort of innumerable
+sea birds and water fowls of all sizes and descriptions; from the snipe
+to the crane, and brightly colored flamingos, from the screeching sea
+gulls to the serious looking pelican. They are attracted to these lakes
+by the solitude of the forests of mangroves that afford them excellent
+shelter, where to build their nests, and find protection from the storms
+that, at certain season of the year, sweep with untold violence along
+the coast: and because with ease they can procure an abundant supply of
+food, these waters being inhabited by myriads of fishes, as they come to
+bask on the surface which is seldom ruffled even when the tempest rages
+outside.
+
+Notwithstanding the want of superficial water, the air is always charged
+with moisture; the consequence being a most equable temperature all the
+year round, and an extreme luxuriance of all vegetation. The climate is
+mild and comparatively healthy for a country situated within the
+tropics, and bathed by the waters of the Mexican Gulf. This mildness and
+healthiness may be attributed to the sea breezes that constantly pass
+over the peninsula, carrying the malaria and noxious gases that have not
+been absorbed by the forests, which cover the main portion of the land;
+and to the great abundance of oxygen exuded by the plants in return.
+This excessive moisture and the decomposition of dead vegetable matter
+is the cause of the intermittent fevers that prevail in all parts of the
+peninsula, where the yellow fever, under a mild form generally, is also
+endemic. When it appears, as this year, in an epidemic form, the natives
+themselves enjoy no immunity from its ravages, and fall victims to it as
+well as unacclimated foreigners.
+
+These epidemics, those of smallpox and other diseases that at times make
+their appearance in Yucatan, generally present themselves after the
+rainy season, particularly if the rains have been excessive. The country
+being extremely flat, the drainage is necessarily very bad: and in
+places like Merida, for example, where a crowding of population exists,
+and the cleanliness of the streets is utterly disregarded by the proper
+authorities, the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter is very
+large; and the miasmas generated, being carried with the vapors arising
+from the constant evaporation of stagnant waters, are the origin of
+those scourges that decimate the inhabitants. Yucatan, isolated as it
+is, its small territory nearly surrounded by water, ought to be, if the
+laws of health were properly enforced, one of the most healthy countries
+on the earth; where, as in the Island of Cozumel, people should only die
+of old age or accident. The thermometer varies but little, averaging
+about 80° _Far_. True, it rises in the months of July and August as high
+as 96° in the shade, but it seldom falls below 65° in the month of
+December. In the dry season, from January to June, the trees become
+divested of their leaves, that fall more particularly in March and
+April. Then the sun, returning from the south on its way to the north,
+passes over the land and darts its scorching perpendicular rays on it,
+causing every living creature to thirst for a drop of cool water; the
+heat being increased by the burning of those parts of the forests that
+have been cut down to prepare fields for cultivation.
+
+In the portion of the peninsula, about one-third of it, that still
+remains in possession of the white, the Santa Cruz Indians holding,
+since 1847, the richest and most fertile, two-thirds, the soil is
+entirely stony. The arable loam, a few inches in thickness, is the
+result of the detriti of the stones, mixed with the remainder of the
+decomposition of vegetable matter. In certain districts, towards the
+eastern and southern parts of the State, patches of red clay form
+excellent ground for the cultivation of the sugar cane and Yuca root.
+From this an excellent starch is obtained in large quantities. Withal,
+the soil is of astonishing fertility, and trees, even, are met with of
+large size, whose roots run on the surface of the bare stone,
+penetrating the chinks and crevices only in search of moisture. Often
+times I have seen them growing from the center of slabs, the seed having
+fallen in a hole that happened to be bored in them. In the month of May
+the whole country seems parched and dry. Not a leaf, not a bud. The
+branches and boughs are naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray
+dust. Nothing to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare trunks
+and branches, with the withes entwining them. With the first days of
+June come the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand had been
+waved over the land, the view changes--life springs everywhere. In the
+short space of a few days the forests have resumed their holiday attire;
+buds appear and the leaves shoot; the flowers bloom sending forth their
+fragrance, that wafted by the breeze perfume the air far and near. The
+birds sing their best songs of joy; the insects chirp their shrillest
+notes; butterflies of gorgeous colors flutter in clouds in every
+direction in search of the nectar contained in the cups of the
+newly-opened blossom, and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds.
+All creation rejoices because a few tears of mother Nature have brought
+joy and happiness to all living beings, from the smallest blade of grass
+to the majestic palm; from the creeping worm to man, who proudly titles
+himself the lord of creation.
+
+Yucatan has no rich metallic mines, but its wealth of vegetable
+productions is immense. Large forests of mahogany, cedar, zapotillo
+trees cover vast extents of land in the eastern and southern portions of
+the peninsula; whilst patches of logwood and mora, many miles in length,
+grow near the coast. The wood is to-day cut down and exported by the
+Indians of Santa Cruz through their agents at Belize. Coffee, vanilla,
+tobacco, india-rubber, rosins of various kinds, copal in particular,
+all of good quality, abound in the country, but are not cultivated on
+account of its unsettled state; the Indians retaining possession of the
+most fertile territories where these rich products are found.
+
+The whites have been reduced to the culture of the Hennequen plant
+(agave sisalensis) in order to subsist. It is the only article of
+commerce that grows well on the stony soil to which they are now
+confined. The filament obtained from the plant, and the objects
+manufactured from it constitute the principal article of export; in fact
+the only source of wealth of the Yucatecans. As the filament is now much
+in demand for the fabrication of cordage in the United States and
+Europe, many of the landowners have ceased to plant maize, although the
+staple article of food in all classes, to convert their land into
+hennequen fields. The plant thrives well on stony soil, requires no
+water and but little care. The natural consequence of planting the whole
+country with hennequen has been so great a deficiency in the maize crop,
+that this year not enough was grown for the consumption, and people in
+the northeastern district were beginning to suffer from the want of it,
+when some merchants of Merida imported large quantities from New York.
+They, of course, sold it at advanced prices, much to the detriment of
+the poorer classes. Some sugar is also cultivated in the southern and
+eastern districts, but not in sufficient quantities even for the
+consumption; and not a little is imported from Habana.
+
+The population of the country, about 250,000 souls all told, are mostly
+Indians and mixed blood. In fact, very few families can be found of pure
+Caucasian race. Notwithstanding the great admixture of different races,
+a careful observer can readily distinguish yet four prominent ones, very
+noticeable by their features, their stature, the conformation of their
+body. The dwarfish race is certainly easily distinguishable from the
+descendants of the giants that tradition says once upon a time existed
+in the country, whose bones are yet found, and whose portraits are
+painted on the walls of Chaacmol’s funeral chamber at Chichen-Itza. The
+almond-eyed, flat-nosed Siamese race of Copan is not to be mistaken for
+the long, big-nosed, flat-headed remnant of the Nahualt from Palenque,
+who are said to have invaded the country some time at the beginning of
+the Christian era; and whose advent among the Mayas, whose civilization
+they appear to have destroyed, has been commemorated by calling the
+_west_, the region whence they came, according to Landa, Cogolludo and
+other historians, NOHNIAL, a word which means literally _big noses for
+our daughters_; whilst the coming of the bearded men from the _east_,
+better looking than those of the west, if we are to give credit to the
+bas-relief where their portraits are to be seen, was called
+CENIAL--_ornaments for our daughters_.
+
+If we are to judge by the great number of ruined cities scattered
+everywhere through the forests of the peninsula; by the architectural
+beauty of the monuments still extant, the specimens of their artistic
+attainments in drawing and sculpture which have reached us in the
+bas-reliefs, statues and mural paintings of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza; by
+their knowledge in mathematical and astronomical sciences, as manifested
+in the construction of the gnomon found by me in the ruins of Mayapan;
+by the complexity of the grammatical form and syntaxis of their
+language, still spoken to-day by the majority of the inhabitants of
+Yucatan; by their mode of expressing their thoughts on paper, made from
+the bark of certain trees, with alphabetical and phonetical characters,
+we must of necessity believe that, at some time or other, the country
+was not only densely populated, but that the inhabitants had reached a
+high degree of civilization. To-day we can conceive of very few of their
+attainments by the scanty remains of their handiwork, as they have come
+to us injured by the hand of time, and, more so yet, by that of man,
+during the wars, the invasions, the social and religious convulsions
+which have taken place among these people, as among all other nations.
+Only the opening of the buildings which contain the libraries of their
+learned men, and the reading of their works, could solve the mystery,
+and cause us to know how much they had advanced in the discovery and
+explanation of Nature’s arcana; how much they knew of mankind’s past
+history, and of the nations with which they held intercourse. Let us
+hope that the day may yet come when the Mexican government will grant to
+me the requisite permission, in order that I may bring forth, from the
+edifices where they are hidden, the precious volumes, without opposition
+from the owners of the property where the monuments exist. Until then we
+must content ourselves with the study of the inscriptions carved on the
+walls, and becoming acquainted with the history of their builders, and
+continue to conjecture what knowledge they possessed in order to be able
+to rear such enduring structures, besides the art of designing the plans
+and ornaments, and the manner of carving them on stone.
+
+Let us place ourselves in the position of the archæologists of thousands
+of years to come, examining the ruins of our great cities, finding still
+on foot some of the stronger built palaces and public buildings, with
+some rare specimens of the arts, sciences, industry of our days, the
+minor edifices having disappeared, gnawed by the steely tooth of time,
+together with the many products of our industry, the machines of all
+kinds, creation of man’s ingenuity, and his powerful helpmates. What
+would they know of the attainments and the progress in mechanics of our
+days? Would they be able to form a complete idea of our civilization,
+and of the knowledge of our scientific men, without the help of the
+volumes contained in our public libraries, and maybe of some one able to
+interpret them? Well, it seems to me that we stand in exactly the same
+position concerning the civilization of those who have preceded us five
+or ten thousand years ago on this continent, as these future
+archæologists may stand regarding our civilization five or ten thousand
+years hence.
+
+It is a fact, recorded by all historians of the Conquest, that when for
+the first time in 1517 the Spaniards came in sight of the lands called
+by them Yucatan, they were surprised to see on the coast many monuments
+well built of stone; and to find the country strewn with large cities
+and beautiful monuments that recalled to their memory the best of Spain.
+They were no less astonished to meet in the inhabitants, not naked
+savages, but a civilized people, possessed of polite and pleasant
+manners, dressed in white cotton habiliments, navigating large boats
+propelled by sails, traveling on well constructed roads and causeways
+that, in point of beauty and solidity, could compare advantageously with
+similar Roman structures in Spain, Italy, England or France.
+
+I will not describe here the majestic monuments raised by the Mayas.
+Mrs. Le Plongeon, in her letters to the _New York World_, has given of
+those of UXMAL, AKE and MAYAPAN, the only correct description ever
+published. My object at present is to relate some of the curious facts
+revealed to us by their weather-beaten and crumbling walls, and show how
+erroneous is the opinion of some European scientists, who think it not
+worth while to give a moment of their precious time to the study of
+American archæology, because say they: _No relations have ever been
+found to have existed between the monuments and civilizations of the
+inhabitants of this continent and those of the old world_. On what
+ground they hazard such an opinion it is difficult to surmise, since to
+my knowledge the ancient ruined cities of Yucatan, until lately, have
+never been thoroughly, much less scientifically, explored. The same is
+true of the other monumental ruins of the whole of Central America.
+
+When Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself landed at Progresso, in 1873, we
+thought that because we had read the works of Stephens, Waldeck,
+Norman, Fredeichstal; carefully examined the few photographic views made
+by Mr. Charnay of some of the monuments, we knew all about them. Alas!
+vain presumption! When in presence of the antique shrines and palaces of
+the Mayas, we soon saw how mistaken we had been; how little those
+writers had seen of the monuments they had pretended to describe: that
+the work of studying them systematically was not even begun; and that
+many years of close observation and patient labor would be necessary in
+order to dispel the mysteries which hang over them, and to discover the
+hidden meaning of their ornaments and inscriptions. To this difficult
+task we resolved to dedicate our time, and to concentrate our efforts to
+find a solution, if possible, to the enigma.
+
+We began our work by taking photographs of all the monuments in their
+_tout ensemble_, and in all their details, as much as practicable. Next,
+we surveyed them carefully; made accurate plans of them in order to be
+able to comprehend by the disposition of their different parts, for what
+possible use they were erected; taking, as a starting point, that the
+human mind and human inclinations and wants are the same in all times,
+in all countries, in all races when civilized and cultured. We next
+carefully examined what connection the ornaments bore to each other, and
+tried to understand the meaning of the designs. At first the maze of
+these designs seemed a very difficult riddle to solve. Yet, we believed
+that if a human intelligence had devised it, another human intelligence
+would certainly be able to unravel it. It was not, however, until we had
+nearly completed the tracing and study of the mural paintings, still
+extant in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, or room built on the top of
+the eastern wall of the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza, at its southern end,
+that Stephens mistook for a shrine dedicated to the god of the players
+at ball, that a glimmer of light began to dawn upon us. In tracing the
+figure of Chaacmol in battle, I remarked that the shield worn by him
+had painted on it round green spots, and was exactly like the ornaments
+placed between tiger and tiger on the entablature of the same monument.
+I naturally concluded that the monument had been raised to the memory of
+the warrior bearing the shield; that the tigers represented his totem,
+and that _Chaacmol_ or _Balam_ maya[TN-2] words for spotted tiger or
+leopard, was his name. I then remembered that at about one hundred yards
+in the thicket from the edifice, in an easterly direction, a few days
+before, I had noticed the ruins of a remarkable mound of rather small
+dimensions. It was ornamented with slabs engraved with the images of
+spotted tigers, eating human hearts, forming magnificent bas-reliefs,
+conserving yet traces of the colors in which it was formerly painted. I
+repaired to the place. Doubts were no longer possible. The same round
+dots, forming the spots of their skins, were present here as on the
+shield of the warrior in battle, and that on the entablature of the
+building. On examining carefully the ground around the mound, I soon
+stumbled upon what seemed to be a half buried statue. On clearing the
+_débris_ we found a statue in the round, representing a wounded tiger
+reclining on his right side. Three holes in the back indicated the
+places where he received his wounds. It was headless. A few feet
+further, I found a human head with the eyes half closed, as those of a
+dying person. When placed on the neck of the tiger it fitted exactly. I
+propped it with sticks to keep it in place. So arranged, it recalled
+vividly the Chaldean and Egyptian deities having heads of human beings
+and bodies of animals. The next object that called my attention was
+another slab on which was represented in bas-relief a dying warrior,
+reclining on his back, the head was thrown entirely backwards. His left
+arm was placed across his chest, the left hand resting on the right
+shoulder, exactly in the same position which the Egyptians were wont, at
+times, to give to the mummies of some of their eminent men. From his
+mouth was seen escaping two thin, narrow flames--the spirit of the
+dying man abandoning the body with the last warm breath.
+
+These and many other sculptures caused me to suspect that this monument
+had been the mausoleum raised to the memory of the warrior with the
+shield covered with the round dots. Next to the slabs engraved with the
+image of tigers was another, representing an _ara militaris_ (a bird of
+the parrot specie, very large and of brilliant plumage of various
+colors). I took it for the totem of his wife, MOÓ, _macaw_; and so it
+proved to be when later I was able to interpret their ideographic
+writings. _Kinich-Kakmó_ after her death obtained the honors of the
+apotheosis; had temples raised to her memory, and was worshipped at
+Izamal up to the time of the Spanish conquest, according to Landa,
+Cogolludo and Lizana.
+
+Satisfied that I had found the tomb of a great warrior among the Mayas,
+I resolved to make an excavation, notwithstanding I had no tools or
+implements proper for such work. After two months of hard toil, after
+penetrating through three level floors painted with yellow ochre, at
+last a large stone urn came in sight. It was opened in presence of
+Colonel D. Daniel Traconis. It contained a small heap of grayish dust
+over which lay the cover of a terra cotta pot, also painted yellow; a
+few small ornaments of macre that crumbled to dust on being touched, and
+a large ball of jade, with a hole pierced in the middle. This ball had
+at one time been highly polished, but for some cause or other the polish
+had disappeared from one side. Near, and lower than the urn, was
+discovered the head of the colossal statue, to-day the best, or one of
+the best pieces, in the National Museum of Mexico, having been carried
+thither on board of the gunboat _Libertad_, without my consent, and
+without any renumeration having even been offered by the Mexican
+government for my labor, my time and the money spent in the discovery.
+Close to the chest of the statue was another stone urn much larger than
+the first. On being uncovered it was found to contain a large quantity
+of reddish substance and some jade ornaments. On closely examining this
+substance I pronounced it organic matter that had been subjected to a
+very great heat in an open vessel. (A chemical analysis of some of it by
+Professor Thompson, of Worcester, Mass., at the request of Mr. Stephen
+Salisbury, Jr., confirmed my opinion). From the position of the urn I
+made up my mind that its contents were the heart and viscera of the
+personage represented by the statue; while the dust found in the first
+urn must have been the residue of his brains.
+
+Landa tells us that it was the custom, even at the time of the Spanish
+conquest, when a person of eminence died to make images of stone, or
+terra cotta or wood in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes were
+placed in a hollow made on the back of the head for the purpose. Feeling
+sorry for having thus disturbed the remains of _Chaacmol_, so carefully
+concealed by his friends and relatives many centuries ago; in order to
+save them from further desecration, I burned the greater part reserving
+only a small quantity for future analysis. This finding of the heart and
+brains of that chieftain, afforded an explanation, if any was needed, of
+one of the scenes more artistically portrayed in the mural paintings of
+his funeral chamber. In this scene which is painted immediately over the
+entrance of the chamber, where is also a life-size representation of his
+corpse prepared for cremation, the dead warrior is pictured stretched on
+the ground, his back resting on a large stone placed for the purpose of
+raising the body and keeping open the cut made across it, under the
+ribs, for the extraction of the heart and other parts it was customary
+to preserve. These are seen in the hands of his children. At the feet of
+the statue were found a number of beautiful arrowheads of flint and
+chalcedony; also beads that formed part of his necklace. These, to-day
+petrified, seemed to have been originally of bone or ivory. They were
+wrought to figure shells of periwinkles. Surrounding the slab on which
+the figure rests was a large quantity of dried blood. This fact might
+lead us to suppose that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral, as
+Herodotus tells us it was customary with the Scythians, and we know it
+was with the Romans and other nations of the old world, and the Incas in
+Peru. Yet not a bone or any other human remains were found in the
+mausoleum.
+
+The statue forms a single piece with the slab on which it reclines, as
+if about to rise on his elbows, the legs being drawn up so that the feet
+rest flat on the slab. I consider this attitude given to the statues of
+dead personages that I have discovered in Chichen, where they are still,
+to be symbolical of their belief in reincarnation. They, in common with
+the Egyptians, the Hindoos, and other nations of antiquity, held that
+the spirit of man after being made to suffer for its shortcomings during
+its mundane life, would enjoy happiness for a time proportionate to its
+good deeds, then return to earth, animate the body and live again a
+material existence. The Mayas, however, destroying the body by fire,
+made statues in the semblance of the deceased, so that, being
+indestructible the spirit might find and animate them on its return to
+earth. The present aborigines have the same belief. Even to-day, they
+never fail to prepare the _hanal pixan_, the food for the spirits, which
+they place in secluded spots in the forests or fields, every year, in
+the month of November. These statues also hold an urn between their
+hands. This fact again recalls to the mind the Egpptian[TN-3] custom of
+placing an urn in the coffins with the mummies, to indicate that the
+spirit of the deceased had been judged and found righteous.
+
+The ornament hanging on the breast of Chaacmol’s effigy, from a ribbon
+tied with a peculiar knot behind his neck, is simply a badge of his
+rank; the same is seen on the breast of many other personages in the
+bas-reliefs and mural paintings. A similar mark of authority is yet in
+usage in Burmah.
+
+I have tarried so long on the description of my first important
+discovery because I desired to explain the method followed by me in the
+investigation of these monuments, to show that the result of our labors
+are by no means the work of imagination--as some have been so kind a
+_short_ time ago as to intimate--but of careful and patient analysis and
+comparison; also, in order, from the start, to call your attention to
+the similarity of certain customs in the funeral rites that the Mayas
+seem to have possessed in common with other nations of the old world:
+and lastly, because my friend, Dr. Jesus Sanchez, Professor of
+Archæology in the National Museum of Mexico, ignoring altogether the
+circumstances accompanying the discovery of the statue, has published in
+the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, a long dissertation--full of erudition,
+certainly--to prove that the statue discovered by me at Chichen-Itza,
+was a representation of the _God of the natural production of the
+earth_, and that the name given by me was altogether arbitrary; and,
+also, because an article has appeared in the _North American Review_ for
+October, 1880, signed by Mr. Charnay, in which the author, after
+re-producing Mr. Sanchez’s writing, pronounces _ex cathedra_ and _de
+perse_, but without assigning any reason for his opinion, that the
+statue is the effigy of the _god of wine_--the Mexican Bacchus--without
+telling us which of them, for there were two.
+
+Having been obliged to abandon the statue in the forests--well wrapped
+in oilcloth, and sheltered under a hut of palm leaves, constructed by
+Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself--my men having been disarmed by order of
+General Palomino, then commander-in-chief of the federal forces in
+Yucatan, in consequence of a revolutionary movement against Dr.
+Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and in favor of General Diaz--I went to Uxmal
+to continue my researches among its ruined temples and palaces. There I
+took many photographs, surveyed the monuments, and, for the first time,
+found the remnants of the phallic worship of the Nahualts. Its symbols
+are not to be seen in Chichen--the city of the holy and learned men,
+Itzaes--but are frequently met with in the northern parts of the
+peninsula, and all the regions where the Nahualt influence predominated.
+
+There can be no doubt that in very ancient times the same customs and
+religious worship existed in Uxmal and Chichen, since these two cities
+were founded by the same family, that of CAN (serpent), whose name is
+written on all the monuments in both places. CAN and the members of his
+family worshipped Deity under the symbol of the mastodon’s head. At
+Chichen a tableau of said worship forms the ornament of the building,
+designated in the work of Stephens, “Travels in Yucatan,” as IGLESIA;
+being, in fact, the north wing of the palace and museum. This is the
+reason why the mastodon’s head forms so prominent a feature in all the
+ornaments of the edifices built by them. They also worshipped the sun
+and fire, which they represented by the same hieroglyph used by the
+Egyptians for the sun ☉. In this worship of the fire they resembled
+the Chaldeans and Hindoos, but differed from the Egyptians, who had no
+veneration for this element. They regarded it merely as an animal that
+devoured all things within its reach, and died with all it had
+swallowed, when replete and satisfied.
+
+From certain inscriptions and pictures--in which the _Cans_ are
+represented crawling on all fours like dogs--sculptured on the façade of
+their house of worship, it would appear that their religion of the
+mastodon was replaced by that of the reciprocal forces of nature,
+imported in the country by the big-nosed invaders, the Nahualts coming
+from the west. These destroyed Chichen, and established their capital at
+_Uxmal_. There they erected in all the courts of the palaces, and on the
+platforms of the temples the symbols of their religion, taking care,
+however, not to interfere with the worship of the sun and fire, that
+seems to have been the most popular.
+
+Bancroft in his work, “_The Native Races of the Pacific States_,” Vol.
+IV., page 277, remarks: “That the scarcity of idols among the Maya
+antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. That the people of
+Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection
+with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, and rivalling
+or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for,
+but in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were
+very small, and that such as escaped the fatal iconoclasms of the
+Spanish ecclesiastics were buried by the natives as the only means of
+preventing their desecration.”
+
+That the people who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish
+conquest had a multiplicity of gods there can be no doubt. The primitive
+form of worship, with time and by the effect of invasions from outside,
+had disappeared, and been replaced by that of their great men and women,
+who were deified and had temples raised to their memory, as we see, for
+example, in the case of _Moo_,[TN-4] wife and sister of Chaacmol, whose
+shrine was built on the high mound on the north side of the large square
+in the city of Izamal. There pilgrims flocked from all parts of the
+country to listen to the oracles delivered by the mouth of her priests;
+and see the goddess come down from the clouds every day, at mid-day,
+under the form of a resplendent macaw, and light the fire that was to
+consume the offerings deposited on her altar; even at the time of the
+conquest, according to the chroniclers, Chaacmol himself seems to have
+become the god of war, that always appeared in the midst of the battle,
+fighting on the side of his followers, surrounded with flames. Kukulcan,
+“the culture” hero of the Mayas, the winged serpent, worshipped by the
+Mexicans as the god Guetzalcoalt,[TN-5] and by the Quichés as Cucumatz,
+if not the father himself of Chaacmol, CAN, at least one of his
+ancestors.
+
+The friends and followers of that prince may have worshipped him after
+his death, and the following generations, seeing the representation of
+his totems (serpent) covered with feathers, on the walls of his palaces,
+and of the sanctuaries built by him to the deity, called him Kukulcan,
+the winged serpent: when, in fact, the artists who carved his emblems on
+the walls covered them with the cloaks he and all the men in authority
+and the high priests wore on ceremonial occasions--feathered
+vestments--as we learned from the study of mural paintings.
+
+In the temples and palaces of the ancient Mayas I have never seen
+anything that I could in truth take for idols. I have seen many symbols,
+such as double-headed tigers, corresponding to the double-headed lions
+of the Egyptians, emblems of the sun. I have seen the representation of
+people kneeling in a peculiar manner, with their right hand resting on
+the left shoulder--sign of respect among the Mayas as among the
+inhabitants of Egypt--in the act of worshiping the mastodon head; but I
+doubt if this can be said to be idol worship. _Can_ and his family were
+probably monotheists. The masses of the people, however, may have placed
+the different natural phenomena under the direct supervision of special
+imaginary beings, prescribing to them the same duties that among the
+Catholics are prescribed, or rather attributed, to some of the saints;
+and may have tributed to them the sort of worship of _dulia_, tributed
+to the saints--even made images that they imagined to represent such or
+such deity, as they do to-day; but I have never found any. They
+worshiped the divine essence, and called it KÚ.
+
+In course of time this worship may have been replaced by idolatrous
+rites, introduced by the barbarous or half civilized tribes which
+invaded the country, and implanted among the inhabitants their religious
+belief, their idolatrous superstitions and form of worship with their
+symbols. The monuments of Uxmal afford ample evidence of that fact.
+
+My studies, however, have nothing to do with the history of the country
+posterior to the invasion of the Nahualts. These people appear to have
+destroyed the high form of civilization existing at the time of their
+advent; and tampered with the ornaments of the buildings in order to
+introduce the symbols of the reciprocal forces of nature.
+
+The language of the ancient Mayas, strange as it may appear, has
+survived all the vicissitudes of time, wars, and political and religious
+convulsions. It has, of course, somewhat degenerated by the mingling of
+so many races in such a limited space as the peninsula of Yucatan is;
+but it is yet the vernacular of the people. The Spaniards themselves,
+who strived so hard to wipe out all vestiges of the ancient customs of
+the aborigines, were unable to destroy it; nay, they were obliged to
+learn it; and now many of their descendants have forgotten the mother
+tongue of their sires, and speak Maya only.
+
+In some localities in Central America it is still spoken in its pristine
+purity, as, for example, by the _Chaacmules_, a tribe of bearded men, it
+is said, who live in the vicinity of the unexplored ruins of the ancient
+city of _Tekal_. It is a well-known fact that many tribes, as that of
+the Itzaes, retreating before the Nahualt invaders, after the surrender
+and destruction of their cities, sought refuge in the islands of the
+lake _Peten_ of to-day, and called it _Petenitza_, the _islands of the
+Itzaes_; or in the well nigh inaccessible valleys, defended by ranges of
+towering mountains. There they live to-day, preserving the customs,
+manners, language of their forefathers unaltered, in the tract of land
+known to us as _Tierra de Guerra_. No white man has ever penetrated
+their zealously guarded stronghold that lays between Guatemala, Tabasco,
+Chiapas and Yucatan, the river _Uzumasinta_ watering part of their
+territory.
+
+The Maya language seems to be one of the oldest tongues spoken by man,
+since it contains words and expressions of all, or nearly all, the known
+polished languages on earth. The name _Maya_, with the same
+signification everywhere it is met, is to be found scattered over the
+different countries of what we term the Old World, as in Central
+America.
+
+I beg to call your attention to the following facts. They may have no
+significance. They may be mere coincidences, the strange freaks of
+hazard, of no possible value in the opinion of some among the learned
+men of our days. Just as the finding of English words and English
+customs, as now exist among the most remote nations and heterogeneous
+people and tribes of all races and colors, who do not even suspect the
+existence of one another, may be regarded by the learned philologists
+and ethonologists[TN-6] of two or three thousand years hence. These
+will, perhaps, also pretend that _these coincidences_ are simply the
+curious workings of the human mind--the efforts of men endeavoring to
+express their thoughts in language, that being reduced to a certain
+number of sounds, must, of necessity produce, if not the same, at least
+very similar words to express the same idea--and that this similarity
+does not prove that those who invented them had, at any time,
+communication, unless, maybe, at the time of the building of the
+hypothetical Tower of Babel. Then all the inhabitants of earth are said
+to have bid each other a friendly good night, a certain evening, in a
+universal tongue, to find next morning that everybody had gone stark mad
+during the night: since each one, on meeting sixty-nine of his friends,
+was greeted by every one in a different and unknown manner, according to
+learned rabbins; and that he could no more understand what they said,
+than they what he said[TN-7]
+
+It is very difficult without the help of the books of the learned
+priests of _Mayab_ to know positively why they gave that name to the
+country known to-day as Yucatan. I can only surmise that they so called
+it from the great absorbant[TN-8] quality of its stony soil, which, in
+an incredibly short time, absorbs the water at the surface. This
+percolating through the pores of the stone is afterward found filtered
+clear and cool in the senotes and caves. _Mayab_, in the Maya language,
+means a tammy, a sieve. From the name of the country, no doubt, the
+Mayas took their name, as natural; and that name is found, as that of
+the English to-day, all over the ancient civilized world.
+
+When, on January 28, 1873, I had the honor of reading a paper before the
+New York American Geographical Society--on the coincidences that exist
+between the monuments, customs, religious rites, etc. of the prehistoric
+inhabitants of America and those of Asia and Egypt--I pointed to the
+fact that sun circles, dolmen and tumuli, similar to the megalithic
+monuments of America, had been found to exist scattered through the
+islands of the Pacific to Hindostan; over the plains of the peninsulas
+at the south of Asia, through the deserts of Arabia, to the northern
+parts of Africa; and that not only these rough monuments of a primitive
+age, but those of a far more advanced civilization were also to be seen
+in these same countries. Allow me to repeat now what I then said
+regarding these strange facts: If we start from the American continent
+and travel towards the setting sun we may be able to trace the route
+followed by the mound builders to the plains of Asia and the valley of
+the Nile. The mounds scattered through the valley of the Mississippi
+seem to be the rude specimens of that kind of architecture. Then come
+the more highly finished teocalis of Yucatan and Mexico and Peru; the
+pyramidal mounds of _Maui_, one of the Sandwich Islands; those existing
+in the Fejee and other islands of the Pacific; which, in China, we find
+converted into the high, porcelain, gradated towers; and these again
+converted into the more imposing temples of Cochin-China, Hindostan,
+Ceylon--so grand, so stupendous in their wealth of ornamentation that
+those of Chichen-Itza Uxmal, Palenque, admirable as they are, well nigh
+dwindle into insignificance, as far as labor and imagination are
+concerned, when compared with them. That they present the same
+fundamental conception in their architecture is evident--a platform
+rising over another platform, the one above being of lesser size than
+the one below; the American monuments serving, as it were, as models for
+the more elaborate and perfect, showing the advance of art and
+knowledge.
+
+The name Maya seems to have existed from the remotest times in the
+meridional parts of Hindostan. Valmiki, in his epic poem, the Ramayana,
+said to be written 1500 before the Christian era, in which he recounts
+the wars and prowesses of RAMA in the recovery of his lost wife, the
+beautiful SITA, speaking of the country inhabited by the Mayas,
+describes it as abounding in mines of silver and gold, with precious
+stones and lapiz lazuri:[TN-9] and bounded by the _Vindhya_ mountains on
+one side, the _Prastravana_ range on the other and the sea on the third.
+The emissaries of RAMA having entered by mistake within the Mayas
+territories, learned that all foreigners were forbidden to penetrate
+into them; and that those who were so imprudent as to violate this
+prohibition, even through ignorance, seldom escaped being put to death.
+(Strange[TN-10] to say, the same thing happens to-day to those who try to
+penetrate into the territories of the _Santa Cruz_ Indians, or in the
+valleys occupied by the _Lacandones_, _Itzaes_ and other tribes that
+inhabit _La Tierra de Guerra_. The Yucatecans themselves do not like
+foreigners to go, and less to settle, in their country--are consequently
+opposed to immigration.
+
+The emissaries of Rama, says the poet, met in the forest a woman who
+told them: That in very remote ages a prince of the Davanas, a learned
+magician, possessed of great power, whose name was _Maya_, established
+himself in the country, and that he was the architect of the principal
+of the Davanas: but having fallen in love with the nymph _Hemâ_, married
+her; whereby he roused the jealousy of the god _Pourandura_, who
+attacked and killed him with a thunderbolt. Now, it is worthy of notice,
+that the word _Hem_ signifies in the Maya language to _cross with
+ropes_; or according to Brasseur, _hidden mysteries_.
+
+By a most rare coincidence we have the same identical story recorded in
+the mural paintings of Chaacmol’s funeral chamber, and in the sculptures
+of Chichsen[TN-11] and Uxmal. There we find that Chaacmol, the husband of
+Moó[TN-12] is killed by his brother Aac, who stabbed him three times in
+the back with his spear for jealousy. Aac was in love with his sister
+Moó, but she married his brother Chaacmol from choice, and because the
+law of the country prescribed that the younger brother should marry his
+sister, making it a crime for the older brothers to marry her.
+
+In another part of the _Ramayana_, MAYA is described as a powerful
+_Asoura_, always thirsting for battles and full of arrogance and
+pride--an enemy to Bāli, chief of one of the monkey tribes, by whom
+he was finally vanquished. The celebrated Indianist, Mr. H. T.
+Colebrooke, in a memoir on the sacred books of the Hindoos, published in
+Vol. VIII of the “Asiatic Researches,” says: “The _Soûryasiddkântu_ (the
+most ancient Indian treatise on astronomy), is not considered as written
+by MAYA; but this personage is represented as receiving his science from
+a partial incarnation of the sun.”
+
+MAYA is also, according to the Rig-Veda, the goddess, by whom all things
+are created by her union with Brahma. She is the cosmic egg, the golden
+uterus, the _Hiramyagarbha_. We see an image of it, represented floating
+amidst the water, in the sculptures that adorn the panel over the door
+of the east facade of the monument, called by me palace and museum at
+Chichen-Itza. Emile Burnouf, in his Sanscrit Dictionary, at the word
+Maya, says: Maya, an architect of the _Datyas_; Maya (_mas._), magician,
+prestidigitator; (_fem._) illusion, prestige; Maya, the magic virtue of
+the gods, their power for producing all things; also the feminine or
+producing energy of Brahma.
+
+I will complete the list of these remarkable coincidences with a few
+others regarding customs exactly similar in both countries. One of these
+consists in carrying children astride on the hip in Yucatan as in India.
+In Yucatan this custom is accompanied by a very interesting ceremony
+called _hetzmec_. It is as follows: When a child reaches the age of four
+months an invitation is sent to the friends and members of the family of
+the parents to assemble at their house. Then in presence of all
+assembled the legs of the child are opened, and he is placed astride
+the hip of the _nailah_ or _hetzmec_ godmother; she in turn encircling
+the little one with her arm, supports him in that position whilst she
+walks five times round the house. During the time she is occupied in
+that walk five eggs are placed in hot ashes, so that they may burst and
+the five senses of the child be opened. By the manner in which they
+burst and the time they require for bursting, they pretend to know if he
+will be intelligent or not. During the ceremony they place in his tiny
+hands the implement pertaining to the industry he is expected to
+practice. The _nailah_ is henceforth considered as a second mother to
+the child; who, when able to understand, is made to respect her: and she
+is expected, in case of the mother’s death, to adopt and take care of
+the child as if he were her own.
+
+Now, I will call your attention to another strange and most remarkable
+custom that was common to the inhabitants of _Mayab_, some tribes of the
+aborigines of North America, and several of those that dwell in
+Hindostan, and practice it even to-day. I refer to the printing of the
+human hand, dipped in a red colored liquid, on the walls of certain
+sacred edifices. Could not this custom, existing amongst nations so far
+apart, unknown to each other, and for apparently the same purposes, be
+considered as a link in the chain of evidence tending to prove that very
+intimate relations and communications have existed anciently between
+their ancestors? Might it not help the ethnologists to follow the
+migrations of the human race from this western continent to the eastern
+and southern shores of Asia, across the wastes of the Pacific Ocean? I
+am told by unimpeachable witnesses that they have seen the red or bloody
+hand in more than one of the temples of the South Sea islanders; and his
+Excellency Fred. P. Barlee, Esq., the actual governor of British
+Honduras, has assured me that he has examined this seemingly indelible
+imprint of the red hand on some rocks in caves in Australia. There is
+scarcely a monument in Yucatan that does not preserve the imprint of
+the open upraised hand, dipped in red paint of some sort, perfectly
+visible on its walls. I lately took tracings of two of these imprints
+that exist in the back saloon of the main hall, in the governor’s house
+at Uxmal, in order to calculate the height of the personage who thus
+attested to those of his race, as I learned from one of my Indian
+friends, who passes for a wizard, that the building was _in naá_, my
+house. I may well say that the archway of the palace of the priests,
+toward the court, was nearly covered with them. Yet I am not aware that
+such symbol was ever used by the inhabitants of the countries bordering
+on the shores of the Mediterranean or by the Assyrians, or that it ever
+was discovered among the ruined temples or palaces of Egypt.
+
+The meaning of the red hand used by the aborigines of some parts of
+America has been, it is well known, a subject of discussion for learned
+men and scientific societies. Its uses as a symbol remained for a long
+time a matter of conjecture. It seems that Mr. Schoolcraft had truly
+arrived at the knowledge of its veritable meaning. Effectively, in the
+2d column of the 5th page of the _New York Herald_ for April 12, 1879,
+in the account of the visit paid by Gen. Grant to Ram Singh, Maharajah
+of Jeypoor, we read the description of an excursion to the town of
+Amber. Speaking of the journey to the _home of an Indian king_, among
+other things the writer says:--“We passed small temples, some of them
+ruined, some others with offerings of grains, or fruits, or flowers,
+some with priests and people at worship. On the walls of some of the
+temples we saw the marks of the human hand as though it had been steeped
+in blood and pressed against the white wall. We were told that it was
+the custom, when seeking from the gods some benison to note the vow by
+putting the hand into a liquid and printing it on the wall. This was to
+remind the gods of the vow and prayer. And if it came to pass in the
+shape of rain, or food, or health, or children, the joyous devotee
+returned to the temple and made other offerings.” In Yucatan it seems to
+have had the same meaning. That is to say: that the owners of the house
+if private, or the priests, in the temples and public buildings, called
+upon the edifices at the time of taking possession and using them for
+the first time, the blessing of the Deity; and placed the hand’s
+imprints on the walls to recall the vows and prayer: and also, as the
+interpretation communicated to me by the Indians seems to suggest, as a
+signet or mark of property--_in naá_, my house.
+
+I need not speak of the similarity of many religious rites and beliefs
+existing in Hindostan and among the inhabitants of _Mayab_. The worship
+of the fire, of the phallus, of Deity under the symbol of the mastodon’s
+head, recalling that of Ganeza, the god with an elephant’s head, hence
+that of the elephant in Siam, Birmah[TN-13] and other places of the
+Asiatic peninsula even in our day; and various other coincidences so
+numerous and remarkable that many would not regard them as simple
+coincidences. What to think, effectively, of the types of the personages
+whose portraits are carved on the obelisks of Copan? Were they in Siam
+instead of Honduras, who would doubt but they are Siameeses.[TN-14] What
+to say of the figures of men and women sculptured on the walls of the
+stupendous temples hewn, from the live rock, at Elephanta, so American
+is their appearance and features? Who would not take them to be pure
+aborigines if they were seen in Yucatan instead of Madras, Elephanta and
+other places of India.
+
+If now we abandon that country and, crossing the Himalaya’s range enter
+Afghanistan, there again we find ourselves in a country inhabited by
+Maya tribes; whose names, as those of many of their cities, are of pure
+American-Maya origin. In the fourth column of the sixth page of the
+London _Times_, weekly edition, of March 4, 1879, we read: “4,000 or
+5,000 assembled on the opposite bank of the river _Kabul_, and it
+appears that in that day or evening they attacked the Maya villages
+situated on the north side of the river.”
+
+He, the correspondent of the _Times_, tells us that Maya tribes form
+still part of the population of Afghanistan. He also tells us that
+_Kabul_ is the name of the river, on the banks of which their villages
+are situated. But _Kabul_ is the name of an antique shrine in the city
+of Izamal. Cogolludo, in the lib. IV., cap. VIII. of his History of
+Yucatan, says: “They had another temple on another mound, on the west
+side of the square, also dedicated to the same idol. They had there the
+symbol of a hand, as souvenir. To that temple they carried their dead
+and the sick. They called it _Kabul_, the working hand, and made there
+great offerings.” Father Lizana says the same: so we have two witnesses
+to the fact. _Kab_, in Maya means hand; and _Bul_ is to play at hazard.
+
+Many of the names of places and towns of Afghanistan have not only a
+meaning in the American-Maya language, but are actually the same as
+those of places and villages in Yucatan to-day, for example:
+
+The Valley of _Chenar_ would be the valley of the _well of the woman’s
+children_--_chen_, well, and _al_, the woman’s children. The fertile
+valley of _Kunar_ would be the valley of the _god of the ears of corn_;
+or, more probably, the _nest of the ears of corn_: as KÚ, pronounced
+short, means _God_, and _Kuu_, pronounced long, is nest. NAL, is the
+_ears of corn_.
+
+The correspondent of the London _Times_, in his letters, mentions the
+names of some of the principal tribes, such as the _Kuki-Khel_, the
+_Akakhel_, the _Khambhur Khel_, etc. The suffix Khel simply signifies
+tribe, or clan. So similar to the Maya vocable _Kaan_, a tie, a rope;
+hence a clan: a number of people held together by the tie of parentage.
+Now, Kuki would be Kukil, or Kukum maya[TN-15] for feather, hence the
+KUKI-KHEL would be the tribe of the feather.
+
+AKA-KHEL in the same manner would be the tribe of the reservoir, or
+pond. AKAL is the Maya name for the artificial reservoirs, or ponds in
+which the ancient inhabitants of Mayab collected rain water for the time
+of drought.
+
+Similarly the KHAMBHUR KHEL is the tribe of the _pleasant_: _Kambul_ in
+Maya. It is the name of several villages of Yucatan, as you may satisfy
+yourself by examining the map.
+
+We have also the ZAKA-KHEL, the tribe of the locust, ZAK. It is useless
+to quote more for the present: enough to say that if you read the names
+of the cities, valleys[TN-16] clans, roads even of Afghanistan to any of
+the aborigines of Yucatan, they will immediately give you their meaning
+in their own language. Before leaving the country of the Afghans, by the
+KHIBER Pass--that is to say, the _road of the hawk_; HI, _hawk_, and
+BEL, road--allow me to inform you that in examining their types, as
+published in the London illustrated papers, and in _Harper’s Weekly_, I
+easily recognized the same cast of features as those of the bearded men,
+whose portraits we discovered in the bas-reliefs which adorn the antæ
+and pillars of the castle, and queen’s box in the Tennis Court at
+Chichen-Itza.
+
+On our way to the coast of Asia Minor, and hence to Egypt, we may, in
+following the Mayas’ footsteps, notice that a tribe of them, the learned
+MAGI, with their Rabmag at their head, established themselves in
+Babylon, where they became, indeed, a powerful and influential body.
+Their chief they called _Rab-mag_--or LAB-MAC--the old person--LAB,
+_old_--MAC, person; and their name Magi, meant learned men, magicians,
+as that of Maya in India. I will directly speak more at length of
+vestiges of the Mayas in Babylon, when explaining by means of the
+_American Maya_, the meaning and probable etymology of the names of the
+Chaldaic divinities. At present I am trying to follow the footprints of
+the Mayas.
+
+On the coast of Asia Minor we find a people of a roving and piratical
+disposition, whose name was, from the remotest antiquity and for many
+centuries, the terror of the populations dwelling on the shores of the
+Mediterranean; whose origin was, and is yet unknown; who must have
+spoken Maya, or some Maya dialect, since we find words of that
+language, and with the same meaning inserted in that of the Greeks, who,
+Herodotus tells us, used to laugh at the manner the _Carians_, or
+_Caras_, or _Caribs_, spoke their tongue; whose women wore a white linen
+dress that required no fastening, just as the Indian and Mestiza women
+of Yucatan even to-day[TN-17]
+
+To tell you that the name of the CARAS is found over a vast extension of
+country in America, would be to repeat what the late and lamented
+Brasseur de Bourbourg has shown in his most learned introduction to the
+work of Landa, “Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan;” but this I may say,
+that the description of the customs and mode of life of the people of
+Yucatan, even at the time of the conquest, as written by Landa, seems to
+be a mere verbatim plagiarism of the description of the customs and mode
+of life of the Carians of Asia Minor by Herodotus.
+
+If identical customs and manners, and the worship of the same divinities
+under the same name, besides the traditions of a people pointing towards
+a certain point of the globe as being the birth-place of their
+ancestors, prove anything, then I must say that in Egypt also we meet
+with the tracks of the Mayas, of whose name we again have a reminiscence
+in that of the goddess Maia, the daughter of Atlantis, worshiped in
+Greece. Here, at this end of the voyage, we seem to find an intimation
+as to the place where the Mayas originated. We are told that Maya is
+born from Atlantis; in other words, that the Mayas came from beyond the
+Atlantic waters. Here, also, we find that Maia is called the mother of
+the gods _Kubeles_. _Kú_, Maya _God_, _Bel_ the road, the way. Ku-bel,
+the road, the origin of the gods as among the Hindostanees. These, we
+have seen in the Rig Veda, called Mâyâ, the feminine energy--the
+productive virtue of Brahma.
+
+I do not pretend to present here anything but facts, resulting from my
+study of the ancient monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the Maya language, in which the ancient inscriptions, I have been able
+to decipher, are written. Let us see if those _facts_ are sustained by
+others of a different character.
+
+I will make a brief parallel between the architectural monuments of the
+primitive Chaldeans, their mode of writing, their burial places, and
+give you the etymology of the names of their divinities in the American
+Maya language.
+
+The origin of the primitive Chaldees is yet an unsettled matter among
+learned men. Some professing one opinion, others another. All agree,
+however, that they were strangers to the lower Mesopotamian valleys,
+where they settled in very remote ages, their capital being, in the time
+of Abraham, as we learn from Scriptures, _Ur_ or _Hur_. So named either
+because its inhabitants were worshipers of the moon, or from the moon
+itself--U in the Maya language--or perhaps also because the founders
+being strangers and guests, as it were, in the country, it was called
+the city of guests, HULA (Maya), _guest just arrived_.
+
+Recent researches in the plains of lower Mesopotamia have revealed to us
+their mode of building their sacred edifices, which is precisely
+identical to that of the Mayas.
+
+It consisted of mounds composed of superposed platforms, either square
+or oblong, forming cones or pyramids, their angles at times, their faces
+at others, facing exactly the cardinal points.
+
+Their manner of construction was also the same, with the exception of
+the materials employed--each people using those most at hand in their
+respective countries--clay and bricks in Chaldea, stones in Yucatan. The
+filling in of the buildings being of inferior materials, crude or
+sun-dried bricks at Warka and Mugheir; of unhewn stones of all shapes
+and sizes, in Uxmal and Chichen, faced with walls of hewn stones, many
+feet in thickness throughout. Grand exterior staircases lead to the
+summit, where was the shrine of the god, and temple.
+
+In Yucatan these mounds are generally composed of seven superposed
+platforms, the one above being smaller than that immediately below; the
+temple or sanctuary containing invariably two chambers, the inner one,
+the Sanctum Sanctorum, being the smallest.
+
+In Babylon, the supposed tower of Babel--the _Birs-i-nimrud_--the temple
+of the seven lights, was made of seven stages or platforms.
+
+The roofs of these buildings in both countries were flat; the walls of
+vast thickness; the chambers long and narrow, with outer doors opening
+into them directly; the rooms ordinarily let into one another: squared
+recesses were common in the rooms. Mr. Loftus is of opinion that the
+chambers of the Chaldean buildings were usually arched with bricks, in
+which opinion Mr. Taylor concurs. We know that the ceilings of the
+chambers in all the monuments of Yucatan, without exception, form
+triangular arches. To describe their construction I will quote from the
+description by Herodotus, of some ceilings in Egyptian buildings and
+Scythian tombs, that resemble that of the brick vaults found at Mugheir.
+“The side walls slope outward as they ascend, the arch is formed by each
+successive layer of brick from the point where the arch begins, a little
+overlapping the last, till the two sides of the roof are brought so near
+together, that the aperture may be closed by a single brick.”
+
+Some of the sepulchers found in Yucatan are very similar to the jar
+tombs common at Mugheir. These consist of two large open-mouthed jars,
+united with bitumen after the body has been deposited in them, with the
+usual accompaniments of dishes, vases and ornaments, having an air hole
+bored at one extremity. Those found at Progreso were stone urns about
+three feet square, cemented in pairs, mouth to mouth, and having also an
+air hole bored in the bottom. Extensive mounds, made artificially of a
+vast number of coffins, arranged side by side, divided by thin walls of
+masonry crossing each other at right angles, to separate the coffins,
+have been found in the lower plains of Chaldea--such as exist along the
+coast of Peru, and in Yucatan. At Izamal many human remains, contained
+in urns, have been found in the mounds.
+
+“The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chaldeans,” says
+Canon Rawlison, in his work, the Five Great Monarchies, “seems to have
+consisted of a single garment, a short tunic tied round the waist, and
+reaching thence to the knees. To this may sometimes have been added an
+_abba_, or cloak, thrown over the shoulders; the material of the former
+we may perhaps presume to have been linen.” The mural paintings at
+Chichen show that the Mayas sometimes used the same costume; and that
+dress is used to-day by the aborigines of Yucatan, and the inhabitants
+of the _Tierra de Guerra_. They were also bare-footed, and wore on the
+head a band of cloth, highly ornamented with mother-of-pearl instead of
+camel’s hair, as the Chaldee. This band is to be seen in bas-relief at
+Chichen-Itza, inthe[TN-18] mural paintings, and on the head of the statue
+of Chaacmol. The higher classes wore a long robe extending from the neck
+to the feet, sometimes adorned with a fringe; it appears not to have
+been fastened to the waist, but kept in place by passing over one
+shoulder, a slit or hole being made for the arm on one side of the dress
+only. In some cases the upper part of the dress seems to have been
+detached from the lower, and to form a sort of jacket which reached
+about to the hips. We again see this identical dress portrayed in the
+mural paintings. The same description of ornaments were affected by the
+Chaldees and the Mayas--bracelets, earrings, armlets, anklets, made of
+the materials they could procure.
+
+The Mayas at times, as can be seen from the slab discovered by
+Bresseur[TN-19] in Mayapan (an exact fac-simile of which cast, from a
+mould made by myself, is now in the rooms of the American Antiquarian
+Society at Worcester, Mass.), as the primitive Chaldee, in their
+writings, made use of characters composed of straight lines only,
+inclosed in square or oblong figures; as we see from the inscriptions in
+what has been called hieratic form of writing found at Warka and
+Mugheir and the slab from Mayapan and others.
+
+The Chaldees are said to have made use of three kinds of characters that
+Canon Rawlinson calls _letters proper_, _monograms_ and _determinative_.
+The Maya also, as we see from the monumental inscriptions, employed
+three kinds of characters--_letters proper_, _monograms_ and
+_pictorial_.
+
+It may be said of the religion of the Mayas, as I have had occasion to
+remark, what the learned author of the Five Great Monarchies says of
+that of the primitive Chaldees: “The religion of the Chaldeans, from the
+very earliest times to which the monuments carry us back, was, in its
+outward aspect, a polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite
+possible that there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the
+priests and the more learned; which, resolving the personages of the
+Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconcile the apparent multiplicity
+of Gods with monotheism.” I will now consider the names of the Chaldean
+deities in their turn of rotation as given us by the author above
+mentioned, and show you that the language of the American Mayas gives us
+an etymology of the whole of them, quite in accordance with their
+particular attributes.
+
+
+RA.
+
+The learned author places ‘_Ra_’ at the head of the Pantheon, stating
+that the meaning of the word is simply _God_, or the God emphatically.
+We know that _Ra_ was the Sun among the Egyptians, and that the
+hieroglyph, a circle, representation of that God was the same in Babylon
+as in Egypt. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon. Which
+was _ka-ra_.
+
+Now the Mayas called LA, that which has existed for ever, the truth _par
+excellence_. As to the native name of Babylon it would simply be the
+_city of the infinite truth_--_cah_, city; LA, eternal truth.
+
+
+ANA OR DIS.
+
+Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signified _God_ in the highest sense.
+Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and
+antiquity; _the original chief_, the _father of the gods_, the _lord of
+darkness or death_. The Maya gives us A, _thy_; NA, _mother_. At times
+he was called DIS, and was the patron god of _Erech_, the great city of
+the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. TIX, Maya is a cavity
+formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city of
+_Niffer_, called _Calneh_ in the translation of the Septuagint, from
+_kal-ana_, which is translated the “fort of Ana;” or according to the
+Maya, the _prison of Ana_, KAL being prison, or the prison of thy
+mother.
+
+
+ANATA
+
+the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is
+only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the
+Maya designates her as the companion of Ana; TA, with; _Anata_ with
+_Ana_.
+
+
+BIL OR ENU
+
+seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative
+adjunct, possessing great interest, NIPRU. To that name, which recalls
+that of NEBROTH or _Nimrod_, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar
+(make to flee). His epithets are the _supreme_, _the father of the
+gods_, the _procreator_.
+
+The Maya gives us BIL, or _Bel_; the way, the road; hence the _origin_,
+the father, the procreator. Also ENA, who is before; again the father,
+the procreator.
+
+As to the qualificative adjunct _nipru_. It would seem to be the Maya
+_niblu_; _nib_, to thank; LU, the _Bagre_, a _silurus fish_. _Niblu_
+would then be the _thanksgiving fish_. Strange to say, the high priest
+at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son of _Can_, the
+founder of those cities, is CAY, the fish, whose effigy is my last
+discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. The bust is contained
+within the jaws of a serpent, _Can_, and over it, is a beautiful
+mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which
+read TZAA, that which is necessary.
+
+
+BELTIS
+
+is the wife of _Bel-nipru_. But she is more than his mere female power.
+She is a separate and important deity. Her common title is the _Great
+Goddess_. In Chaldea her name was _Mulita_ or _Enuta_, both words
+signifying the lady. Her favorite title was the _mother of the gods_,
+the origin of the gods.
+
+In Maya BEL is the road, the way; and TE means _here_. BELTÉ or BELTIS
+would be I am the way, the origin.
+
+_Mulita_ would correspond to MUL-TE, many here, _many in me_. I am the
+mother of many. Her other name _Enuta_ seems to be (Maya) _Ena-te_,
+signifies ENA, the first, before anybody, and TE here. ENATÉ, _I am here
+before anybody_, I am the mother of the Gods.
+
+
+HEA OR HOA.
+
+The God Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from
+the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on
+the Euphrates and Tigris.
+
+According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia by
+_Oannes_ and six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half
+fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen
+that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers;
+and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to
+clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the shores of
+the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats.
+
+Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his
+residence or house on the water. HA, being water; _a_, thy; _ná_, house;
+literally, _water thy house_. Canon Rawlison remarks in that
+connection: “There are very strong grounds for connecting HEA or Hoa,
+with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of
+the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.” As the title of the god of
+knowledge and science, _Oannes_, is the lord of the abyss, or of the
+great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent,
+CAN, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods
+on the black stones recording benefactions.
+
+
+DAV-KINA
+
+Is the wife of _Hoa_, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady.
+But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more
+appropriate. TAB-KIN would be the _rays of the sun_: the rays of the
+light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants
+of Mesopotamia.
+
+
+SIN OR HURKI
+
+is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain.
+Its titles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is
+particularly designated as “_the bright_, _the shining_” the lord of the
+month.
+
+Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend.
+_Zinil_ is the extension of the whole of the universe. _Hurki_ would be
+the Maya HULKIN--sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the
+sun. Hurki is also the god presiding over buildings and architecture; in
+this connection he is called _Bel-Zuna_. The _lord of building_, the
+_supporting architect_, the _strengthener of fortifications_. _Bel-Zuna_
+would also signify the lord of the strong house. _Zuú_, Maya, close,
+thick. _Na_, house: and the city where he had his great temple was _Ur_;
+named after him. _U_, in Maya, signifies moon.
+
+
+SAN OR SANSI,
+
+the Sun God, the _lord of fire_, the _ruler of the day_. He _who
+illumines the expanse of heaven and earth_.
+
+_Zamal_ (Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are
+the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and
+Egypt.
+
+
+VUL OR IVA,
+
+the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the
+tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who
+makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as
+does the tempest. As VUL he is represented with a flaming sword in his
+hand. _Hul_ (Maya) an arrow. He is then the god of the atmosphere, who
+gives rain.
+
+
+ISHTAR OR NANA,
+
+the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory
+account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following
+and description quoting.
+
+The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name
+seems composed of _ix_, the feminine article, _she_; and of _tac_, or
+_tal_, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want
+or inclination. IXTAL would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a
+corporal inclination. As to her other name, _Nana_, it simply means the
+great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses,
+we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also
+furnishes a perfect etymology for them.
+
+In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans,
+we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is _Thalatth_, was said to
+have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were
+generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her
+_Thalassa_ (the sea). But the Maya vocable _Thallac_, signifies a thing
+without steadiness, like the sea.
+
+
+URUKH.
+
+The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are
+ascribed the most archaic monuments of the plains of Lower Mesopotamia.
+He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He
+constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases,
+their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior
+staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this
+description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can
+fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in
+Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very
+name _Urkuh_ seems composed of two Maya words HUK, to make everything,
+and LUK, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his
+building propensities and of the materials used by him.
+
+
+ASSYRIA.
+
+The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur,
+the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without
+adding “Asshur is my lord,” is still an undecided matter amongst the
+learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was
+named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name
+from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the
+significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew
+languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the
+god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was
+named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much
+sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively
+the word _asshur_, sometimes written _ashur_, would be AXUL in Maya.
+
+_A_, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun,
+as the second person, thy or thine, and _xul_, means end, termination.
+It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. _Axul_
+would therefore be _thy end_. Among all the nations which have
+recognized the existence of a SUPREME BEING, Deity has been considered
+as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be
+united.
+
+A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out
+of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea
+are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the _Kiprat-arbat_,
+or FOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the
+universe, king of the giants, whose capital was _Tiahuanaco_, the
+magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the
+lake of Titicaca, reigned over _Ttahuatyn-suyu_, the FOUR PROVINCES. In
+the _Chou-King_ we read that in very remote times _China_ was called by
+its inhabitants _Sse-yo_, THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. The
+_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, the _Ramayana_, and other sacred books of
+Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their
+country as the FOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental
+inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place
+was called the land of the _canchi_, or FOUR MOUTHS, that recalls
+vividly the name of Chaldea _Arba-Lisun_, the FOUR TONGUES.
+
+That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but
+became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel.
+It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at
+the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek,
+Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the
+Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of
+Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it.
+
+In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of
+the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King
+Belshazzar was banqueting, the words “Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin,”
+which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the
+king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their
+interpretation: _Numbered_, _numbered_, _weighed_, _dividing_, perhaps
+with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be
+the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and
+Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of
+King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of
+the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus
+enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in
+the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, _mene_ or _mane_,
+_numbered_, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, MAN, to buy, to
+purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity--or MANEL,
+to pass, to exceed. _Tekel_, weighed, would correspond to TEC, light.
+To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity,
+nimbleness: and _Upharsin_, dividing, seem allied to the words PPA, to
+divide two things united; or _uppah_, to break, making a sharp sound; or
+_paah_, to break edifices; or, again, PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the
+inhabitants of a place.
+
+As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross,
+as reported by the Evangelists, _Eli, Eli_, according to St. Matthew,
+and _Eloi, Eloi_, according to St. Mark, _lama sabachthani_, they are
+pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed
+to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the
+mouth of the dying martyr these words: _My God, my God, why hast thou
+forsaken me?_ they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his
+last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to
+his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to
+the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than
+all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to
+his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him?
+He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned
+biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what
+he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: _This man
+calleth for Elias._
+
+His bosom friend, who never abandoned him--who stood to the last at the
+foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do
+not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He
+simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he
+complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with
+vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: IT IS FINISHED! and
+_he bowed his head and gave up the ghost_. (St. John, chap. xix., v.
+30.)
+
+Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words, HELO, HELO, LAMAH
+ZABAC TA NI, literally: HELO, HELO, now, now; LAMAH, sinking; ZABAC,
+black ink; TA, over; NI, nose; in our language: _Now, now I am sinking;
+darkness covers my face!_ No weakness, no despair--He merely tells his
+friends all is over. _It is finished!_ and expires.
+
+Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the
+Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who
+inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those
+of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised
+Land, for example--that part of the coast of Phœnicia so famous for
+the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during
+forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so
+many hard-fought battles--was known as _Canaan_. This is a Maya word
+that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled _Kanaan_,
+it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the
+country.
+
+TYRE, the great emporium of the Phœnicians, called _Tzur_, probably
+on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the
+Maya TZUC, a promontory, or a number of villages, _Tzucub_ being a
+province.
+
+Again, we have the people called _Khati_ by the Egyptians. They formed a
+great nation that inhabited the _Cæle-Syria_ and the valley of the
+Orontes, where they have left, very interesting proofs of their passage
+on earth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately
+discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved.
+They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and
+Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently
+mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the
+Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they
+placed well nigh insuperable _obstacles in the way_ of the conquests of
+these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful
+adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in
+all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their
+emporium _Carchemish_ had no less importance than Tyre or Carthage.
+There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither
+the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were
+wont to worship at the Sacred City, _Katish_ of the Khati. The etymology
+of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that
+they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we
+may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya
+language.
+
+All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by
+Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at Thebes, the
+_Memnonium_, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and
+opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of
+these facts, since KAT or KATAH is a verb that means to place
+impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage.
+
+_Carchemish_ was their great emporium, where merchants from afar
+congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. CAH means a city,
+and _Chemul_ is navigator. _Carchemish_ would then be _cah-chemul_, the
+city of navigators, of merchants.
+
+KATISH, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are
+offered. CAH, city, and TICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas,
+and still performed by their descendants all through Central America.
+This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to BALAM, the
+_Yumil-Kaax_, the “Lord of the fields,” the _primitiæ_ of all their
+fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or _cah-tich_ would then be
+the city of the sacrifices--the holy city.
+
+EGYPT is the country that in historical times has called, more than any
+other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on
+account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of
+its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in
+all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position
+at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be
+the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world:
+yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the
+first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not
+autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the
+regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and
+designated the country in which they lived, the East, as the _pure
+land_, the _land of the sun_, of _light_, in contradistinction of the
+country of the dead, of darkness--the Amenti, the West--where Osiris sat
+as King, reigning judge, over the souls.
+
+If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with
+vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere.
+Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile
+by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that
+came from the West called it CHEM: not on account of the black color of
+the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, “_De Iside et Osiride_,” but
+more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably,
+because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants
+communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the
+country of boats--CHEM (maya).[TN-20] The hieroglyph representing the
+name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross
+circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a
+sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat.
+The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names of MISIR or MISUR,
+probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are
+uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all
+over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the
+soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the
+Maya verb MIZ--to _clean_, to _remove rubbish formed by the body of dead
+trees_; whilst the verb MUSUR means to _cut the trees by the roots_. It
+would seem that the name _Mizraim_ given to Egypt in the Scriptures also
+might come from these words.
+
+When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by
+the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of
+_Hapimú_. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists,
+who agree, however, that its meaning is the _abyss of water_. The Maya
+tells us that this name is composed of two words--HÁ, water, and PIMIL,
+the thickness of flat things. _Hapimu_, or HAPIMIL, would then be the
+thickness, the _abyss of water_.
+
+We find that the prophets _Jeremiah_ (xlvi., 25,) and _Nahum_ (iii., 8,
+10,) call THEBES, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty:
+NÓ or NÁ-AMUN, the mansion of Amun. _Ná_ signifies in Maya, house,
+mansion, residence. But _Thebes_ is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs AP,
+or APÉ, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine
+article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings,
+it becomes TAPÉ; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson (“Manners and
+Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” _tom._ III., page 210, N. Y. Edition,
+1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians _Taba_; and in the Menphitic
+dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The
+Maya verb _Teppal_, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each
+side of the mastodons’ heads, which form so prominent a feature in the
+ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts,
+the word _Dapas_; hence TABAS is written in ancient Egyptian characters,
+and read, I presume, in old Maya, _head_. To-day the word is pronounced
+THAB, and means _baldness_.
+
+The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their
+religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they
+inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners;
+the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used
+by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to
+infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their
+forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to
+nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the
+countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the
+Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate
+communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors.
+
+Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of
+these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious
+belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the
+characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any
+reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be
+altogether accidental.
+
+The SUN, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt;
+and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent
+Uræus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA
+signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is--the
+truth.
+
+The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day
+preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the
+adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain epoch[TN-21]
+of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the
+west façade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that
+city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, _the land of
+the sun_. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written
+with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is the
+sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun.
+
+Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical
+meaning. The figure of _Amun_ was that of a man whose body was light
+blue, like the Indian god Wishnu,[TN-22] and that of the god Nilus; as
+if to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color
+being that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly
+the same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who
+tell us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of
+those who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural
+paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this
+assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some
+marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs.
+After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded
+them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the
+funerals.
+
+The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards
+and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the
+souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls
+after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and
+inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why
+they took so much pains to embalm the body.
+
+The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have
+already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during
+a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having
+enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they
+were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as
+the body was corruptible, they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or
+wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a
+hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in
+stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to
+earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as
+body during their new existence.
+
+I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in
+transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I
+have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever,
+even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments.
+I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may
+have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but
+softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not
+kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile,
+as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited
+from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment
+inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego
+what they called the superstitions of their race--the idolatrous creed
+of their forefathers.
+
+I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as
+many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken,
+notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the
+hands of ignorant and barbaric _Christians_ (?)
+
+I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly
+manifested.
+
+The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and
+cables, made of withes and the bark of the _habin_ tree, were finished
+and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of
+trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers,
+already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the
+surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation;
+my men, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and
+their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other,
+unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where
+their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by
+letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the
+mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin
+trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be
+injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already
+overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and
+even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the
+withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation
+were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think,
+knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had
+made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they
+considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior
+and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome
+their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that,
+as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in
+reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great
+pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of
+the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta,
+every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of
+warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types
+recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans.
+
+On one of the antæ, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait
+of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like
+that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in
+profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same
+position of my face as that of UXAN, and called the attention of my
+Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed
+every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the
+beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: “_Thou!_
+_here!_” and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone
+and my own.
+
+“_So, so,_” they said, “_thou too art one of our great men, who has been
+disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol.
+That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to
+disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived._”
+
+From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned
+to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon
+brought up the ponderous statue to the surface.
+
+A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and
+noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one.
+Colonel _Don_ Felipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the
+eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written
+notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile
+Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp
+look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in
+the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather
+difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there
+is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that
+danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued
+our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny.
+
+On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing
+that the visitors had no guns, but only their _machetes_, I gave orders
+not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray,
+his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at
+a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long
+time he broke out, speaking to his own people: “This, boys, is one of
+the great men we speak to you about.” Then the young men came forward,
+with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their
+lips against them.
+
+Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the
+old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm
+to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face
+near that of my stone _Sosis_, and again the same scene was enacted as
+with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their
+knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a
+while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: “Rememberest thou
+what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?” It was quite a
+difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I
+did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. “Well,
+father,” I asked him, “dreamest thou sometimes?” He nodded his head in
+an affirmative manner. “And when thou awakest, dost thou remember
+distinctly thy dreams?” “_Má_,” no! was the answer. “Well, father,” I
+continued, “so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place
+during the time I was enchanted.” This answer seemed to satisfy him. I
+again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the
+foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not
+to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people
+were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore;
+where they went, I don’t know.
+
+Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote
+times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de
+Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied
+observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to
+have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It
+consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left
+hand on the right shoulder; or the right arm across the chest, the
+right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his
+work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr.
+Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases
+even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins
+with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in
+use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the
+figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon’s head, on the
+west façade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and
+museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in
+Chaacmol’s funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the
+representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that
+chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being
+common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their
+utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their
+veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in
+which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms
+spontaneously.
+
+_The sistrum_ was an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during
+the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have
+seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of
+the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and
+viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, called _canopas_, that were
+placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol’s mausoleum
+I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head
+containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart
+and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom
+among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an
+empty vase--symbol that the deceased had been judged and found
+righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol,
+is also found held in the same manner by many other statues of
+different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in
+the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So
+also with the Mayas--if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his
+weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of his art,[TN-23]
+
+The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich--which generally consisted
+of one or two chambers--with sculptures and paintings reciting the names
+and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged.
+The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different
+superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled,
+polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with
+magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his
+wife--dying warriors--the whole being surrounded by the image of a
+feathered serpent--_Can_, his family name, whilst the walls of the two
+apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory,
+were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol’s
+own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his
+contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were
+in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and
+other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his
+time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented
+life-size.
+
+In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or
+wood, with bright colors--yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In
+Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still
+easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very
+brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in
+the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to
+have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as
+pigments, and cinnabar--we having found such metallic colors in
+Chaacmol’s mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still preserves some in her
+possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at
+present.
+
+The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it
+an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their
+principal duties being to play the sistrum.
+
+We find that in Yucatan, _Nicté_ (flower) the sister of _Chaacmol_,
+assisted her elder brother, _Cay_, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her
+name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn
+the western façade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister,
+_Mó_,[TN-24] is with Chaacmol’s in some of the monuments at Chichen.
+
+Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses, _virgins of the sun_,
+mentions a tradition that seems to refer to _Nicté_, stating that the
+daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple,
+obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped
+under the name of _Zuhuy-Kak_ (the fire-virgin), and became the goddess
+of the maidens, who were recommended to her care.
+
+As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their
+death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo
+pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other
+abject animals, “even the devil himself, which appeared to them in
+horrible forms” (“Historia de Yucatan,” book IV., chap. vii.)
+
+Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes in
+_Mayab_ wore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate
+character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the
+middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented
+with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of
+clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar
+to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was
+fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a
+large bow, the ends of which reached to the ankles. Their shoulders
+were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the
+chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept
+in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next,
+and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the
+ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore
+leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow;
+sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of
+different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to
+have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in
+the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen’s
+chamber at Chichen. The king’s coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to
+have served as model for the _pschent_, that symbol of domination over
+the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point
+formed the front, and in Egypt the back.
+
+The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by
+their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the
+loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs.
+Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped
+a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to
+the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on
+one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day
+the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight
+modifications. While the aborigines of the _Tierra de Guerra_, who still
+preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign
+admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see
+represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural
+paintings of _Mayab_ and Egypt.
+
+Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study
+of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of
+learning. The soothsayers formed a respected order of the priesthood.
+From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the
+chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of
+consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails
+of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a
+turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the
+_Hong-fan_ or “the great and sublime doctrine,” one of the books of the
+_Chou-king_, the ceremonies of _Pou_ and _Chi_ are described at length).
+The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies,
+purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching
+of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in
+the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even
+at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the
+country, and congregated at the shrine of _Kinich-kakmo_, the deified
+daughter of CAN, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the
+mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the
+examination of the mural paintings, we know that _animal magnetism_ was
+understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have
+consulted clairvoyants.
+
+The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress
+in astronomical sciences.
+
+The _gnomon_, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined
+city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were
+not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good
+mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not
+inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the
+construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of
+calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the
+solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest
+angle of declination of the sun, 23° 27´, occurred when that luminary
+reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle of
+declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the _sun_ had
+arrived at his resting place.
+
+The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by
+lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen
+months, of twenty days, that they called U--moon--to which they added
+five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so
+ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the
+Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of
+thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, called
+_Mesoré_, five days, named _Epact_.
+
+By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas,
+considered these additive five days _unlucky_.
+
+Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of
+365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas[TN-25]
+sacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6
+hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that
+joins the centers of the stela that forms it.
+
+The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system of _fives_
+and _tens_; the Mayas by a system of _fives_ and _twenties_, to four
+hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest
+antiquity, but SEVEN seems to have been a _mystic number_ among them as
+among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations.
+
+The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the
+grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall
+is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above
+overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to
+all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the
+height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen
+and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to
+assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the
+_Pleiades_ or _Seven stars_. _Alcyone_, the central star of the group,
+being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was
+constructed, and _Alpha_ of Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower
+culmination.
+
+But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific
+attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument
+surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity,
+believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its
+designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people,
+possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try
+to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the
+great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty.
+
+Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a
+predilection for number SEVEN. Since we find that their artificial
+mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of
+Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace
+of King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents,
+his totem, which adorn the east façade of the west wing of this
+building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens
+were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number SEVEN
+prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has
+predominated.
+
+It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance,
+that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of
+the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being
+used as symbol[TN-26] by several of the secret societies existing among
+us.
+
+If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life
+in the countries known as the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN
+among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in
+Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_
+stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_,
+or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans
+and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the
+sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni,
+the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the
+_seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of
+Zacharias’s vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the
+_seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon,
+the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the
+Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at
+their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the
+book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast
+that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God, the
+_seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the
+_seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.
+
+The origin of the prevalence of that number SEVEN amongst all the
+nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been
+satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different
+interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their
+religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have
+found that it originated with the _seven_ members of CAN’S family, who
+were the founders of the principal cities of _Mayab_, and to each of
+whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their
+names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by
+them at Uxmal and Chichen, were--CAN (serpent) and [C]OZ (bat), his
+wife, from whom were born CAY (fish), the pontiff; AAK (turtle), who
+became the governor of Uxmal; CHAACMOL (leopard), the warrior, who
+became the husband of his sister MOÓ (macaw), the Queen of _Chichen_,
+worshiped after her death at Izamal; and NICTÉ (flower), the priestess
+who, under the name of _Zuhuy-Kuk_, became the goddess of the maidens.
+
+The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three
+different kinds of characters--phonetic, ideographic and
+symbolic--placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to
+be read from right to left, from left to right, as indicated by the
+position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their
+writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining
+these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a
+manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the façade
+of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the
+monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the
+ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No
+truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except
+those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and
+learned men of MAYAB hid them from the _Nahualt_ or _Toltec_ invaders.
+
+As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines,
+to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay
+does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a
+work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present
+purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the
+Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly
+all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning,
+in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs
+used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by
+us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in
+discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions,
+written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as
+models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck,
+seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters,
+together with others that seem to be purely Mayab.
+
+Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions,
+giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in
+which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines
+of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Of course, the
+original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence
+of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other
+nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect
+man’s speech.
+
+The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical;
+possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations.
+Among the symbolical, I may cite a few: _water_, _country or region_,
+_king_, _Lord_, _offerings_, _splendor_, the _various emblems of the
+sun_ and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the
+so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription
+of the _Akabɔib_ at Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient Egyptian
+hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have been
+able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own.
+
+A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the
+same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of
+the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the
+Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP
+identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of
+the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other
+things, the names of the founders of the city of UXMAL; as that of the
+city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst,
+in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs,
+notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the
+founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also
+in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the
+totems of the personages: e. g[TN-27] for AAK, which means turtle, is the
+image of a turtle; for CAY (fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol
+(leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility
+of misinterpretation.
+
+Having found that the language of the inscriptions was Maya, of course
+I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value,
+since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the
+people.
+
+I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present
+to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the
+mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not
+merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people
+must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the
+questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only
+solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority.
+
+I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son of _Seb and
+Nut_, the brother of _Aroeris_, the elder _Horus_, of _Typho_, of
+_Isis_, and of _Nephthis_, named also NIKÉ. The authors have given
+numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of
+that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of
+the inundations of the NILE; ISIS, his wife and sister, that of the
+irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister, _Nephthis_, that
+of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters
+of the Nile; his brother and murderer _Tipho_, that of the sea which
+swallows up the _Nile_.
+
+Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times
+and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious
+people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the
+mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris
+on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I
+am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert,
+that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture
+hero of the Mayas.
+
+It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere
+coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What
+conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many
+strange similes?
+
+In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir
+Gardner Wilkinson’s work, chap. xiii:
+
+     “_Osiris_, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards
+     civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former
+     barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and
+     improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good
+     disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world,
+     inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the
+     mildest persuasion.”
+
+The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his
+brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his
+wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by _Typho_,
+who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final
+defeat of Typho by Osiris’s son, Horus.
+
+Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to
+civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions
+of the deeds of the culture heroes _Kukulean_[TN-28] and Quetzalcoatl of
+the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo,
+where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures
+of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the
+temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral
+chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the
+queen’s chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen.
+
+     “The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less
+     mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that
+     the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the
+     latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the
+     candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain
+     it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations
+     were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher
+     mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It
+     was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed.”
+     Wilkinson, chap. xiii.
+
+In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered
+in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called the
+_Dwarf’s House_, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pass
+through different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to
+judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the
+disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this
+discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols
+were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used
+among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published in
+_Harper’s Weekly_, a full description of the building, with plans of the
+same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret
+societies exist still among the _Zuñis_ and other Pueblo Indians of New
+Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman
+sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and
+history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr.
+Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zuñis, whose
+language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other
+remarkable things he has discovered is “the existence of twelve sacred
+orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded
+as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have
+a strange resemblance.” (From the New York _Times_.)
+
+If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of
+the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of
+the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr.
+DuChaillu[TN-29] in the relation of his voyage to the “Land of Ashango,”
+so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest
+that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between
+their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible
+still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not
+place that _fact_ without the peradventure of a doubt. We also see
+figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African
+features.
+
+We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the
+priestess found by me at the foot of the altar in front of the shrine
+of _Ix-cuina_, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of _Isla
+Mugeres_, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth
+in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion
+still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and
+little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue
+among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly
+those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians.
+
+Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the
+Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of
+beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans
+as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol’s
+mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen
+enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the
+hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the
+people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these
+last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by
+the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the
+mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such
+barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies’ hearts.
+
+The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in
+witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of
+X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of
+Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating
+that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die
+unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from
+malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of
+tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my
+advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out,
+probably, if I was a stronger wizard than the _H-Men_ who had bewitched
+him. He must have failed to discover on my face the proverbial
+distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an
+incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he
+simply replied: “No use--I am bewitched--there is no remedy for me.”
+
+Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of
+Equatorial Africa, says: “The greatest curse of the whole country is the
+belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with
+the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He
+becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and
+really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per
+cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery.”
+In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards
+because of their supposed supernatural powers.
+
+From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the
+chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious
+libations with _Balché_. To-day the aborigines still use it in the
+celebrations of their ancient rites. _Balché_ is a liquor made from the
+bark of a tree called Balché, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left
+to ferment. It is their beverage _par excellence_. The nectar drank by
+the God of Greek Mythology.
+
+Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of _Mayo_lo,
+a city in which he resided for some time, says: “Next day he was so much
+elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a
+fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen
+ill, and which he made by _mixing honey and water, and adding to it
+pieces of bark of a certain tree_.” (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.)
+
+I will remark here that, by a strange _coincidence_, we not only find
+that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with
+the MAYAS, but that the name of one of their cities MAYO_lo_, seems to
+be a corruption of MAYAB.
+
+The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends,
+where they deposit furniture, dress and food--and sometimes slay slaves,
+men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief
+that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been
+sacrificed.
+
+I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the
+tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade
+or profession; and that the great quantity of blood found scattered
+round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend
+to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral.
+
+The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died.
+Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for
+they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it.
+
+The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their
+villages when death frequently occur;[TN-30] for, say they, the place is
+no longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased.
+
+Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of
+drums--the _Tunkul_ and the _Zacatan_. They are still used by the
+aborigines in their religious festivals and dances.
+
+The _Tunkul_ is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to
+leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about
+four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave
+between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches
+from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to
+form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two
+balls of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the
+instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it
+can be heard, is[TN-31] is said, at a distance of six miles in calm
+weather. The _Zacatan_ is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the
+trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end a piece of
+skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand,
+the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a
+slanting position, that it is played.
+
+Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case
+of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten,
+and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu asserts having seen one of
+these _Ngoma_, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and
+describes a _Fan_ drum which corresponds to the _Zacatan_ of the Mayas
+as follows: “The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in
+diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed
+out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the
+drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks
+beats[TN-32] furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the
+cylinder.”
+
+We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of
+the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African
+towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages
+in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at
+times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause
+the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry
+with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had
+better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the
+cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently
+dedicated to the god of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an
+infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the
+villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts.
+
+Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the
+native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of
+more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: “The pure bred
+native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly
+tail; the hair is short and the color yellowish; the pure breed being
+known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept
+very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears;
+I don’t think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs.”
+
+I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already
+mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close
+it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu asserts exists
+among the African warriors: “_The charmed leopard’s skin worn about the
+warrior’s middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof._”
+
+Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the FACTS mentioned in
+the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to
+be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the _Mayas_ were a great and
+powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization.
+That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their
+attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have
+reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere.
+That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth;
+for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their
+language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants
+they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they
+gave names to their gods, to their tribes, to their cities.
+
+We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions
+of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their
+nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have
+established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their
+birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured,
+wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored
+imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to
+hide the truth from the ignorant mass of the people, fostering their
+superstitions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over
+them, as in Egypt.
+
+In Hindostan, for example, we find the Maya custom of carrying the
+children astride on the hips of the nurses. That of recording the vow of
+the devotees, or of imploring the blessings of deity by the imprint of
+the hand, dipped in red liquid, stamped on the walls of the shrines and
+palaces. The worship of the mastodon, still extant in India, Siam,
+Burmah, as in the worship of _Ganeza_, the god of knowledge, with an
+elephant head, degenerated in that of the elephant itself.
+
+Still extant we find likewise the innate propensity of the Mayas to
+exclude all foreigners from their country; even to put to death those
+who enter their territories (as do, even to-day, those of Santa Cruz and
+the inhabitants of the Tierra de Guerra) as the emissaries of Rama were
+informed by the friend of the owner of the country, the widow of the
+_great architect_, MAYA, whose name HEMA means in the Maya language “she
+who places ropes across the roads to impede the passage.” Even the
+history of the death of her husband MAYA, killed with a thunderbolt, by
+the god _Pourandara_, whose jealousy was aroused by his love for her and
+their marriage, recalls that of _Chaacmol_, the husband of _Moó_, killed
+by their brother Aac, by being stabbed by him three times in the back
+with a spear, through jealousy--for he also loved _Moó_.
+
+Some Maya tribes, after a time, probably left their home at the South of
+Hindostan and emigrated to Afghanistan, where their descendants still
+live and have villages on the North banks of the river _Kabul_. They
+left behind old traditions, that they may have considered as mere
+fantasies of their poets, and other customs of their forefathers. Yet we
+know so little about the ancient Afghans, or the Maya tribes living
+among them, that it is impossible at present to say how much, if any,
+they have preserved of the traditions of their race. All we know for a
+certainty is that many of the names of their villages and tribes are
+pure American-Maya words: that their types are very similar to the
+features of the bearded men carved on the pillars of the castle, and on
+the walls of other edifices at Chichen-Itza: while their warlike habits
+recall those of the Mayas, who fought so bravely and tenaciously the
+Spanish invaders.
+
+Some of the Maya tribes, traveling towards the west and northwest,
+reached probably the shores of Ethiopia; while others, entering the
+Persian Gulf, landed near the embouchure of the Euphrates, and founded
+their primitive capital at a short distance from it. They called it _Hur
+(Hula) city of guests just arrived_--and according to Berosus gave
+themselves the name of _Khaldi_; probably because they intrenched their
+city: _Kal_ meaning intrenchment in the American-Maya language. We have
+seen that the names of all the principal deities of the primitive
+Chaldeans had a natural etymology in that tongue. Such strange
+coincidences cannot be said to be altogether accidental. Particularly
+when we consider that their learned men were designated as MAGI, (Mayas)
+and their Chief _Rab-Mag_, meaning, in Maya, the _old man_; and were
+great architects, mathematicians and astronomers. As again we know of
+them but imperfectly, we cannot tell what traditions they had preserved
+of the birthplace of their forefathers. But by the inscriptions on the
+tablets or bricks, found at Mugheir and Warka, we know for a certainty
+that, in the archaic writings, they formed their characters of straight
+lines of uniform thickness; and inclosed their sentences in squares or
+parallelograms, as did the founders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. And
+from the signet cylinder of King Urukh, that their mode of dressing was
+identical with that of many personages represented in the mural
+paintings at Chichen-Itza.
+
+We have traced the MAYAS again on the shores of Asia Minor, where the
+CARIANS at last established themselves, after having spread terror among
+the populations bordering on the Mediterranean. Their origin is unknown:
+but their customs were so similar to those of the inhabitants of Yucatan
+at the time even of the Spanish conquest--and their names CAR, _Carib_
+or _Carians_, so extensively spread over the western continent, that we
+might well surmise, that, navigators as they were, they came from those
+parts of the world; particularly when we are told by the Greek poets and
+historians, that the goddess MAIA was the daughter of _Atlantis_. We
+have seen that the names of the khati, those of their cities, that of
+Tyre, and finally that of Egypt, have their etymology in the Maya.
+
+Considering the numerous coincidences already pointed out, and many more
+I could bring forth, between the attainments and customs of the Mayas
+and the Egyptians; in view also of the fact that the priests and learned
+men of Egypt constantly pointed toward the WEST as the birthplace of
+their ancestors, it would seem as if a colony, starting from Mayab, had
+emigrated Eastward, and settled on the banks of the Nile; just as the
+Chinese to-day, quitting their native land and traveling toward the
+rising sun, establish themselves in America.
+
+In Egypt again, as in Hindostan, we find the history of the children of
+CAN, preserved among the secret traditions treasured up by the priests
+in the dark recesses of their temples: the same story, even with all its
+details. It is TYPHO who kills his brother OSIRIS, the husband of their
+sister ISIS. Some of the names only have been changed when the members
+of the royal family of CAN, the founder of the cities of Mayab, reaching
+apotheosis, were presented to the people as gods, to be worshiped.
+
+That the story of _Isis_ and _Osiris_ is a mythical account of CHAACMOL
+and MOÓ, from all the circumstances connected with it, according to the
+relations of the priests of Egypt that tally so closely with what we
+learn in Chichen-Itza from the bas-reliefs, it seems impossible to
+doubt.
+
+Effectively, _Osiris_ and _Isis_ are considered as king and queen of the
+Amenti--the region of the West--the mansion of the dead, of the
+ancestors. Whatever may be the etymology of the name of Osiris, it is a
+_fact_, that in the sculptures he is often represented with a spotted
+skin suspended near him, and Diodorus Siculus says: “That the skin is
+usually represented without the head; but some instances where this is
+introduced show it to be the _leopard’s_ or _panther’s_.” Again, the
+name of Osiris as king of the West, of the Amenti, is always written, in
+hieroglyphic characters, representing a crouching _leopard_ with an eye
+above it. It is also well known that the priests of Osiris wore a
+_leopard_ skin as their ceremonial dress.
+
+Now, Chaacmol reigned with his sister Moó, at Chichen-Itza, in Mayab, in
+the land of the West for Egypt. The name _Chaacmol_ means, in Maya, a
+_Spotted_ tiger, a _leopard_; and he is represented as such in all his
+totems in the sculptures on the monuments; his shield being made of the
+skin of leopard, as seen in the mural paintings.
+
+Osiris, in Egypt, is a myth. Chaacmol, in Mayab, a reality. A warrior
+whose mausoleum I have opened; whose weapons and ornaments of jade are
+in Mrs. Le Plongeon’s possession; whose heart I have found, and sent a
+piece of it to be analysed by professor Thompson of Worcester, Mass.;
+whose effigy, with his name inscribed on the tablets occupying the place
+of the ears, forms now one of the most precious relics in the National
+Museum of Mexico.
+
+ISIS was the wife and sister of Osiris. As to the etymology of her name
+the Maya affords it in I[C]IN--_the younger sister_. As Queen of the
+Amenti, of the West, she also is represented in hieroglyphs by the same
+characters as her husband--a _leopard, with an eye above_, and the sign
+of the feminine gender an oval or egg. But as a goddess she is always
+portrayed with wings; the vulture being dedicated to her; and, as it
+were, her totem.
+
+MOÓ the wife and sister of _Chaacmol_ was the Queen of Chichen. She is
+represented on the Mausoleum of Chaacmol as a _Macaw_ (Moó in the Maya
+language); also on the monuments at Uxmal: and the chroniclers tell us
+that she was worshiped in Izamal under the name of _Kinich-Kakmó_;
+reading from right to left the _fiery macaw with eyes like the sun_.
+
+Their protecting spirit is a _Serpent_, the totem of their father CAN.
+Another Egyptian divinity, _Apap_ or _Apop_, is represented under the
+form of a gigantic serpent covered with wounds. Plutarch in his
+treatise, _De Iside et Osiride_, tells us that he was enemy to the sun.
+
+TYPHO was the brother of Osiris and Isis; for jealousy, and to usurp the
+throne, he formed a conspiration and killed his brother. He is said to
+represent in the Egyptian mythology, the sea, by some; by others, _the
+sun_.
+
+AAK (turtle) was also the brother of Chaacmol and _Moó_. For jealousy,
+and to usurp the throne, he killed his brother at treason with three
+thrusts of his _spear_ in the back. Around the belt of his statue at
+Uxmal used to be seen hanging the heads of his brothers CAY and
+CHAACMOL, together with that of MOÓ; whilst his feet rested on their
+flayed bodies. In the sculpture he is pictured surrounded by the _Sun_
+as his protecting spirit. The escutcheon of Uxmal shows that he called
+the place he governed the land of the Sun. In the bas-reliefs of the
+Queen’s chamber at Chichen his followers are seen to render homage to
+the _Sun_; others, the friends of MOÓ, to the _Serpent_. So, in Mayab as
+in Egypt, the _Sun_ and _Serpent_ were inimical. In Egypt again this
+enmity was a myth, in Mayab a reality.
+
+AROERIS was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Typho. His business seems to
+have been that of a peace-maker.
+
+CAY was also the brother of _Chaacmol_, _Moó_ and _Aac_. He was the high
+pontiff, and sided with Chaacmol and Moó in their troubles, as we learn
+from the mural paintings, from his head and flayed body serving as
+trophy to Aac as I have just said.
+
+In June last, among the ruins of _Uxmal_, I discovered a magnificent
+bust of this personage; and I believe I know the place where his remains
+are concealed.
+
+NEPHTHIS was the sister of Isis, Osiris, Typho, and Aroeris, and the
+wife of Typho; but being in love with Osiris she managed to be taken to
+his embraces, and she became pregnant. That intrigue having been
+discovered by Isis, she adopted the child that Nephthis, fearing the
+anger of her husband, had hidden, brought him up as her own under the
+name of Anubis. Nephthis was also called NIKÉ by some.
+
+NIC or NICTÉ was the sister of _Chaacmol_, _Moó_, _Aac_, and _Cay_, with
+whose name I find always her name associated in the sculptures on the
+monuments. Here the analogy between these personages would seem to
+differ, still further study of the inscriptions may yet prove the
+Egyptian version to contain some truth. _Nic_ or _Nicte_[TN-33] means
+flower; a cast of her face, with a flower sculptured on one cheek,
+exists among my collections.
+
+We are told that three children were born to Isis and Osiris: Horus,
+Macedo, and Harpocrates. Well, in the scene painted on the walls of
+Chaacmol’s funeral chamber, in which the body of this warrior is
+represented stretched on the ground, cut open under the ribs for the
+extraction of the heart and visceras, he is seen surrounded by his wife,
+his sister NIC, his mother _Zoɔ_, and four children.
+
+I will close these similes by mentioning that _Thoth_ was reputed the
+preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of
+reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs
+under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient
+divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the
+lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the
+dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of
+writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters,
+reads _Nukta_; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes,
+since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand,
+to perceive, _Nuctah_: while his name Thoth, maya[TN-34] _thot_ means to
+scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at
+the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of
+which I found a sacrificial altar, there were six cynocephali in a
+sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were
+placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a
+platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the
+cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the yard[TN-35] of the
+principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the
+kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient
+city was in its glory.
+
+In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon
+(Cynocephalus) warning Moó of impending danger. She is pictured in her
+home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen
+the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is
+symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before
+her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness
+of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral
+qualities, (the[TN-36] proving that the learned men of Mayab understood
+phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to
+seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her
+extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest
+read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the
+man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and
+threatening position. A serpent (_can_), her protecting spirit, is seen
+at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is
+another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded
+about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue
+protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing
+from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the
+myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the
+woman, the tempter.
+
+As to the charmed _leopard_ skin worn by the African warriors to render
+them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which
+Chaacmol met his death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known
+to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had
+imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being
+wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not
+laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still
+prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed
+during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of
+paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic
+words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be
+possessed of the power of making him invulnerable.
+
+I am acquainted with many people--and not ignorant--who believe that by
+wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the
+Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and
+other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir.
+
+That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did
+not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational
+conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing FACTS. If we had nothing
+but their _name_ to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its
+etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language.
+
+They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told
+that, in very remote ages, _Maya_, a prince of the Davanas, established
+himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book
+where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise
+magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura
+(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the
+Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist--gods and men.
+
+Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call
+themselves _Mayas_, and that the names of their tribes and cities are
+words belonging to the American Maya language.
+
+Who can give the etymology of the name _Magi_, the learned men amongst
+the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as _Maya_ in
+Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece,
+where we find again the name _Maia_, it is mentioned as that of a
+goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that
+she was the daughter of Atlantis--born of Atlantis. But if we come to
+the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a
+country called MAYAB, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a
+sieve (_Mayab_), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its
+inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called
+themselves _Mayas_. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their
+hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a
+_Lord_, a _Master_, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to
+indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants
+of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land,
+were people from MAYAB; particularly if we consider that the usual
+character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with
+the sign of land?
+
+We know that the _Mayas_ deified and paid divine honors to their eminent
+men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they
+undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they
+emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their
+inhabitants, who came to forget that MAYAB was a locality, converted it
+in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was
+considered as the _Mother of the Gods_, as we see in Hindostan and
+Greece.
+
+It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization
+from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores
+and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion.
+They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them
+at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and
+beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This
+appears to be the true side of the question; for in the figures
+sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly
+discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the
+celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American.
+
+The FACTS gathered from the monuments do not sustain the theory advanced
+by many, that the inhabitants of tropical America received their
+civilization from Egypt and Asia Minor. On the contrary. It is true that
+I have shown that many of the customs and attainments of the Egyptians
+were identical to those of the Mayas; but these had many religious rites
+and habits unknown to the Egyptians; who, as we know, always pointed
+towards the West as the birthplaces of their ancestors, and worshiped as
+gods and goddesses personages who had lived, and whose remains are still
+in MAYAB. Besides, the monuments themselves prove the respective
+antiquity of the two nations.
+
+According to the best authorities the most ancient monuments raised by
+the Egyptians do not date further back than about 2,500 years B. C.
+Well, in Aké, a city about twenty-five miles from Merida, there exists
+still a monument sustaining thirty-six columns of _katuns_. Each of
+these columns indicate a lapse of one hundred and sixty years in the
+life of the nation. They then would show that 5,760 years has intervened
+between the time when the first stone was placed on the east corner of
+the uppermost of the three immense superposed platforms that compose the
+structure, and the placing of the last capping stone on the top of the
+thirty-sixth column. How long did that event occur before the Spanish
+conquest it is impossible to surmise. Supposing, however, it did take
+place at that time; this would give us a lapse of at least 6,100 years
+since, among the rejoicings of the people this sacred monument being
+finished, the first stone that was to serve as record of the age of the
+nation, was laid by the high priest, where we see it to-day. I will
+remark that the name AKÉ is one of the Egyptians’ divinities, the third
+person of the triad of Esneh; always represented as a child, holding his
+finger to his mouth. AKÉ also means a _reed_. To-day the meaning of the
+word is lost in Yucatan.
+
+Cogolludo, in his history of Yucatan, speaking of the manner in which
+they computed time, says:
+
+“They counted their ages and eras, which they inscribed in their books
+every twenty years, in lustrums of four years. * * * When five of these
+lustrums were completed, they called the lapse of twenty years _katun_,
+which means to place a stone down upon another. * * * In certain sacred
+buildings and in the houses of the priests every twenty years they place
+a hewn stone upon those already there. When seven of these stones have
+thus been piled one over the other began the _Ahau katun_. Then after
+the first lustrum of four years they placed a small stone on the top of
+the big one, commencing at the east corner; then after four years more
+they placed another small stone on the west corner; then the next at the
+north; and the fourth at the south. At the end of the twenty years they
+put a big stone on the top of the small ones: and the column, thus
+finished, indicated a lapse of one hundred and sixty years.”
+
+There are other methods for determining the approximate age of the
+monuments of Mayab:
+
+1st. By means of their actual orientation; starting from the _fact_ that
+their builders always placed either the faces or angles of the edifices
+fronting the cardinal points.
+
+2d. By determining the epoch when the mastodon became extinct. For,
+since _Can_ or his ancestors adopted the head of that animal as symbol
+of deity, it is evident they must have known it; hence, must have been
+contemporary with it.
+
+3d. By determining when, through some great cataclysm, the lands became
+separated, and all communications between the inhabitants of _Mayab_ and
+their colonies were consequently interrupted. If we are to credit what
+Psenophis and Sonchis, priests of Heliopolis and Saïs, said to Solon
+“that nine thousand years before, the visit to them of the Athenian
+legislator, in consequence of great earthquakes and inundations, the
+lands of the West disappeared in one day and a fatal night,” then we may
+be able to form an idea of the antiquity of the ruined cities of America
+and their builders.
+
+Reader, I have brought before you, without comments, some of the FACTS,
+that after ten years of research, the paintings on the walls of
+_Chaacmol’s_ funeral chamber, the sculptured inscriptions carved on the
+stones of the crumbling monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the vernacular of the aborigines of that country, have revealed to us. I
+have no theory to offer. Many years of further patient investigations,
+the full interpretation of the monumental inscriptions, and, above all,
+the possession of the libraries of the learned men of _Mayab_, are the
+_sine qua non_ to form an uncontrovertible one, free from the
+speculations which invalidate all books published on the subject
+heretofore.
+
+If by reading these pages you have learned something new, your time has
+not been lost; nor mine in writing them.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Note
+
+
+The following typographical errors have been maintained:
+
+       Page Error
+  TN-1   7  precipituous should read precipitous
+  TN-2  17  maya should read Maya
+  TN-3  20  Egpptian should read Egyptian
+  TN-4  23  _Moo_ should read _Moó_
+  TN-5  23  Guetzalcoalt should read Quetzalcoatl
+  TN-6  26  ethonologists should read ethnologists
+  TN-7  26  what he said should read what he said.
+  TN-8  26  absorbant should read absorbent
+  TN-9  28  lazuri: should read lazuli:
+  TN-10 28  (Strange should read Strange
+  TN-11 28  Chichsen should read Chichen
+  TN-12 28  Moó should read Moó,
+  TN-13 32  Birmah should read Burmah
+  TN-14 32  Siameeses. should read Siameses.
+  TN-15 33  maya should read Maya
+  TN-16 34  valleys should read valleys,
+  TN-17 35  even to-day should read even to-day.
+  TN-18 38  inthe should read in the
+  TN-19 38  Bresseur should read Brasseur
+  TN-20 49  (maya) should read (Maya)
+  TN-21 51  epoch should read epochs
+  TN-22 52  Wishnu, should read Vishnu,
+  TN-23 58  his art, should read his art.
+  TN-24 59  _Mó_, should read _Moó_,
+  TN-25 62  Mayas should read Mayas'
+  TN-26 63  as symbol should read as a symbol
+  TN-27 66  e. g should read e. g.
+  TN-28 68  _Kukulean_ should read _Kukulcan_
+  TN-29 69  DuChaillu should read Du Chaillu
+  TN-30 72  death frequently occur; should read death frequently occurs;
+            or deaths frequently occur;
+  TN-31 72  is is should read it is
+  TN-32 73  beats should read beat
+  TN-33 80  _Nicte_ should read _Nicté_
+  TN-34 80  maya should read Maya
+  TN-35 81  yard should read yards
+  TN-36 81  qualities, (the should read qualities (thus
+
+The following words are inconsistently spelled and hyphenated:
+
+  Aac / Aak
+  Aké / Ake
+  birth-place / birthplace
+  façade / facade
+  Há / Ha
+  Hapimú / Hapimu
+  Hemâ / Hema
+  Kinich-Kakmó / Kinich-kakmo
+  Ná / Na
+  Rab-mag / Rabmag
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+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: Vestiges of the Mayas
+       or, Facts Tending to Prove that Communications and Intimate
+       Relations Must Have Existed, in very Remote Times, Between
+       the Inhabitants of Mayab and Those of Asia and Africa
+
+Author: Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2009 [EBook #30752]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+A number of typographical errors 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.
+Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been
+maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled, hyphenated, and
+capitalized words is found in a list at the end of the text.
+
+Oe ligatures have been expanded. The following codes are used for
+characters that are not available in the character set used for this
+book:
+
+  [sun]  Sun symbol
+  [=a]   a with macron
+  [c]    open o
+  [C]    open O
+
+
+
+
+  VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS,
+
+  OR,
+
+  _Facts tending to prove that Communications and Intimate Relations
+  must have existed, in very remote times, between the inhabitants of_
+
+  MAYAB
+
+  AND THOSE OF
+
+  ASIA AND AFRICA.
+
+  BY
+
+  AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D.,
+
+  Member of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., of the
+  California Academy of Sciences, and several other Scientific Societies.
+  Author of various Essays and Scientific Works.
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  JOHN POLHEMUS, PRINTER AND STATIONER,
+  102 NASSAU STREET.
+
+  1881.
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+_MR. PIERRE LORILLARD._
+
+Who deserves the thanks of the students of American Arch�ology more than
+you, for the interest manifested in the explorations of the ruined
+monuments of Central America, handiwork of the races that inhabited this
+continent in remote ages, and the material help given by you to Foreign
+and American explorers in that field of investigations?
+
+Accept, then, my personal thanks, with the dedication of this small
+Essay. It forms part of the result of many years' study and hardships
+among the ruined cities of the Incas, in Peru, and of the Mayas in
+Yucatan.
+
+    Yours very respectfully,
+
+      AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D.
+
+NEW YORK, _December 15, 1881_.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered according to an Act of Congress, in December, 1881,
+
+  BY AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON,
+
+  In the Office of the LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS in Washington, D.C.
+
+
+
+
+VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS.
+
+
+Yucatan is the peninsula which divides the Gulf of Mexico from the
+Caribbean Sea. It is comprised between the 17� 30� and 21� 50�, of
+latitude north, and the 88� and 91� of longitude west from the Greenwich
+meridian.
+
+The whole peninsula is of fossiferous limestone formation. Elevated a
+few feet only above the sea, on the coasts, it gradually raises toward
+the interior, to a maximum height of above 70 feet. A bird's-eye view,
+from a lofty building, impresses the beholder with the idea that he is
+looking on an immense sea of verdure, having the horizon for boundary;
+without a hill, not even a hillock, to break the monotony of the
+landscape. Here and there clusters of palm trees, or artificial mounds,
+covered with shrubs, loom above the green dead-level as islets, over
+that expanse of green foliage, affording a momentary relief to the eyes
+growing tired of so much sameness.
+
+About fifty miles from the northwestern coast begins a low, narrow range
+of hills, whose highest point is not much above 500 feet. It traverses
+the peninsula in a direction a little south from east, commencing a few
+miles north from the ruined city of Uxmal, and terminating some distance
+from the eastern coast, opposite to the magnificent bay of Ascension.
+
+Lately I have noticed that some veins of red oxide of iron exist among
+these hills--quarries of marble must also be found there; since the
+sculptured ornaments that adorn the facade of all the monuments at Uxmal
+are of that stone. To-day the inhabitants of Yucatan are even ignorant
+of the existence of these minerals in their country, and ocher to paint,
+and marble slabs to floor their houses, are imported from abroad. I
+have also discovered veins of good lithographic stones that could be
+worked at comparatively little expense.
+
+The surface of the country is undulating; its stony waves recall
+forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems as if, in
+times long gone by, the soil was upheaved, _en masse_, from the bottom
+of the sea, by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many
+centuries ago, since isolated columns of _Katuns_ 1m. 50c. square,
+erected at least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular
+position, as at the time when another stone was added to those already
+piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life of the nation.
+
+It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding
+countries--Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India Islands--are
+frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of Yucatan is
+entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of mother earth. This
+immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to the innumerable and
+extensive caves with which the whole country is entirely honeycombed;
+and the large number of immense natural wells, called Senotes, that are
+to be found everywhere. These caves and senotes afford an outlet for the
+escape of the gases generated in the superficial strata of the earth.
+These, finding no resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these
+vents without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions
+that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and dismay.
+
+Some of those caves are said to be very extensive--None, however, has
+been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few, certainly extremely
+beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant stalactites depending from
+their roofs, that seem as if supported by the stalagmites that must have
+required ages to be formed gradually from the floor into the massive
+columns, as we see them to-day.
+
+In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible springs of clear,
+pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and fishes. No one can
+tell whence they come or where they go. All currents of water are
+subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on the surface; not even the
+smallest of streamlets, where the birds of the air, or the wild beasts
+of the forests, can allay their thirst during the dry season. The
+plants, if there are no chinks or crevices in the stony soil through
+which their roots can penetrate and seek the life-sustaining fluid
+below, wither and die. It is a curious sight that presented by the roots
+of the trees, growing on the precipituous[TN-1] brinks of the _senotes_,
+in their search for water. They go down and down, even a hundred feet,
+until they reach the liquid surface, from where they suck up the fluid
+to aliment the body of the tree. They seem like many cables and ropes
+stretched all round the sides of the well; and, in fact, serves as such
+to some of the most daring of the natives, to ascend or descend to enjoy
+a refreshing bath.
+
+These _senotes_ are immense circular holes, the diameter of which varies
+from 50 to 500 feet, with perpendicular walls from 50 to 150 feet deep.
+These holes might be supposed to have served as ducts for the
+subterranean gases at the time of the upheaval of the country. Now they
+generally contain water. In some, the current is easily noticeable; many
+are completely dry; whilst others contain thermal mineral water,
+emitting at times strong sulphurous odor and vapor.
+
+Many strange stories are told by the aborigines concerning the
+properties possessed by the water in certain senotes, and the strange
+phenomena that takes place in others. In one, for example, you are
+warned to approach the water walking backward, and to breathe very
+softly, otherwise it becomes turbid and unfit for drinking until it has
+settled and become clear again. In another you are told not to speak
+above a whisper, for if any one raises the voice the tranquil surface of
+the water immediately becomes agitated, and soon assumes the appearance
+of boiling; even its level raises. These and many other things are told
+in connection with the caves and senotes; and we find them mentioned in
+the writings of the chroniclers and historians from the time of the
+Spanish conquest.
+
+No lakes exist on the surface, at least within the territories occupied
+by the white men. Some small sheets of water, called aguadas, may be
+found here and there, and are fed by the underground current; but they
+are very rare. There are three or four near the ruins of the ancient
+city of Mayapan: probably its inhabitants found in them an abundant
+supply of water. Following all the same direction, they are, as some
+suppose, no doubt with reason, the outbreaks of a subterranean stream
+that comes also to the surface in the senote of _Mucuych�_. A mile or so
+from Uxmal is another aguada; but judging from the great number of
+artificial reservoirs, built on the terraces and in the courts of all
+the monuments, it would seem as if the people there depended more on the
+clouds for their provision of water than on the wells and senotes. Yet I
+feel confident that one of these must exist under the building known as
+the Governor's house; having discovered in its immediate vicinity the
+entrance--now closed--of a cave from which a cool current of air is
+continually issuing; at times with great force.
+
+I have been assured by Indians from the village of Chemax, who pretend
+to know that part of the country well, that, at a distance of about
+fifty miles from the city of Valladolid, the actual largest settlement
+on the eastern frontier, in the territories occupied by the SANTA CRUZ
+Indians, there exists, near the ruins of _Kaba_, two extensive sheets of
+water, from where, in years gone by, the inhabitants of Valladolid
+procured abundant supply of excellent fishes. These ruins of Kaba, said
+to be very interesting, have never been visited by any foreigner; nor
+are they likely to be for many years to come, on account of the imminent
+danger of falling into the hands of those of Santa Cruz--that, since
+1847, wage war to the knife against the Yucatecans.
+
+On the coast, the sea penetrating in the lowlands have formed sloughs
+and lakes, on the shores of which thickets of mangroves grow, with
+tropical luxuriancy. Intermingling their crooked roots, they form such a
+barrier as to make landing well nigh impossible. These small lakes,
+subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, are the resort of innumerable
+sea birds and water fowls of all sizes and descriptions; from the snipe
+to the crane, and brightly colored flamingos, from the screeching sea
+gulls to the serious looking pelican. They are attracted to these lakes
+by the solitude of the forests of mangroves that afford them excellent
+shelter, where to build their nests, and find protection from the storms
+that, at certain season of the year, sweep with untold violence along
+the coast: and because with ease they can procure an abundant supply of
+food, these waters being inhabited by myriads of fishes, as they come to
+bask on the surface which is seldom ruffled even when the tempest rages
+outside.
+
+Notwithstanding the want of superficial water, the air is always charged
+with moisture; the consequence being a most equable temperature all the
+year round, and an extreme luxuriance of all vegetation. The climate is
+mild and comparatively healthy for a country situated within the
+tropics, and bathed by the waters of the Mexican Gulf. This mildness and
+healthiness may be attributed to the sea breezes that constantly pass
+over the peninsula, carrying the malaria and noxious gases that have not
+been absorbed by the forests, which cover the main portion of the land;
+and to the great abundance of oxygen exuded by the plants in return.
+This excessive moisture and the decomposition of dead vegetable matter
+is the cause of the intermittent fevers that prevail in all parts of the
+peninsula, where the yellow fever, under a mild form generally, is also
+endemic. When it appears, as this year, in an epidemic form, the natives
+themselves enjoy no immunity from its ravages, and fall victims to it as
+well as unacclimated foreigners.
+
+These epidemics, those of smallpox and other diseases that at times make
+their appearance in Yucatan, generally present themselves after the
+rainy season, particularly if the rains have been excessive. The country
+being extremely flat, the drainage is necessarily very bad: and in
+places like Merida, for example, where a crowding of population exists,
+and the cleanliness of the streets is utterly disregarded by the proper
+authorities, the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter is very
+large; and the miasmas generated, being carried with the vapors arising
+from the constant evaporation of stagnant waters, are the origin of
+those scourges that decimate the inhabitants. Yucatan, isolated as it
+is, its small territory nearly surrounded by water, ought to be, if the
+laws of health were properly enforced, one of the most healthy countries
+on the earth; where, as in the Island of Cozumel, people should only die
+of old age or accident. The thermometer varies but little, averaging
+about 80� _Far_. True, it rises in the months of July and August as high
+as 96� in the shade, but it seldom falls below 65� in the month of
+December. In the dry season, from January to June, the trees become
+divested of their leaves, that fall more particularly in March and
+April. Then the sun, returning from the south on its way to the north,
+passes over the land and darts its scorching perpendicular rays on it,
+causing every living creature to thirst for a drop of cool water; the
+heat being increased by the burning of those parts of the forests that
+have been cut down to prepare fields for cultivation.
+
+In the portion of the peninsula, about one-third of it, that still
+remains in possession of the white, the Santa Cruz Indians holding,
+since 1847, the richest and most fertile, two-thirds, the soil is
+entirely stony. The arable loam, a few inches in thickness, is the
+result of the detriti of the stones, mixed with the remainder of the
+decomposition of vegetable matter. In certain districts, towards the
+eastern and southern parts of the State, patches of red clay form
+excellent ground for the cultivation of the sugar cane and Yuca root.
+From this an excellent starch is obtained in large quantities. Withal,
+the soil is of astonishing fertility, and trees, even, are met with of
+large size, whose roots run on the surface of the bare stone,
+penetrating the chinks and crevices only in search of moisture. Often
+times I have seen them growing from the center of slabs, the seed having
+fallen in a hole that happened to be bored in them. In the month of May
+the whole country seems parched and dry. Not a leaf, not a bud. The
+branches and boughs are naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray
+dust. Nothing to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare trunks
+and branches, with the withes entwining them. With the first days of
+June come the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand had been
+waved over the land, the view changes--life springs everywhere. In the
+short space of a few days the forests have resumed their holiday attire;
+buds appear and the leaves shoot; the flowers bloom sending forth their
+fragrance, that wafted by the breeze perfume the air far and near. The
+birds sing their best songs of joy; the insects chirp their shrillest
+notes; butterflies of gorgeous colors flutter in clouds in every
+direction in search of the nectar contained in the cups of the
+newly-opened blossom, and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds.
+All creation rejoices because a few tears of mother Nature have brought
+joy and happiness to all living beings, from the smallest blade of grass
+to the majestic palm; from the creeping worm to man, who proudly titles
+himself the lord of creation.
+
+Yucatan has no rich metallic mines, but its wealth of vegetable
+productions is immense. Large forests of mahogany, cedar, zapotillo
+trees cover vast extents of land in the eastern and southern portions of
+the peninsula; whilst patches of logwood and mora, many miles in length,
+grow near the coast. The wood is to-day cut down and exported by the
+Indians of Santa Cruz through their agents at Belize. Coffee, vanilla,
+tobacco, india-rubber, rosins of various kinds, copal in particular,
+all of good quality, abound in the country, but are not cultivated on
+account of its unsettled state; the Indians retaining possession of the
+most fertile territories where these rich products are found.
+
+The whites have been reduced to the culture of the Hennequen plant
+(agave sisalensis) in order to subsist. It is the only article of
+commerce that grows well on the stony soil to which they are now
+confined. The filament obtained from the plant, and the objects
+manufactured from it constitute the principal article of export; in fact
+the only source of wealth of the Yucatecans. As the filament is now much
+in demand for the fabrication of cordage in the United States and
+Europe, many of the landowners have ceased to plant maize, although the
+staple article of food in all classes, to convert their land into
+hennequen fields. The plant thrives well on stony soil, requires no
+water and but little care. The natural consequence of planting the whole
+country with hennequen has been so great a deficiency in the maize crop,
+that this year not enough was grown for the consumption, and people in
+the northeastern district were beginning to suffer from the want of it,
+when some merchants of Merida imported large quantities from New York.
+They, of course, sold it at advanced prices, much to the detriment of
+the poorer classes. Some sugar is also cultivated in the southern and
+eastern districts, but not in sufficient quantities even for the
+consumption; and not a little is imported from Habana.
+
+The population of the country, about 250,000 souls all told, are mostly
+Indians and mixed blood. In fact, very few families can be found of pure
+Caucasian race. Notwithstanding the great admixture of different races,
+a careful observer can readily distinguish yet four prominent ones, very
+noticeable by their features, their stature, the conformation of their
+body. The dwarfish race is certainly easily distinguishable from the
+descendants of the giants that tradition says once upon a time existed
+in the country, whose bones are yet found, and whose portraits are
+painted on the walls of Chaacmol's funeral chamber at Chichen-Itza. The
+almond-eyed, flat-nosed Siamese race of Copan is not to be mistaken for
+the long, big-nosed, flat-headed remnant of the Nahualt from Palenque,
+who are said to have invaded the country some time at the beginning of
+the Christian era; and whose advent among the Mayas, whose civilization
+they appear to have destroyed, has been commemorated by calling the
+_west_, the region whence they came, according to Landa, Cogolludo and
+other historians, NOHNIAL, a word which means literally _big noses for
+our daughters_; whilst the coming of the bearded men from the _east_,
+better looking than those of the west, if we are to give credit to the
+bas-relief where their portraits are to be seen, was called
+CENIAL--_ornaments for our daughters_.
+
+If we are to judge by the great number of ruined cities scattered
+everywhere through the forests of the peninsula; by the architectural
+beauty of the monuments still extant, the specimens of their artistic
+attainments in drawing and sculpture which have reached us in the
+bas-reliefs, statues and mural paintings of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza; by
+their knowledge in mathematical and astronomical sciences, as manifested
+in the construction of the gnomon found by me in the ruins of Mayapan;
+by the complexity of the grammatical form and syntaxis of their
+language, still spoken to-day by the majority of the inhabitants of
+Yucatan; by their mode of expressing their thoughts on paper, made from
+the bark of certain trees, with alphabetical and phonetical characters,
+we must of necessity believe that, at some time or other, the country
+was not only densely populated, but that the inhabitants had reached a
+high degree of civilization. To-day we can conceive of very few of their
+attainments by the scanty remains of their handiwork, as they have come
+to us injured by the hand of time, and, more so yet, by that of man,
+during the wars, the invasions, the social and religious convulsions
+which have taken place among these people, as among all other nations.
+Only the opening of the buildings which contain the libraries of their
+learned men, and the reading of their works, could solve the mystery,
+and cause us to know how much they had advanced in the discovery and
+explanation of Nature's arcana; how much they knew of mankind's past
+history, and of the nations with which they held intercourse. Let us
+hope that the day may yet come when the Mexican government will grant to
+me the requisite permission, in order that I may bring forth, from the
+edifices where they are hidden, the precious volumes, without opposition
+from the owners of the property where the monuments exist. Until then we
+must content ourselves with the study of the inscriptions carved on the
+walls, and becoming acquainted with the history of their builders, and
+continue to conjecture what knowledge they possessed in order to be able
+to rear such enduring structures, besides the art of designing the plans
+and ornaments, and the manner of carving them on stone.
+
+Let us place ourselves in the position of the arch�ologists of thousands
+of years to come, examining the ruins of our great cities, finding still
+on foot some of the stronger built palaces and public buildings, with
+some rare specimens of the arts, sciences, industry of our days, the
+minor edifices having disappeared, gnawed by the steely tooth of time,
+together with the many products of our industry, the machines of all
+kinds, creation of man's ingenuity, and his powerful helpmates. What
+would they know of the attainments and the progress in mechanics of our
+days? Would they be able to form a complete idea of our civilization,
+and of the knowledge of our scientific men, without the help of the
+volumes contained in our public libraries, and maybe of some one able to
+interpret them? Well, it seems to me that we stand in exactly the same
+position concerning the civilization of those who have preceded us five
+or ten thousand years ago on this continent, as these future
+arch�ologists may stand regarding our civilization five or ten thousand
+years hence.
+
+It is a fact, recorded by all historians of the Conquest, that when for
+the first time in 1517 the Spaniards came in sight of the lands called
+by them Yucatan, they were surprised to see on the coast many monuments
+well built of stone; and to find the country strewn with large cities
+and beautiful monuments that recalled to their memory the best of Spain.
+They were no less astonished to meet in the inhabitants, not naked
+savages, but a civilized people, possessed of polite and pleasant
+manners, dressed in white cotton habiliments, navigating large boats
+propelled by sails, traveling on well constructed roads and causeways
+that, in point of beauty and solidity, could compare advantageously with
+similar Roman structures in Spain, Italy, England or France.
+
+I will not describe here the majestic monuments raised by the Mayas.
+Mrs. Le Plongeon, in her letters to the _New York World_, has given of
+those of UXMAL, AKE and MAYAPAN, the only correct description ever
+published. My object at present is to relate some of the curious facts
+revealed to us by their weather-beaten and crumbling walls, and show how
+erroneous is the opinion of some European scientists, who think it not
+worth while to give a moment of their precious time to the study of
+American arch�ology, because say they: _No relations have ever been
+found to have existed between the monuments and civilizations of the
+inhabitants of this continent and those of the old world_. On what
+ground they hazard such an opinion it is difficult to surmise, since to
+my knowledge the ancient ruined cities of Yucatan, until lately, have
+never been thoroughly, much less scientifically, explored. The same is
+true of the other monumental ruins of the whole of Central America.
+
+When Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself landed at Progresso, in 1873, we
+thought that because we had read the works of Stephens, Waldeck,
+Norman, Fredeichstal; carefully examined the few photographic views made
+by Mr. Charnay of some of the monuments, we knew all about them. Alas!
+vain presumption! When in presence of the antique shrines and palaces of
+the Mayas, we soon saw how mistaken we had been; how little those
+writers had seen of the monuments they had pretended to describe: that
+the work of studying them systematically was not even begun; and that
+many years of close observation and patient labor would be necessary in
+order to dispel the mysteries which hang over them, and to discover the
+hidden meaning of their ornaments and inscriptions. To this difficult
+task we resolved to dedicate our time, and to concentrate our efforts to
+find a solution, if possible, to the enigma.
+
+We began our work by taking photographs of all the monuments in their
+_tout ensemble_, and in all their details, as much as practicable. Next,
+we surveyed them carefully; made accurate plans of them in order to be
+able to comprehend by the disposition of their different parts, for what
+possible use they were erected; taking, as a starting point, that the
+human mind and human inclinations and wants are the same in all times,
+in all countries, in all races when civilized and cultured. We next
+carefully examined what connection the ornaments bore to each other, and
+tried to understand the meaning of the designs. At first the maze of
+these designs seemed a very difficult riddle to solve. Yet, we believed
+that if a human intelligence had devised it, another human intelligence
+would certainly be able to unravel it. It was not, however, until we had
+nearly completed the tracing and study of the mural paintings, still
+extant in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, or room built on the top of
+the eastern wall of the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza, at its southern end,
+that Stephens mistook for a shrine dedicated to the god of the players
+at ball, that a glimmer of light began to dawn upon us. In tracing the
+figure of Chaacmol in battle, I remarked that the shield worn by him
+had painted on it round green spots, and was exactly like the ornaments
+placed between tiger and tiger on the entablature of the same monument.
+I naturally concluded that the monument had been raised to the memory of
+the warrior bearing the shield; that the tigers represented his totem,
+and that _Chaacmol_ or _Balam_ maya[TN-2] words for spotted tiger or
+leopard, was his name. I then remembered that at about one hundred yards
+in the thicket from the edifice, in an easterly direction, a few days
+before, I had noticed the ruins of a remarkable mound of rather small
+dimensions. It was ornamented with slabs engraved with the images of
+spotted tigers, eating human hearts, forming magnificent bas-reliefs,
+conserving yet traces of the colors in which it was formerly painted. I
+repaired to the place. Doubts were no longer possible. The same round
+dots, forming the spots of their skins, were present here as on the
+shield of the warrior in battle, and that on the entablature of the
+building. On examining carefully the ground around the mound, I soon
+stumbled upon what seemed to be a half buried statue. On clearing the
+_d�bris_ we found a statue in the round, representing a wounded tiger
+reclining on his right side. Three holes in the back indicated the
+places where he received his wounds. It was headless. A few feet
+further, I found a human head with the eyes half closed, as those of a
+dying person. When placed on the neck of the tiger it fitted exactly. I
+propped it with sticks to keep it in place. So arranged, it recalled
+vividly the Chaldean and Egyptian deities having heads of human beings
+and bodies of animals. The next object that called my attention was
+another slab on which was represented in bas-relief a dying warrior,
+reclining on his back, the head was thrown entirely backwards. His left
+arm was placed across his chest, the left hand resting on the right
+shoulder, exactly in the same position which the Egyptians were wont, at
+times, to give to the mummies of some of their eminent men. From his
+mouth was seen escaping two thin, narrow flames--the spirit of the
+dying man abandoning the body with the last warm breath.
+
+These and many other sculptures caused me to suspect that this monument
+had been the mausoleum raised to the memory of the warrior with the
+shield covered with the round dots. Next to the slabs engraved with the
+image of tigers was another, representing an _ara militaris_ (a bird of
+the parrot specie, very large and of brilliant plumage of various
+colors). I took it for the totem of his wife, MO�, _macaw_; and so it
+proved to be when later I was able to interpret their ideographic
+writings. _Kinich-Kakm�_ after her death obtained the honors of the
+apotheosis; had temples raised to her memory, and was worshipped at
+Izamal up to the time of the Spanish conquest, according to Landa,
+Cogolludo and Lizana.
+
+Satisfied that I had found the tomb of a great warrior among the Mayas,
+I resolved to make an excavation, notwithstanding I had no tools or
+implements proper for such work. After two months of hard toil, after
+penetrating through three level floors painted with yellow ochre, at
+last a large stone urn came in sight. It was opened in presence of
+Colonel D. Daniel Traconis. It contained a small heap of grayish dust
+over which lay the cover of a terra cotta pot, also painted yellow; a
+few small ornaments of macre that crumbled to dust on being touched, and
+a large ball of jade, with a hole pierced in the middle. This ball had
+at one time been highly polished, but for some cause or other the polish
+had disappeared from one side. Near, and lower than the urn, was
+discovered the head of the colossal statue, to-day the best, or one of
+the best pieces, in the National Museum of Mexico, having been carried
+thither on board of the gunboat _Libertad_, without my consent, and
+without any renumeration having even been offered by the Mexican
+government for my labor, my time and the money spent in the discovery.
+Close to the chest of the statue was another stone urn much larger than
+the first. On being uncovered it was found to contain a large quantity
+of reddish substance and some jade ornaments. On closely examining this
+substance I pronounced it organic matter that had been subjected to a
+very great heat in an open vessel. (A chemical analysis of some of it by
+Professor Thompson, of Worcester, Mass., at the request of Mr. Stephen
+Salisbury, Jr., confirmed my opinion). From the position of the urn I
+made up my mind that its contents were the heart and viscera of the
+personage represented by the statue; while the dust found in the first
+urn must have been the residue of his brains.
+
+Landa tells us that it was the custom, even at the time of the Spanish
+conquest, when a person of eminence died to make images of stone, or
+terra cotta or wood in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes were
+placed in a hollow made on the back of the head for the purpose. Feeling
+sorry for having thus disturbed the remains of _Chaacmol_, so carefully
+concealed by his friends and relatives many centuries ago; in order to
+save them from further desecration, I burned the greater part reserving
+only a small quantity for future analysis. This finding of the heart and
+brains of that chieftain, afforded an explanation, if any was needed, of
+one of the scenes more artistically portrayed in the mural paintings of
+his funeral chamber. In this scene which is painted immediately over the
+entrance of the chamber, where is also a life-size representation of his
+corpse prepared for cremation, the dead warrior is pictured stretched on
+the ground, his back resting on a large stone placed for the purpose of
+raising the body and keeping open the cut made across it, under the
+ribs, for the extraction of the heart and other parts it was customary
+to preserve. These are seen in the hands of his children. At the feet of
+the statue were found a number of beautiful arrowheads of flint and
+chalcedony; also beads that formed part of his necklace. These, to-day
+petrified, seemed to have been originally of bone or ivory. They were
+wrought to figure shells of periwinkles. Surrounding the slab on which
+the figure rests was a large quantity of dried blood. This fact might
+lead us to suppose that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral, as
+Herodotus tells us it was customary with the Scythians, and we know it
+was with the Romans and other nations of the old world, and the Incas in
+Peru. Yet not a bone or any other human remains were found in the
+mausoleum.
+
+The statue forms a single piece with the slab on which it reclines, as
+if about to rise on his elbows, the legs being drawn up so that the feet
+rest flat on the slab. I consider this attitude given to the statues of
+dead personages that I have discovered in Chichen, where they are still,
+to be symbolical of their belief in reincarnation. They, in common with
+the Egyptians, the Hindoos, and other nations of antiquity, held that
+the spirit of man after being made to suffer for its shortcomings during
+its mundane life, would enjoy happiness for a time proportionate to its
+good deeds, then return to earth, animate the body and live again a
+material existence. The Mayas, however, destroying the body by fire,
+made statues in the semblance of the deceased, so that, being
+indestructible the spirit might find and animate them on its return to
+earth. The present aborigines have the same belief. Even to-day, they
+never fail to prepare the _hanal pixan_, the food for the spirits, which
+they place in secluded spots in the forests or fields, every year, in
+the month of November. These statues also hold an urn between their
+hands. This fact again recalls to the mind the Egpptian[TN-3] custom of
+placing an urn in the coffins with the mummies, to indicate that the
+spirit of the deceased had been judged and found righteous.
+
+The ornament hanging on the breast of Chaacmol's effigy, from a ribbon
+tied with a peculiar knot behind his neck, is simply a badge of his
+rank; the same is seen on the breast of many other personages in the
+bas-reliefs and mural paintings. A similar mark of authority is yet in
+usage in Burmah.
+
+I have tarried so long on the description of my first important
+discovery because I desired to explain the method followed by me in the
+investigation of these monuments, to show that the result of our labors
+are by no means the work of imagination--as some have been so kind a
+_short_ time ago as to intimate--but of careful and patient analysis and
+comparison; also, in order, from the start, to call your attention to
+the similarity of certain customs in the funeral rites that the Mayas
+seem to have possessed in common with other nations of the old world:
+and lastly, because my friend, Dr. Jesus Sanchez, Professor of
+Arch�ology in the National Museum of Mexico, ignoring altogether the
+circumstances accompanying the discovery of the statue, has published in
+the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, a long dissertation--full of erudition,
+certainly--to prove that the statue discovered by me at Chichen-Itza,
+was a representation of the _God of the natural production of the
+earth_, and that the name given by me was altogether arbitrary; and,
+also, because an article has appeared in the _North American Review_ for
+October, 1880, signed by Mr. Charnay, in which the author, after
+re-producing Mr. Sanchez's writing, pronounces _ex cathedra_ and _de
+perse_, but without assigning any reason for his opinion, that the
+statue is the effigy of the _god of wine_--the Mexican Bacchus--without
+telling us which of them, for there were two.
+
+Having been obliged to abandon the statue in the forests--well wrapped
+in oilcloth, and sheltered under a hut of palm leaves, constructed by
+Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself--my men having been disarmed by order of
+General Palomino, then commander-in-chief of the federal forces in
+Yucatan, in consequence of a revolutionary movement against Dr.
+Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and in favor of General Diaz--I went to Uxmal
+to continue my researches among its ruined temples and palaces. There I
+took many photographs, surveyed the monuments, and, for the first time,
+found the remnants of the phallic worship of the Nahualts. Its symbols
+are not to be seen in Chichen--the city of the holy and learned men,
+Itzaes--but are frequently met with in the northern parts of the
+peninsula, and all the regions where the Nahualt influence predominated.
+
+There can be no doubt that in very ancient times the same customs and
+religious worship existed in Uxmal and Chichen, since these two cities
+were founded by the same family, that of CAN (serpent), whose name is
+written on all the monuments in both places. CAN and the members of his
+family worshipped Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's head. At
+Chichen a tableau of said worship forms the ornament of the building,
+designated in the work of Stephens, "Travels in Yucatan," as IGLESIA;
+being, in fact, the north wing of the palace and museum. This is the
+reason why the mastodon's head forms so prominent a feature in all the
+ornaments of the edifices built by them. They also worshipped the sun
+and fire, which they represented by the same hieroglyph used by the
+Egyptians for the sun [sun]. In this worship of the fire they resembled
+the Chaldeans and Hindoos, but differed from the Egyptians, who had no
+veneration for this element. They regarded it merely as an animal that
+devoured all things within its reach, and died with all it had
+swallowed, when replete and satisfied.
+
+From certain inscriptions and pictures--in which the _Cans_ are
+represented crawling on all fours like dogs--sculptured on the fa�ade of
+their house of worship, it would appear that their religion of the
+mastodon was replaced by that of the reciprocal forces of nature,
+imported in the country by the big-nosed invaders, the Nahualts coming
+from the west. These destroyed Chichen, and established their capital at
+_Uxmal_. There they erected in all the courts of the palaces, and on the
+platforms of the temples the symbols of their religion, taking care,
+however, not to interfere with the worship of the sun and fire, that
+seems to have been the most popular.
+
+Bancroft in his work, "_The Native Races of the Pacific States_," Vol.
+IV., page 277, remarks: "That the scarcity of idols among the Maya
+antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. That the people of
+Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection
+with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, and rivalling
+or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for,
+but in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were
+very small, and that such as escaped the fatal iconoclasms of the
+Spanish ecclesiastics were buried by the natives as the only means of
+preventing their desecration."
+
+That the people who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish
+conquest had a multiplicity of gods there can be no doubt. The primitive
+form of worship, with time and by the effect of invasions from outside,
+had disappeared, and been replaced by that of their great men and women,
+who were deified and had temples raised to their memory, as we see, for
+example, in the case of _Moo_,[TN-4] wife and sister of Chaacmol, whose
+shrine was built on the high mound on the north side of the large square
+in the city of Izamal. There pilgrims flocked from all parts of the
+country to listen to the oracles delivered by the mouth of her priests;
+and see the goddess come down from the clouds every day, at mid-day,
+under the form of a resplendent macaw, and light the fire that was to
+consume the offerings deposited on her altar; even at the time of the
+conquest, according to the chroniclers, Chaacmol himself seems to have
+become the god of war, that always appeared in the midst of the battle,
+fighting on the side of his followers, surrounded with flames. Kukulcan,
+"the culture" hero of the Mayas, the winged serpent, worshipped by the
+Mexicans as the god Guetzalcoalt,[TN-5] and by the Quich�s as Cucumatz,
+if not the father himself of Chaacmol, CAN, at least one of his
+ancestors.
+
+The friends and followers of that prince may have worshipped him after
+his death, and the following generations, seeing the representation of
+his totems (serpent) covered with feathers, on the walls of his palaces,
+and of the sanctuaries built by him to the deity, called him Kukulcan,
+the winged serpent: when, in fact, the artists who carved his emblems on
+the walls covered them with the cloaks he and all the men in authority
+and the high priests wore on ceremonial occasions--feathered
+vestments--as we learned from the study of mural paintings.
+
+In the temples and palaces of the ancient Mayas I have never seen
+anything that I could in truth take for idols. I have seen many symbols,
+such as double-headed tigers, corresponding to the double-headed lions
+of the Egyptians, emblems of the sun. I have seen the representation of
+people kneeling in a peculiar manner, with their right hand resting on
+the left shoulder--sign of respect among the Mayas as among the
+inhabitants of Egypt--in the act of worshiping the mastodon head; but I
+doubt if this can be said to be idol worship. _Can_ and his family were
+probably monotheists. The masses of the people, however, may have placed
+the different natural phenomena under the direct supervision of special
+imaginary beings, prescribing to them the same duties that among the
+Catholics are prescribed, or rather attributed, to some of the saints;
+and may have tributed to them the sort of worship of _dulia_, tributed
+to the saints--even made images that they imagined to represent such or
+such deity, as they do to-day; but I have never found any. They
+worshiped the divine essence, and called it K�.
+
+In course of time this worship may have been replaced by idolatrous
+rites, introduced by the barbarous or half civilized tribes which
+invaded the country, and implanted among the inhabitants their religious
+belief, their idolatrous superstitions and form of worship with their
+symbols. The monuments of Uxmal afford ample evidence of that fact.
+
+My studies, however, have nothing to do with the history of the country
+posterior to the invasion of the Nahualts. These people appear to have
+destroyed the high form of civilization existing at the time of their
+advent; and tampered with the ornaments of the buildings in order to
+introduce the symbols of the reciprocal forces of nature.
+
+The language of the ancient Mayas, strange as it may appear, has
+survived all the vicissitudes of time, wars, and political and religious
+convulsions. It has, of course, somewhat degenerated by the mingling of
+so many races in such a limited space as the peninsula of Yucatan is;
+but it is yet the vernacular of the people. The Spaniards themselves,
+who strived so hard to wipe out all vestiges of the ancient customs of
+the aborigines, were unable to destroy it; nay, they were obliged to
+learn it; and now many of their descendants have forgotten the mother
+tongue of their sires, and speak Maya only.
+
+In some localities in Central America it is still spoken in its pristine
+purity, as, for example, by the _Chaacmules_, a tribe of bearded men, it
+is said, who live in the vicinity of the unexplored ruins of the ancient
+city of _Tekal_. It is a well-known fact that many tribes, as that of
+the Itzaes, retreating before the Nahualt invaders, after the surrender
+and destruction of their cities, sought refuge in the islands of the
+lake _Peten_ of to-day, and called it _Petenitza_, the _islands of the
+Itzaes_; or in the well nigh inaccessible valleys, defended by ranges of
+towering mountains. There they live to-day, preserving the customs,
+manners, language of their forefathers unaltered, in the tract of land
+known to us as _Tierra de Guerra_. No white man has ever penetrated
+their zealously guarded stronghold that lays between Guatemala, Tabasco,
+Chiapas and Yucatan, the river _Uzumasinta_ watering part of their
+territory.
+
+The Maya language seems to be one of the oldest tongues spoken by man,
+since it contains words and expressions of all, or nearly all, the known
+polished languages on earth. The name _Maya_, with the same
+signification everywhere it is met, is to be found scattered over the
+different countries of what we term the Old World, as in Central
+America.
+
+I beg to call your attention to the following facts. They may have no
+significance. They may be mere coincidences, the strange freaks of
+hazard, of no possible value in the opinion of some among the learned
+men of our days. Just as the finding of English words and English
+customs, as now exist among the most remote nations and heterogeneous
+people and tribes of all races and colors, who do not even suspect the
+existence of one another, may be regarded by the learned philologists
+and ethonologists[TN-6] of two or three thousand years hence. These
+will, perhaps, also pretend that _these coincidences_ are simply the
+curious workings of the human mind--the efforts of men endeavoring to
+express their thoughts in language, that being reduced to a certain
+number of sounds, must, of necessity produce, if not the same, at least
+very similar words to express the same idea--and that this similarity
+does not prove that those who invented them had, at any time,
+communication, unless, maybe, at the time of the building of the
+hypothetical Tower of Babel. Then all the inhabitants of earth are said
+to have bid each other a friendly good night, a certain evening, in a
+universal tongue, to find next morning that everybody had gone stark mad
+during the night: since each one, on meeting sixty-nine of his friends,
+was greeted by every one in a different and unknown manner, according to
+learned rabbins; and that he could no more understand what they said,
+than they what he said[TN-7]
+
+It is very difficult without the help of the books of the learned
+priests of _Mayab_ to know positively why they gave that name to the
+country known to-day as Yucatan. I can only surmise that they so called
+it from the great absorbant[TN-8] quality of its stony soil, which, in
+an incredibly short time, absorbs the water at the surface. This
+percolating through the pores of the stone is afterward found filtered
+clear and cool in the senotes and caves. _Mayab_, in the Maya language,
+means a tammy, a sieve. From the name of the country, no doubt, the
+Mayas took their name, as natural; and that name is found, as that of
+the English to-day, all over the ancient civilized world.
+
+When, on January 28, 1873, I had the honor of reading a paper before the
+New York American Geographical Society--on the coincidences that exist
+between the monuments, customs, religious rites, etc. of the prehistoric
+inhabitants of America and those of Asia and Egypt--I pointed to the
+fact that sun circles, dolmen and tumuli, similar to the megalithic
+monuments of America, had been found to exist scattered through the
+islands of the Pacific to Hindostan; over the plains of the peninsulas
+at the south of Asia, through the deserts of Arabia, to the northern
+parts of Africa; and that not only these rough monuments of a primitive
+age, but those of a far more advanced civilization were also to be seen
+in these same countries. Allow me to repeat now what I then said
+regarding these strange facts: If we start from the American continent
+and travel towards the setting sun we may be able to trace the route
+followed by the mound builders to the plains of Asia and the valley of
+the Nile. The mounds scattered through the valley of the Mississippi
+seem to be the rude specimens of that kind of architecture. Then come
+the more highly finished teocalis of Yucatan and Mexico and Peru; the
+pyramidal mounds of _Maui_, one of the Sandwich Islands; those existing
+in the Fejee and other islands of the Pacific; which, in China, we find
+converted into the high, porcelain, gradated towers; and these again
+converted into the more imposing temples of Cochin-China, Hindostan,
+Ceylon--so grand, so stupendous in their wealth of ornamentation that
+those of Chichen-Itza Uxmal, Palenque, admirable as they are, well nigh
+dwindle into insignificance, as far as labor and imagination are
+concerned, when compared with them. That they present the same
+fundamental conception in their architecture is evident--a platform
+rising over another platform, the one above being of lesser size than
+the one below; the American monuments serving, as it were, as models for
+the more elaborate and perfect, showing the advance of art and
+knowledge.
+
+The name Maya seems to have existed from the remotest times in the
+meridional parts of Hindostan. Valmiki, in his epic poem, the Ramayana,
+said to be written 1500 before the Christian era, in which he recounts
+the wars and prowesses of RAMA in the recovery of his lost wife, the
+beautiful SITA, speaking of the country inhabited by the Mayas,
+describes it as abounding in mines of silver and gold, with precious
+stones and lapiz lazuri:[TN-9] and bounded by the _Vindhya_ mountains on
+one side, the _Prastravana_ range on the other and the sea on the third.
+The emissaries of RAMA having entered by mistake within the Mayas
+territories, learned that all foreigners were forbidden to penetrate
+into them; and that those who were so imprudent as to violate this
+prohibition, even through ignorance, seldom escaped being put to death.
+(Strange[TN-10] to say, the same thing happens to-day to those who try
+to penetrate into the territories of the _Santa Cruz_ Indians, or in the
+valleys occupied by the _Lacandones_, _Itzaes_ and other tribes that
+inhabit _La Tierra de Guerra_. The Yucatecans themselves do not like
+foreigners to go, and less to settle, in their country--are consequently
+opposed to immigration.
+
+The emissaries of Rama, says the poet, met in the forest a woman who
+told them: That in very remote ages a prince of the Davanas, a learned
+magician, possessed of great power, whose name was _Maya_, established
+himself in the country, and that he was the architect of the principal
+of the Davanas: but having fallen in love with the nymph _Hem�_, married
+her; whereby he roused the jealousy of the god _Pourandura_, who
+attacked and killed him with a thunderbolt. Now, it is worthy of notice,
+that the word _Hem_ signifies in the Maya language to _cross with
+ropes_; or according to Brasseur, _hidden mysteries_.
+
+By a most rare coincidence we have the same identical story recorded in
+the mural paintings of Chaacmol's funeral chamber, and in the sculptures
+of Chichsen[TN-11] and Uxmal. There we find that Chaacmol, the husband
+of Mo�[TN-12] is killed by his brother Aac, who stabbed him three times
+in the back with his spear for jealousy. Aac was in love with his sister
+Mo�, but she married his brother Chaacmol from choice, and because the
+law of the country prescribed that the younger brother should marry his
+sister, making it a crime for the older brothers to marry her.
+
+In another part of the _Ramayana_, MAYA is described as a powerful
+_Asoura_, always thirsting for battles and full of arrogance and
+pride--an enemy to B[=a]li, chief of one of the monkey tribes, by whom
+he was finally vanquished. The celebrated Indianist, Mr. H. T.
+Colebrooke, in a memoir on the sacred books of the Hindoos, published in
+Vol. VIII of the "Asiatic Researches," says: "The _So�ryasiddk�ntu_ (the
+most ancient Indian treatise on astronomy), is not considered as written
+by MAYA; but this personage is represented as receiving his science from
+a partial incarnation of the sun."
+
+MAYA is also, according to the Rig-Veda, the goddess, by whom all things
+are created by her union with Brahma. She is the cosmic egg, the golden
+uterus, the _Hiramyagarbha_. We see an image of it, represented floating
+amidst the water, in the sculptures that adorn the panel over the door
+of the east facade of the monument, called by me palace and museum at
+Chichen-Itza. Emile Burnouf, in his Sanscrit Dictionary, at the word
+Maya, says: Maya, an architect of the _Datyas_; Maya (_mas._), magician,
+prestidigitator; (_fem._) illusion, prestige; Maya, the magic virtue of
+the gods, their power for producing all things; also the feminine or
+producing energy of Brahma.
+
+I will complete the list of these remarkable coincidences with a few
+others regarding customs exactly similar in both countries. One of these
+consists in carrying children astride on the hip in Yucatan as in India.
+In Yucatan this custom is accompanied by a very interesting ceremony
+called _hetzmec_. It is as follows: When a child reaches the age of four
+months an invitation is sent to the friends and members of the family of
+the parents to assemble at their house. Then in presence of all
+assembled the legs of the child are opened, and he is placed astride
+the hip of the _nailah_ or _hetzmec_ godmother; she in turn encircling
+the little one with her arm, supports him in that position whilst she
+walks five times round the house. During the time she is occupied in
+that walk five eggs are placed in hot ashes, so that they may burst and
+the five senses of the child be opened. By the manner in which they
+burst and the time they require for bursting, they pretend to know if he
+will be intelligent or not. During the ceremony they place in his tiny
+hands the implement pertaining to the industry he is expected to
+practice. The _nailah_ is henceforth considered as a second mother to
+the child; who, when able to understand, is made to respect her: and she
+is expected, in case of the mother's death, to adopt and take care of
+the child as if he were her own.
+
+Now, I will call your attention to another strange and most remarkable
+custom that was common to the inhabitants of _Mayab_, some tribes of the
+aborigines of North America, and several of those that dwell in
+Hindostan, and practice it even to-day. I refer to the printing of the
+human hand, dipped in a red colored liquid, on the walls of certain
+sacred edifices. Could not this custom, existing amongst nations so far
+apart, unknown to each other, and for apparently the same purposes, be
+considered as a link in the chain of evidence tending to prove that very
+intimate relations and communications have existed anciently between
+their ancestors? Might it not help the ethnologists to follow the
+migrations of the human race from this western continent to the eastern
+and southern shores of Asia, across the wastes of the Pacific Ocean? I
+am told by unimpeachable witnesses that they have seen the red or bloody
+hand in more than one of the temples of the South Sea islanders; and his
+Excellency Fred. P. Barlee, Esq., the actual governor of British
+Honduras, has assured me that he has examined this seemingly indelible
+imprint of the red hand on some rocks in caves in Australia. There is
+scarcely a monument in Yucatan that does not preserve the imprint of
+the open upraised hand, dipped in red paint of some sort, perfectly
+visible on its walls. I lately took tracings of two of these imprints
+that exist in the back saloon of the main hall, in the governor's house
+at Uxmal, in order to calculate the height of the personage who thus
+attested to those of his race, as I learned from one of my Indian
+friends, who passes for a wizard, that the building was _in na�_, my
+house. I may well say that the archway of the palace of the priests,
+toward the court, was nearly covered with them. Yet I am not aware that
+such symbol was ever used by the inhabitants of the countries bordering
+on the shores of the Mediterranean or by the Assyrians, or that it ever
+was discovered among the ruined temples or palaces of Egypt.
+
+The meaning of the red hand used by the aborigines of some parts of
+America has been, it is well known, a subject of discussion for learned
+men and scientific societies. Its uses as a symbol remained for a long
+time a matter of conjecture. It seems that Mr. Schoolcraft had truly
+arrived at the knowledge of its veritable meaning. Effectively, in the
+2d column of the 5th page of the _New York Herald_ for April 12, 1879,
+in the account of the visit paid by Gen. Grant to Ram Singh, Maharajah
+of Jeypoor, we read the description of an excursion to the town of
+Amber. Speaking of the journey to the _home of an Indian king_, among
+other things the writer says:--"We passed small temples, some of them
+ruined, some others with offerings of grains, or fruits, or flowers,
+some with priests and people at worship. On the walls of some of the
+temples we saw the marks of the human hand as though it had been steeped
+in blood and pressed against the white wall. We were told that it was
+the custom, when seeking from the gods some benison to note the vow by
+putting the hand into a liquid and printing it on the wall. This was to
+remind the gods of the vow and prayer. And if it came to pass in the
+shape of rain, or food, or health, or children, the joyous devotee
+returned to the temple and made other offerings." In Yucatan it seems to
+have had the same meaning. That is to say: that the owners of the house
+if private, or the priests, in the temples and public buildings, called
+upon the edifices at the time of taking possession and using them for
+the first time, the blessing of the Deity; and placed the hand's
+imprints on the walls to recall the vows and prayer: and also, as the
+interpretation communicated to me by the Indians seems to suggest, as a
+signet or mark of property--_in na�_, my house.
+
+I need not speak of the similarity of many religious rites and beliefs
+existing in Hindostan and among the inhabitants of _Mayab_. The worship
+of the fire, of the phallus, of Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's
+head, recalling that of Ganeza, the god with an elephant's head, hence
+that of the elephant in Siam, Birmah[TN-13] and other places of the
+Asiatic peninsula even in our day; and various other coincidences so
+numerous and remarkable that many would not regard them as simple
+coincidences. What to think, effectively, of the types of the personages
+whose portraits are carved on the obelisks of Copan? Were they in Siam
+instead of Honduras, who would doubt but they are Siameeses.[TN-14] What
+to say of the figures of men and women sculptured on the walls of the
+stupendous temples hewn, from the live rock, at Elephanta, so American
+is their appearance and features? Who would not take them to be pure
+aborigines if they were seen in Yucatan instead of Madras, Elephanta and
+other places of India.
+
+If now we abandon that country and, crossing the Himalaya's range enter
+Afghanistan, there again we find ourselves in a country inhabited by
+Maya tribes; whose names, as those of many of their cities, are of pure
+American-Maya origin. In the fourth column of the sixth page of the
+London _Times_, weekly edition, of March 4, 1879, we read: "4,000 or
+5,000 assembled on the opposite bank of the river _Kabul_, and it
+appears that in that day or evening they attacked the Maya villages
+situated on the north side of the river."
+
+He, the correspondent of the _Times_, tells us that Maya tribes form
+still part of the population of Afghanistan. He also tells us that
+_Kabul_ is the name of the river, on the banks of which their villages
+are situated. But _Kabul_ is the name of an antique shrine in the city
+of Izamal. Cogolludo, in the lib. IV., cap. VIII. of his History of
+Yucatan, says: "They had another temple on another mound, on the west
+side of the square, also dedicated to the same idol. They had there the
+symbol of a hand, as souvenir. To that temple they carried their dead
+and the sick. They called it _Kabul_, the working hand, and made there
+great offerings." Father Lizana says the same: so we have two witnesses
+to the fact. _Kab_, in Maya means hand; and _Bul_ is to play at hazard.
+
+Many of the names of places and towns of Afghanistan have not only a
+meaning in the American-Maya language, but are actually the same as
+those of places and villages in Yucatan to-day, for example:
+
+The Valley of _Chenar_ would be the valley of the _well of the woman's
+children_--_chen_, well, and _al_, the woman's children. The fertile
+valley of _Kunar_ would be the valley of the _god of the ears of corn_;
+or, more probably, the _nest of the ears of corn_: as K�, pronounced
+short, means _God_, and _Kuu_, pronounced long, is nest. NAL, is the
+_ears of corn_.
+
+The correspondent of the London _Times_, in his letters, mentions the
+names of some of the principal tribes, such as the _Kuki-Khel_, the
+_Akakhel_, the _Khambhur Khel_, etc. The suffix Khel simply signifies
+tribe, or clan. So similar to the Maya vocable _Kaan_, a tie, a rope;
+hence a clan: a number of people held together by the tie of parentage.
+Now, Kuki would be Kukil, or Kukum maya[TN-15] for feather, hence the
+KUKI-KHEL would be the tribe of the feather.
+
+AKA-KHEL in the same manner would be the tribe of the reservoir, or
+pond. AKAL is the Maya name for the artificial reservoirs, or ponds in
+which the ancient inhabitants of Mayab collected rain water for the time
+of drought.
+
+Similarly the KHAMBHUR KHEL is the tribe of the _pleasant_: _Kambul_ in
+Maya. It is the name of several villages of Yucatan, as you may satisfy
+yourself by examining the map.
+
+We have also the ZAKA-KHEL, the tribe of the locust, ZAK. It is useless
+to quote more for the present: enough to say that if you read the names
+of the cities, valleys[TN-16] clans, roads even of Afghanistan to any of
+the aborigines of Yucatan, they will immediately give you their meaning
+in their own language. Before leaving the country of the Afghans, by the
+KHIBER Pass--that is to say, the _road of the hawk_; HI, _hawk_, and
+BEL, road--allow me to inform you that in examining their types, as
+published in the London illustrated papers, and in _Harper's Weekly_, I
+easily recognized the same cast of features as those of the bearded men,
+whose portraits we discovered in the bas-reliefs which adorn the ant�
+and pillars of the castle, and queen's box in the Tennis Court at
+Chichen-Itza.
+
+On our way to the coast of Asia Minor, and hence to Egypt, we may, in
+following the Mayas' footsteps, notice that a tribe of them, the learned
+MAGI, with their Rabmag at their head, established themselves in
+Babylon, where they became, indeed, a powerful and influential body.
+Their chief they called _Rab-mag_--or LAB-MAC--the old person--LAB,
+_old_--MAC, person; and their name Magi, meant learned men, magicians,
+as that of Maya in India. I will directly speak more at length of
+vestiges of the Mayas in Babylon, when explaining by means of the
+_American Maya_, the meaning and probable etymology of the names of the
+Chaldaic divinities. At present I am trying to follow the footprints of
+the Mayas.
+
+On the coast of Asia Minor we find a people of a roving and piratical
+disposition, whose name was, from the remotest antiquity and for many
+centuries, the terror of the populations dwelling on the shores of the
+Mediterranean; whose origin was, and is yet unknown; who must have
+spoken Maya, or some Maya dialect, since we find words of that
+language, and with the same meaning inserted in that of the Greeks, who,
+Herodotus tells us, used to laugh at the manner the _Carians_, or
+_Caras_, or _Caribs_, spoke their tongue; whose women wore a white linen
+dress that required no fastening, just as the Indian and Mestiza women
+of Yucatan even to-day[TN-17]
+
+To tell you that the name of the CARAS is found over a vast extension of
+country in America, would be to repeat what the late and lamented
+Brasseur de Bourbourg has shown in his most learned introduction to the
+work of Landa, "Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan;" but this I may say,
+that the description of the customs and mode of life of the people of
+Yucatan, even at the time of the conquest, as written by Landa, seems to
+be a mere verbatim plagiarism of the description of the customs and mode
+of life of the Carians of Asia Minor by Herodotus.
+
+If identical customs and manners, and the worship of the same divinities
+under the same name, besides the traditions of a people pointing towards
+a certain point of the globe as being the birth-place of their
+ancestors, prove anything, then I must say that in Egypt also we meet
+with the tracks of the Mayas, of whose name we again have a reminiscence
+in that of the goddess Maia, the daughter of Atlantis, worshiped in
+Greece. Here, at this end of the voyage, we seem to find an intimation
+as to the place where the Mayas originated. We are told that Maya is
+born from Atlantis; in other words, that the Mayas came from beyond the
+Atlantic waters. Here, also, we find that Maia is called the mother of
+the gods _Kubeles_. _K�_, Maya _God_, _Bel_ the road, the way. Ku-bel,
+the road, the origin of the gods as among the Hindostanees. These, we
+have seen in the Rig Veda, called M�y�, the feminine energy--the
+productive virtue of Brahma.
+
+I do not pretend to present here anything but facts, resulting from my
+study of the ancient monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the Maya language, in which the ancient inscriptions, I have been able
+to decipher, are written. Let us see if those _facts_ are sustained by
+others of a different character.
+
+I will make a brief parallel between the architectural monuments of the
+primitive Chaldeans, their mode of writing, their burial places, and
+give you the etymology of the names of their divinities in the American
+Maya language.
+
+The origin of the primitive Chaldees is yet an unsettled matter among
+learned men. Some professing one opinion, others another. All agree,
+however, that they were strangers to the lower Mesopotamian valleys,
+where they settled in very remote ages, their capital being, in the time
+of Abraham, as we learn from Scriptures, _Ur_ or _Hur_. So named either
+because its inhabitants were worshipers of the moon, or from the moon
+itself--U in the Maya language--or perhaps also because the founders
+being strangers and guests, as it were, in the country, it was called
+the city of guests, HULA (Maya), _guest just arrived_.
+
+Recent researches in the plains of lower Mesopotamia have revealed to us
+their mode of building their sacred edifices, which is precisely
+identical to that of the Mayas.
+
+It consisted of mounds composed of superposed platforms, either square
+or oblong, forming cones or pyramids, their angles at times, their faces
+at others, facing exactly the cardinal points.
+
+Their manner of construction was also the same, with the exception of
+the materials employed--each people using those most at hand in their
+respective countries--clay and bricks in Chaldea, stones in Yucatan. The
+filling in of the buildings being of inferior materials, crude or
+sun-dried bricks at Warka and Mugheir; of unhewn stones of all shapes
+and sizes, in Uxmal and Chichen, faced with walls of hewn stones, many
+feet in thickness throughout. Grand exterior staircases lead to the
+summit, where was the shrine of the god, and temple.
+
+In Yucatan these mounds are generally composed of seven superposed
+platforms, the one above being smaller than that immediately below; the
+temple or sanctuary containing invariably two chambers, the inner one,
+the Sanctum Sanctorum, being the smallest.
+
+In Babylon, the supposed tower of Babel--the _Birs-i-nimrud_--the temple
+of the seven lights, was made of seven stages or platforms.
+
+The roofs of these buildings in both countries were flat; the walls of
+vast thickness; the chambers long and narrow, with outer doors opening
+into them directly; the rooms ordinarily let into one another: squared
+recesses were common in the rooms. Mr. Loftus is of opinion that the
+chambers of the Chaldean buildings were usually arched with bricks, in
+which opinion Mr. Taylor concurs. We know that the ceilings of the
+chambers in all the monuments of Yucatan, without exception, form
+triangular arches. To describe their construction I will quote from the
+description by Herodotus, of some ceilings in Egyptian buildings and
+Scythian tombs, that resemble that of the brick vaults found at Mugheir.
+"The side walls slope outward as they ascend, the arch is formed by each
+successive layer of brick from the point where the arch begins, a little
+overlapping the last, till the two sides of the roof are brought so near
+together, that the aperture may be closed by a single brick."
+
+Some of the sepulchers found in Yucatan are very similar to the jar
+tombs common at Mugheir. These consist of two large open-mouthed jars,
+united with bitumen after the body has been deposited in them, with the
+usual accompaniments of dishes, vases and ornaments, having an air hole
+bored at one extremity. Those found at Progreso were stone urns about
+three feet square, cemented in pairs, mouth to mouth, and having also an
+air hole bored in the bottom. Extensive mounds, made artificially of a
+vast number of coffins, arranged side by side, divided by thin walls of
+masonry crossing each other at right angles, to separate the coffins,
+have been found in the lower plains of Chaldea--such as exist along the
+coast of Peru, and in Yucatan. At Izamal many human remains, contained
+in urns, have been found in the mounds.
+
+"The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chaldeans," says
+Canon Rawlison, in his work, the Five Great Monarchies, "seems to have
+consisted of a single garment, a short tunic tied round the waist, and
+reaching thence to the knees. To this may sometimes have been added an
+_abba_, or cloak, thrown over the shoulders; the material of the former
+we may perhaps presume to have been linen." The mural paintings at
+Chichen show that the Mayas sometimes used the same costume; and that
+dress is used to-day by the aborigines of Yucatan, and the inhabitants
+of the _Tierra de Guerra_. They were also bare-footed, and wore on the
+head a band of cloth, highly ornamented with mother-of-pearl instead of
+camel's hair, as the Chaldee. This band is to be seen in bas-relief at
+Chichen-Itza, inthe[TN-18] mural paintings, and on the head of the statue
+of Chaacmol. The higher classes wore a long robe extending from the neck
+to the feet, sometimes adorned with a fringe; it appears not to have
+been fastened to the waist, but kept in place by passing over one
+shoulder, a slit or hole being made for the arm on one side of the dress
+only. In some cases the upper part of the dress seems to have been
+detached from the lower, and to form a sort of jacket which reached
+about to the hips. We again see this identical dress portrayed in the
+mural paintings. The same description of ornaments were affected by the
+Chaldees and the Mayas--bracelets, earrings, armlets, anklets, made of
+the materials they could procure.
+
+The Mayas at times, as can be seen from the slab discovered by
+Bresseur[TN-19] in Mayapan (an exact fac-simile of which cast, from a
+mould made by myself, is now in the rooms of the American Antiquarian
+Society at Worcester, Mass.), as the primitive Chaldee, in their
+writings, made use of characters composed of straight lines only,
+inclosed in square or oblong figures; as we see from the inscriptions in
+what has been called hieratic form of writing found at Warka and
+Mugheir and the slab from Mayapan and others.
+
+The Chaldees are said to have made use of three kinds of characters that
+Canon Rawlinson calls _letters proper_, _monograms_ and _determinative_.
+The Maya also, as we see from the monumental inscriptions, employed
+three kinds of characters--_letters proper_, _monograms_ and
+_pictorial_.
+
+It may be said of the religion of the Mayas, as I have had occasion to
+remark, what the learned author of the Five Great Monarchies says of
+that of the primitive Chaldees: "The religion of the Chaldeans, from the
+very earliest times to which the monuments carry us back, was, in its
+outward aspect, a polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite
+possible that there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the
+priests and the more learned; which, resolving the personages of the
+Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconcile the apparent multiplicity
+of Gods with monotheism." I will now consider the names of the Chaldean
+deities in their turn of rotation as given us by the author above
+mentioned, and show you that the language of the American Mayas gives us
+an etymology of the whole of them, quite in accordance with their
+particular attributes.
+
+
+RA.
+
+The learned author places '_Ra_' at the head of the Pantheon, stating
+that the meaning of the word is simply _God_, or the God emphatically.
+We know that _Ra_ was the Sun among the Egyptians, and that the
+hieroglyph, a circle, representation of that God was the same in Babylon
+as in Egypt. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon. Which
+was _ka-ra_.
+
+Now the Mayas called LA, that which has existed for ever, the truth _par
+excellence_. As to the native name of Babylon it would simply be the
+_city of the infinite truth_--_cah_, city; LA, eternal truth.
+
+
+ANA OR DIS.
+
+Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signified _God_ in the highest sense.
+Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and
+antiquity; _the original chief_, the _father of the gods_, the _lord of
+darkness or death_. The Maya gives us A, _thy_; NA, _mother_. At times
+he was called DIS, and was the patron god of _Erech_, the great city of
+the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. TIX, Maya is a cavity
+formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city of
+_Niffer_, called _Calneh_ in the translation of the Septuagint, from
+_kal-ana_, which is translated the "fort of Ana;" or according to the
+Maya, the _prison of Ana_, KAL being prison, or the prison of thy
+mother.
+
+
+ANATA
+
+the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is
+only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the
+Maya designates her as the companion of Ana; TA, with; _Anata_ with
+_Ana_.
+
+
+BIL OR ENU
+
+seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative
+adjunct, possessing great interest, NIPRU. To that name, which recalls
+that of NEBROTH or _Nimrod_, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar
+(make to flee). His epithets are the _supreme_, _the father of the
+gods_, the _procreator_.
+
+The Maya gives us BIL, or _Bel_; the way, the road; hence the _origin_,
+the father, the procreator. Also ENA, who is before; again the father,
+the procreator.
+
+As to the qualificative adjunct _nipru_. It would seem to be the Maya
+_niblu_; _nib_, to thank; LU, the _Bagre_, a _silurus fish_. _Niblu_
+would then be the _thanksgiving fish_. Strange to say, the high priest
+at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son of _Can_, the
+founder of those cities, is CAY, the fish, whose effigy is my last
+discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. The bust is contained
+within the jaws of a serpent, _Can_, and over it, is a beautiful
+mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which
+read TZAA, that which is necessary.
+
+
+BELTIS
+
+is the wife of _Bel-nipru_. But she is more than his mere female power.
+She is a separate and important deity. Her common title is the _Great
+Goddess_. In Chaldea her name was _Mulita_ or _Enuta_, both words
+signifying the lady. Her favorite title was the _mother of the gods_,
+the origin of the gods.
+
+In Maya BEL is the road, the way; and TE means _here_. BELT� or BELTIS
+would be I am the way, the origin.
+
+_Mulita_ would correspond to MUL-TE, many here, _many in me_. I am the
+mother of many. Her other name _Enuta_ seems to be (Maya) _Ena-te_,
+signifies ENA, the first, before anybody, and TE here. ENAT�, _I am here
+before anybody_, I am the mother of the Gods.
+
+
+HEA OR HOA.
+
+The God Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from
+the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on
+the Euphrates and Tigris.
+
+According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia by
+_Oannes_ and six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half
+fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen
+that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers;
+and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to
+clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the shores of
+the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats.
+
+Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his
+residence or house on the water. HA, being water; _a_, thy; _n�_, house;
+literally, _water thy house_. Canon Rawlison remarks in that
+connection: "There are very strong grounds for connecting HEA or Hoa,
+with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of
+the tree of knowledge and the tree of life." As the title of the god of
+knowledge and science, _Oannes_, is the lord of the abyss, or of the
+great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent,
+CAN, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods
+on the black stones recording benefactions.
+
+
+DAV-KINA
+
+Is the wife of _Hoa_, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady.
+But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more
+appropriate. TAB-KIN would be the _rays of the sun_: the rays of the
+light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants
+of Mesopotamia.
+
+
+SIN OR HURKI
+
+is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain.
+Its titles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is
+particularly designated as "_the bright_, _the shining_" the lord of the
+month.
+
+Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend.
+_Zinil_ is the extension of the whole of the universe. _Hurki_ would be
+the Maya HULKIN--sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the
+sun. Hurki is also the god presiding over buildings and architecture; in
+this connection he is called _Bel-Zuna_. The _lord of building_, the
+_supporting architect_, the _strengthener of fortifications_. _Bel-Zuna_
+would also signify the lord of the strong house. _Zu�_, Maya, close,
+thick. _Na_, house: and the city where he had his great temple was _Ur_;
+named after him. _U_, in Maya, signifies moon.
+
+
+SAN OR SANSI,
+
+the Sun God, the _lord of fire_, the _ruler of the day_. He _who
+illumines the expanse of heaven and earth_.
+
+_Zamal_ (Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are
+the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and
+Egypt.
+
+
+VUL OR IVA,
+
+the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the
+tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who
+makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as
+does the tempest. As VUL he is represented with a flaming sword in his
+hand. _Hul_ (Maya) an arrow. He is then the god of the atmosphere, who
+gives rain.
+
+
+ISHTAR OR NANA,
+
+the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory
+account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following
+and description quoting.
+
+The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name
+seems composed of _ix_, the feminine article, _she_; and of _tac_, or
+_tal_, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want
+or inclination. IXTAL would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a
+corporal inclination. As to her other name, _Nana_, it simply means the
+great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses,
+we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also
+furnishes a perfect etymology for them.
+
+In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans,
+we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is _Thalatth_, was said to
+have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were
+generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her
+_Thalassa_ (the sea). But the Maya vocable _Thallac_, signifies a thing
+without steadiness, like the sea.
+
+
+URUKH.
+
+The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are
+ascribed the most archaic monuments of the plains of Lower Mesopotamia.
+He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He
+constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases,
+their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior
+staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this
+description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can
+fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in
+Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very
+name _Urkuh_ seems composed of two Maya words HUK, to make everything,
+and LUK, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his
+building propensities and of the materials used by him.
+
+
+ASSYRIA.
+
+The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur,
+the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without
+adding "Asshur is my lord," is still an undecided matter amongst the
+learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was
+named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name
+from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the
+significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew
+languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the
+god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was
+named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much
+sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively
+the word _asshur_, sometimes written _ashur_, would be AXUL in Maya.
+
+_A_, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun,
+as the second person, thy or thine, and _xul_, means end, termination.
+It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. _Axul_
+would therefore be _thy end_. Among all the nations which have
+recognized the existence of a SUPREME BEING, Deity has been considered
+as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be
+united.
+
+A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out
+of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea
+are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the _Kiprat-arbat_,
+or FOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the
+universe, king of the giants, whose capital was _Tiahuanaco_, the
+magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the
+lake of Titicaca, reigned over _Ttahuatyn-suyu_, the FOUR PROVINCES. In
+the _Chou-King_ we read that in very remote times _China_ was called by
+its inhabitants _Sse-yo_, THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. The
+_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, the _Ramayana_, and other sacred books of
+Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their
+country as the FOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental
+inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place
+was called the land of the _canchi_, or FOUR MOUTHS, that recalls
+vividly the name of Chaldea _Arba-Lisun_, the FOUR TONGUES.
+
+That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but
+became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel.
+It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at
+the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek,
+Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the
+Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of
+Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it.
+
+In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of
+the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King
+Belshazzar was banqueting, the words "Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin,"
+which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the
+king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their
+interpretation: _Numbered_, _numbered_, _weighed_, _dividing_, perhaps
+with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be
+the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and
+Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of
+King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of
+the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus
+enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in
+the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, _mene_ or _mane_,
+_numbered_, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, MAN, to buy, to
+purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity--or MANEL,
+to pass, to exceed. _Tekel_, weighed, would correspond to TEC, light.
+To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity,
+nimbleness: and _Upharsin_, dividing, seem allied to the words PPA, to
+divide two things united; or _uppah_, to break, making a sharp sound; or
+_paah_, to break edifices; or, again, PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the
+inhabitants of a place.
+
+As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross,
+as reported by the Evangelists, _Eli, Eli_, according to St. Matthew,
+and _Eloi, Eloi_, according to St. Mark, _lama sabachthani_, they are
+pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed
+to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the
+mouth of the dying martyr these words: _My God, my God, why hast thou
+forsaken me?_ they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his
+last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to
+his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to
+the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than
+all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to
+his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him?
+He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned
+biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what
+he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: _This man
+calleth for Elias._
+
+His bosom friend, who never abandoned him--who stood to the last at the
+foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do
+not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He
+simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he
+complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with
+vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: IT IS FINISHED! and
+_he bowed his head and gave up the ghost_. (St. John, chap. xix., v.
+30.)
+
+Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words, HELO, HELO, LAMAH
+ZABAC TA NI, literally: HELO, HELO, now, now; LAMAH, sinking; ZABAC,
+black ink; TA, over; NI, nose; in our language: _Now, now I am sinking;
+darkness covers my face!_ No weakness, no despair--He merely tells his
+friends all is over. _It is finished!_ and expires.
+
+Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the
+Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who
+inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those
+of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised
+Land, for example--that part of the coast of Phoenicia so famous for
+the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during
+forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so
+many hard-fought battles--was known as _Canaan_. This is a Maya word
+that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled _Kanaan_,
+it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the
+country.
+
+TYRE, the great emporium of the Phoenicians, called _Tzur_, probably
+on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the
+Maya TZUC, a promontory, or a number of villages, _Tzucub_ being a
+province.
+
+Again, we have the people called _Khati_ by the Egyptians. They formed a
+great nation that inhabited the _C�le-Syria_ and the valley of the
+Orontes, where they have left very interesting proofs of their passage
+on earth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately
+discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved.
+They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and
+Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently
+mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the
+Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they
+placed well nigh insuperable _obstacles in the way_ of the conquests of
+these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful
+adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in
+all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their
+emporium _Carchemish_ had no less importance than Tyre or Carthage.
+There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither
+the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were
+wont to worship at the Sacred City, _Katish_ of the Khati. The etymology
+of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that
+they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we
+may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya
+language.
+
+All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by
+Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at Thebes, the
+_Memnonium_, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and
+opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of
+these facts, since KAT or KATAH is a verb that means to place
+impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage.
+
+_Carchemish_ was their great emporium, where merchants from afar
+congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. CAH means a city,
+and _Chemul_ is navigator. _Carchemish_ would then be _cah-chemul_, the
+city of navigators, of merchants.
+
+KATISH, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are
+offered. CAH, city, and TICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas,
+and still performed by their descendants all through Central America.
+This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to BALAM, the
+_Yumil-Kaax_, the "Lord of the fields," the _primiti�_ of all their
+fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or _cah-tich_ would then be
+the city of the sacrifices--the holy city.
+
+EGYPT is the country that in historical times has called, more than any
+other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on
+account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of
+its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in
+all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position
+at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be
+the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world:
+yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the
+first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not
+autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the
+regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and
+designated the country in which they lived, the East, as the _pure
+land_, the _land of the sun_, of _light_, in contradistinction of the
+country of the dead, of darkness--the Amenti, the West--where Osiris sat
+as King, reigning judge, over the souls.
+
+If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with
+vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere.
+Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile
+by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that
+came from the West called it CHEM: not on account of the black color of
+the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, "_De Iside et Osiride_," but
+more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably,
+because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants
+communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the
+country of boats--CHEM (maya).[TN-20] The hieroglyph representing the
+name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross
+circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a
+sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat.
+The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names of MISIR or MISUR,
+probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are
+uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all
+over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the
+soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the
+Maya verb MIZ--to _clean_, to _remove rubbish formed by the body of dead
+trees_; whilst the verb MUSUR means to _cut the trees by the roots_. It
+would seem that the name _Mizraim_ given to Egypt in the Scriptures also
+might come from these words.
+
+When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by
+the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of
+_Hapim�_. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists,
+who agree, however, that its meaning is the _abyss of water_. The Maya
+tells us that this name is composed of two words--H�, water, and PIMIL,
+the thickness of flat things. _Hapimu_, or HAPIMIL, would then be the
+thickness, the _abyss of water_.
+
+We find that the prophets _Jeremiah_ (xlvi., 25,) and _Nahum_ (iii., 8,
+10,) call THEBES, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty:
+N� or N�-AMUN, the mansion of Amun. _N�_ signifies in Maya, house,
+mansion, residence. But _Thebes_ is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs AP,
+or AP�, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine
+article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings,
+it becomes TAP�; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson ("Manners and
+Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," _tom._ III., page 210, N. Y. Edition,
+1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians _Taba_; and in the Menphitic
+dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The
+Maya verb _Teppal_, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each
+side of the mastodons' heads, which form so prominent a feature in the
+ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts,
+the word _Dapas_; hence TABAS is written in ancient Egyptian characters,
+and read, I presume, in old Maya, _head_. To-day the word is pronounced
+THAB, and means _baldness_.
+
+The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their
+religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they
+inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners;
+the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used
+by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to
+infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their
+forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to
+nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the
+countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the
+Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate
+communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors.
+
+Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of
+these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious
+belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the
+characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any
+reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be
+altogether accidental.
+
+The SUN, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt;
+and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent
+Ur�us. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA
+signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is--the
+truth.
+
+The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day
+preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the
+adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain epoch[TN-21]
+of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the
+west fa�ade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that
+city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, _the land of
+the sun_. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written
+with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is
+the sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun.
+
+Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical
+meaning. The figure of _Amun_ was that of a man whose body was light
+blue, like the Indian god Wishnu,[TN-22] and that of the god Nilus; as if
+to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being
+that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the
+same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell
+us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those
+who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural
+paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this
+assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some
+marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs.
+After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded
+them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the
+funerals.
+
+The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards
+and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the
+souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls
+after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and
+inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why
+they took so much pains to embalm the body.
+
+The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have
+already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during
+a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having
+enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they
+were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as
+the body was corruptible, they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or
+wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a
+hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in
+stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to
+earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as
+body during their new existence.
+
+I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in
+transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I
+have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever,
+even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments.
+I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may
+have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but
+softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not
+kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile,
+as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited
+from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment
+inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego
+what they called the superstitions of their race--the idolatrous creed
+of their forefathers.
+
+I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as
+many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken,
+notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the
+hands of ignorant and barbaric _Christians_ (?)
+
+I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly
+manifested.
+
+The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and
+cables, made of withes and the bark of the _habin_ tree, were finished
+and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of
+trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers,
+already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the
+surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation;
+my men, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and
+their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other,
+unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where
+their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by
+letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the
+mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin
+trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be
+injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already
+overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and
+even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the
+withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation
+were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think,
+knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had
+made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they
+considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior
+and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome
+their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that,
+as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in
+reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great
+pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of
+the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta,
+every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of
+warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types
+recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans.
+
+On one of the ant�, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait
+of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like
+that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in
+profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same
+position of my face as that of UXAN, and called the attention of my
+Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed
+every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the
+beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: "_Thou!_
+_here!_" and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone
+and my own.
+
+"_So, so,_" they said, "_thou too art one of our great men, who has been
+disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol.
+That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to
+disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived._"
+
+From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned
+to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon
+brought up the ponderous statue to the surface.
+
+A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and
+noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one.
+Colonel _Don_ Felipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the
+eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written
+notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile
+Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp
+look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in
+the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather
+difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there
+is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that
+danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued
+our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny.
+
+On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing
+that the visitors had no guns, but only their _machetes_, I gave orders
+not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray,
+his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at
+a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long
+time he broke out, speaking to his own people: "This, boys, is one of
+the great men we speak to you about." Then the young men came forward,
+with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their
+lips against them.
+
+Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the
+old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm
+to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face
+near that of my stone _Sosis_, and again the same scene was enacted as
+with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their
+knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a
+while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: "Rememberest thou
+what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?" It was quite a
+difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I
+did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. "Well,
+father," I asked him, "dreamest thou sometimes?" He nodded his head in
+an affirmative manner. "And when thou awakest, dost thou remember
+distinctly thy dreams?" "_M�_," no! was the answer. "Well, father," I
+continued, "so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place
+during the time I was enchanted." This answer seemed to satisfy him. I
+again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the
+foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not
+to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people
+were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore;
+where they went, I don't know.
+
+Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote
+times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de
+Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied
+observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to
+have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It
+consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left
+hand on the right shoulder; or the right arm across the chest, the
+right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his
+work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr.
+Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases
+even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins
+with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in
+use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the
+figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon's head, on the
+west fa�ade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and
+museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in
+Chaacmol's funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the
+representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that
+chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being
+common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their
+utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their
+veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in
+which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms
+spontaneously.
+
+_The sistrum_ was an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during
+the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have
+seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of
+the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and
+viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, called _canopas_, that were
+placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol's mausoleum
+I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head
+containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart
+and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom
+among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an
+empty vase--symbol that the deceased had been judged and found
+righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol,
+is also found held in the same manner by many other statues of
+different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in
+the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So
+also with the Mayas--if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his
+weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of his art,[TN-23]
+
+The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich--which generally consisted
+of one or two chambers--with sculptures and paintings reciting the names
+and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged.
+The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different
+superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled,
+polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with
+magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his
+wife--dying warriors--the whole being surrounded by the image of a
+feathered serpent--_Can_, his family name, whilst the walls of the two
+apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory,
+were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol's
+own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his
+contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were
+in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and
+other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his
+time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented
+life-size.
+
+In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or
+wood, with bright colors--yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In
+Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still
+easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very
+brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in
+the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to
+have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as
+pigments, and cinnabar--we having found such metallic colors in
+Chaacmol's mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still preserves some in her
+possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at
+present.
+
+The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it
+an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their
+principal duties being to play the sistrum.
+
+We find that in Yucatan, _Nict�_ (flower) the sister of _Chaacmol_,
+assisted her elder brother, _Cay_, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her
+name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn
+the western fa�ade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister,
+_M�_,[TN-24] is with Chaacmol's in some of the monuments at Chichen.
+
+Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses, _virgins of the sun_,
+mentions a tradition that seems to refer to _Nict�_, stating that the
+daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple,
+obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped
+under the name of _Zuhuy-Kak_ (the fire-virgin), and became the goddess
+of the maidens, who were recommended to her care.
+
+As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their
+death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo
+pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other
+abject animals, "even the devil himself, which appeared to them in
+horrible forms" ("Historia de Yucatan," book IV., chap. vii.)
+
+Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes in
+_Mayab_ wore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate
+character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the
+middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented
+with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of
+clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar
+to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was
+fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a
+large bow, the ends of which reached to the ankles. Their shoulders
+were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the
+chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept
+in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next,
+and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the
+ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore
+leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow;
+sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of
+different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to
+have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in
+the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen's
+chamber at Chichen. The king's coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to
+have served as model for the _pschent_, that symbol of domination over
+the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point
+formed the front, and in Egypt the back.
+
+The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by
+their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the
+loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs.
+Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped
+a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to
+the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on
+one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day
+the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight
+modifications. While the aborigines of the _Tierra de Guerra_, who still
+preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign
+admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see
+represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural
+paintings of _Mayab_ and Egypt.
+
+Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study
+of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of
+learning. The soothsayers formed a respected order of the priesthood.
+From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the
+chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of
+consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails
+of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a
+turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the
+_Hong-fan_ or "the great and sublime doctrine," one of the books of the
+_Chou-king_, the ceremonies of _Pou_ and _Chi_ are described at length).
+The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies,
+purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching
+of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in
+the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even
+at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the
+country, and congregated at the shrine of _Kinich-kakmo_, the deified
+daughter of CAN, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the
+mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the
+examination of the mural paintings, we know that _animal magnetism_ was
+understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have
+consulted clairvoyants.
+
+The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress
+in astronomical sciences.
+
+The _gnomon_, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined
+city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were
+not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good
+mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not
+inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the
+construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of
+calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the
+solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest
+angle of declination of the sun, 23� 27�, occurred when that luminary
+reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle of
+declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the _sun_ had
+arrived at his resting place.
+
+The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by
+lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen
+months, of twenty days, that they called U--moon--to which they added
+five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so
+ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the
+Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of
+thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, called
+_Mesor�_, five days, named _Epact_.
+
+By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas,
+considered these additive five days _unlucky_.
+
+Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of
+365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas[TN-25]
+sacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6
+hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that
+joins the centers of the stela that forms it.
+
+The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system of _fives_
+and _tens_; the Mayas by a system of _fives_ and _twenties_, to four
+hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest
+antiquity, but SEVEN seems to have been a _mystic number_ among them as
+among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations.
+
+The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the
+grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall
+is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above
+overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to
+all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the
+height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen
+and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to
+assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the
+_Pleiades_ or _Seven stars_. _Alcyone_, the central star of the group,
+being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was
+constructed, and _Alpha_ of Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower
+culmination.
+
+But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific
+attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument
+surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity,
+believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its
+designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people,
+possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try
+to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the
+great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty.
+
+Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a
+predilection for number SEVEN. Since we find that their artificial
+mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of
+Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace
+of King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents,
+his totem, which adorn the east fa�ade of the west wing of this
+building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens
+were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number SEVEN
+prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has
+predominated.
+
+It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance,
+that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of
+the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being
+used as symbol[TN-26] by several of the secret societies existing among
+us.
+
+If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life
+in the countries known as the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN
+among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in
+Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_
+stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_,
+or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans
+and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the
+sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni,
+the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the
+_seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of
+Zacharias's vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the
+_seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon,
+the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the
+Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at
+their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the
+book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast
+that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God, the
+_seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the
+_seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.
+
+The origin of the prevalence of that number SEVEN amongst all the
+nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been
+satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different
+interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their
+religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have
+found that it originated with the _seven_ members of CAN'S family, who
+were the founders of the principal cities of _Mayab_, and to each of
+whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their
+names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by
+them at Uxmal and Chichen, were--CAN (serpent) and [C]OZ (bat), his
+wife, from whom were born CAY (fish), the pontiff; AAK (turtle), who
+became the governor of Uxmal; CHAACMOL (leopard), the warrior, who
+became the husband of his sister MO� (macaw), the Queen of _Chichen_,
+worshiped after her death at Izamal; and NICT� (flower), the priestess
+who, under the name of _Zuhuy-Kuk_, became the goddess of the maidens.
+
+The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three
+different kinds of characters--phonetic, ideographic and
+symbolic--placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to
+be read from right to left, from left to right, as indicated by the
+position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their
+writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining
+these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a
+manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the fa�ade
+of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the
+monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the
+ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No
+truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except
+those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and
+learned men of MAYAB hid them from the _Nahualt_ or _Toltec_ invaders.
+
+As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines,
+to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay
+does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a
+work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present
+purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the
+Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly
+all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning,
+in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs
+used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by
+us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in
+discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions,
+written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as
+models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck,
+seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters,
+together with others that seem to be purely Mayab.
+
+Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions,
+giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in
+which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines
+of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Of course, the
+original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence
+of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other
+nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect
+man's speech.
+
+The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical;
+possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations.
+Among the symbolical, I may cite a few: _water_, _country or region_,
+_king_, _Lord_, _offerings_, _splendor_, the _various emblems of the
+sun_ and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the
+so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription
+of the _Akab[c]ib_ at Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient
+Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have
+been able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own.
+
+A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the
+same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of
+the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the
+Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP
+identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of
+the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other
+things, the names of the founders of the city of UXMAL; as that of the
+city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst,
+in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs,
+notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the
+founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also
+in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the
+totems of the personages: e. g[TN-27] for AAK, which means turtle, is the
+image of a turtle; for CAY (fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol
+(leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility
+of misinterpretation.
+
+Having found that the language of the inscriptions was Maya, of course
+I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value,
+since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the
+people.
+
+I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present
+to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the
+mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not
+merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people
+must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the
+questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only
+solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority.
+
+I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son of _Seb and
+Nut_, the brother of _Aroeris_, the elder _Horus_, of _Typho_, of
+_Isis_, and of _Nephthis_, named also NIK�. The authors have given
+numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of
+that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of
+the inundations of the NILE; ISIS, his wife and sister, that of the
+irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister, _Nephthis_, that
+of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters
+of the Nile; his brother and murderer _Tipho_, that of the sea which
+swallows up the _Nile_.
+
+Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times
+and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious
+people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the
+mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris
+on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I
+am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert,
+that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture
+hero of the Mayas.
+
+It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere
+coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What
+conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many
+strange similes?
+
+In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir
+Gardner Wilkinson's work, chap. xiii:
+
+     "_Osiris_, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards
+     civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former
+     barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and
+     improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good
+     disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world,
+     inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the
+     mildest persuasion."
+
+The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his
+brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his
+wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by _Typho_,
+who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final
+defeat of Typho by Osiris's son, Horus.
+
+Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to
+civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions
+of the deeds of the culture heroes _Kukulean_[TN-28] and Quetzalcoatl of
+the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo,
+where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures
+of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the
+temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral
+chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the
+queen's chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen.
+
+     "The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less
+     mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that
+     the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the
+     latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the
+     candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain
+     it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations
+     were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher
+     mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It
+     was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed."
+     Wilkinson, chap. xiii.
+
+In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered
+in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called the
+_Dwarf's House_, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pass
+through different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to
+judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the
+disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this
+discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols
+were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used
+among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published in
+_Harper's Weekly_, a full description of the building, with plans of the
+same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret
+societies exist still among the _Zu�is_ and other Pueblo Indians of New
+Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman
+sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and
+history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr.
+Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zu�is, whose
+language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other
+remarkable things he has discovered is "the existence of twelve sacred
+orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded
+as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have
+a strange resemblance." (From the New York _Times_.)
+
+If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of
+the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of
+the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr.
+DuChaillu[TN-29] in the relation of his voyage to the "Land of Ashango,"
+so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest
+that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between
+their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible
+still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not
+place that _fact_ without the peradventure of a doubt. We also see
+figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African
+features.
+
+We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the
+priestess found by me at the foot of the altar in front of the shrine
+of _Ix-cuina_, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of _Isla
+Mugeres_, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth
+in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion
+still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and
+little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue
+among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly
+those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians.
+
+Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the
+Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of
+beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans
+as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol's
+mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen
+enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the
+hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the
+people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these
+last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by
+the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the
+mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such
+barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies' hearts.
+
+The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in
+witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of
+X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of
+Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating
+that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die
+unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from
+malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of
+tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my
+advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out,
+probably, if I was a stronger wizard than the _H-Men_ who had bewitched
+him. He must have failed to discover on my face the proverbial
+distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an
+incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he
+simply replied: "No use--I am bewitched--there is no remedy for me."
+
+Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of
+Equatorial Africa, says: "The greatest curse of the whole country is the
+belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with
+the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He
+becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and
+really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per
+cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery."
+In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards
+because of their supposed supernatural powers.
+
+From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the
+chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious
+libations with _Balch�_. To-day the aborigines still use it in the
+celebrations of their ancient rites. _Balch�_ is a liquor made from the
+bark of a tree called Balch�, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left
+to ferment. It is their beverage _par excellence_. The nectar drank by
+the God of Greek Mythology.
+
+Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of _Mayo_lo,
+a city in which he resided for some time, says: "Next day he was so much
+elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a
+fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen
+ill, and which he made by _mixing honey and water, and adding to it
+pieces of bark of a certain tree_." (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.)
+
+I will remark here that, by a strange _coincidence_, we not only find
+that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with
+the MAYAS, but that the name of one of their cities MAYO_lo_, seems to
+be a corruption of MAYAB.
+
+The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends,
+where they deposit furniture, dress and food--and sometimes slay slaves,
+men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief
+that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been
+sacrificed.
+
+I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the
+tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade
+or profession; and that the great quantity of blood found scattered
+round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend
+to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral.
+
+The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died.
+Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for
+they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it.
+
+The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their
+villages when death frequently occur;[TN-30] for, say they, the place is
+no longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased.
+
+Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of
+drums--the _Tunkul_ and the _Zacatan_. They are still used by the
+aborigines in their religious festivals and dances.
+
+The _Tunkul_ is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to
+leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about
+four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave
+between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches
+from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to
+form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two
+balls of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the
+instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it
+can be heard, is[TN-31] is said, at a distance of six miles in calm
+weather. The _Zacatan_ is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the
+trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end a piece of
+skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand,
+the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a
+slanting position, that it is played.
+
+Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case
+of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten,
+and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu asserts having seen one of
+these _Ngoma_, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and
+describes a _Fan_ drum which corresponds to the _Zacatan_ of the Mayas
+as follows: "The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in
+diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed
+out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the
+drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks
+beats[TN-32] furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the
+cylinder."
+
+We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of
+the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African
+towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages
+in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at
+times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause
+the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry
+with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had
+better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the
+cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently
+dedicated to the god of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an
+infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the
+villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts.
+
+Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the
+native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of
+more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: "The pure bred
+native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly
+tail; the hair is short and the color yellowish; the pure breed being
+known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept
+very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears;
+I don't think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs."
+
+I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already
+mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close
+it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu asserts exists
+among the African warriors: "_The charmed leopard's skin worn about the
+warrior's middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof._"
+
+Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the FACTS mentioned in
+the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to
+be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the _Mayas_ were a great and
+powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization.
+That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their
+attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have
+reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere.
+That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth;
+for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their
+language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants
+they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they
+gave names to their gods, to their tribes, to their cities.
+
+We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions
+of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their
+nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have
+established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their
+birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured,
+wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored
+imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to
+hide the truth from the ignorant mass of the people, fostering their
+superstitions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over
+them, as in Egypt.
+
+In Hindostan, for example, we find the Maya custom of carrying the
+children astride on the hips of the nurses. That of recording the vow of
+the devotees, or of imploring the blessings of deity by the imprint of
+the hand, dipped in red liquid, stamped on the walls of the shrines and
+palaces. The worship of the mastodon, still extant in India, Siam,
+Burmah, as in the worship of _Ganeza_, the god of knowledge, with an
+elephant head, degenerated in that of the elephant itself.
+
+Still extant we find likewise the innate propensity of the Mayas to
+exclude all foreigners from their country; even to put to death those
+who enter their territories (as do, even to-day, those of Santa Cruz and
+the inhabitants of the Tierra de Guerra) as the emissaries of Rama were
+informed by the friend of the owner of the country, the widow of the
+_great architect_, MAYA, whose name HEMA means in the Maya language "she
+who places ropes across the roads to impede the passage." Even the
+history of the death of her husband MAYA, killed with a thunderbolt, by
+the god _Pourandara_, whose jealousy was aroused by his love for her and
+their marriage, recalls that of _Chaacmol_, the husband of _Mo�_, killed
+by their brother Aac, by being stabbed by him three times in the back
+with a spear, through jealousy--for he also loved _Mo�_.
+
+Some Maya tribes, after a time, probably left their home at the South of
+Hindostan and emigrated to Afghanistan, where their descendants still
+live and have villages on the North banks of the river _Kabul_. They
+left behind old traditions, that they may have considered as mere
+fantasies of their poets, and other customs of their forefathers. Yet we
+know so little about the ancient Afghans, or the Maya tribes living
+among them, that it is impossible at present to say how much, if any,
+they have preserved of the traditions of their race. All we know for a
+certainty is that many of the names of their villages and tribes are
+pure American-Maya words: that their types are very similar to the
+features of the bearded men carved on the pillars of the castle, and on
+the walls of other edifices at Chichen-Itza: while their warlike habits
+recall those of the Mayas, who fought so bravely and tenaciously the
+Spanish invaders.
+
+Some of the Maya tribes, traveling towards the west and northwest,
+reached probably the shores of Ethiopia; while others, entering the
+Persian Gulf, landed near the embouchure of the Euphrates, and founded
+their primitive capital at a short distance from it. They called it _Hur
+(Hula) city of guests just arrived_--and according to Berosus gave
+themselves the name of _Khaldi_; probably because they intrenched their
+city: _Kal_ meaning intrenchment in the American-Maya language. We have
+seen that the names of all the principal deities of the primitive
+Chaldeans had a natural etymology in that tongue. Such strange
+coincidences cannot be said to be altogether accidental. Particularly
+when we consider that their learned men were designated as MAGI, (Mayas)
+and their Chief _Rab-Mag_, meaning, in Maya, the _old man_; and were
+great architects, mathematicians and astronomers. As again we know of
+them but imperfectly, we cannot tell what traditions they had preserved
+of the birthplace of their forefathers. But by the inscriptions on the
+tablets or bricks, found at Mugheir and Warka, we know for a certainty
+that, in the archaic writings, they formed their characters of straight
+lines of uniform thickness; and inclosed their sentences in squares or
+parallelograms, as did the founders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. And
+from the signet cylinder of King Urukh, that their mode of dressing was
+identical with that of many personages represented in the mural
+paintings at Chichen-Itza.
+
+We have traced the MAYAS again on the shores of Asia Minor, where the
+CARIANS at last established themselves, after having spread terror among
+the populations bordering on the Mediterranean. Their origin is unknown:
+but their customs were so similar to those of the inhabitants of Yucatan
+at the time even of the Spanish conquest--and their names CAR, _Carib_
+or _Carians_, so extensively spread over the western continent, that we
+might well surmise, that, navigators as they were, they came from those
+parts of the world; particularly when we are told by the Greek poets and
+historians, that the goddess MAIA was the daughter of _Atlantis_. We
+have seen that the names of the khati, those of their cities, that of
+Tyre, and finally that of Egypt, have their etymology in the Maya.
+
+Considering the numerous coincidences already pointed out, and many more
+I could bring forth, between the attainments and customs of the Mayas
+and the Egyptians; in view also of the fact that the priests and learned
+men of Egypt constantly pointed toward the WEST as the birthplace of
+their ancestors, it would seem as if a colony, starting from Mayab, had
+emigrated Eastward, and settled on the banks of the Nile; just as the
+Chinese to-day, quitting their native land and traveling toward the
+rising sun, establish themselves in America.
+
+In Egypt again, as in Hindostan, we find the history of the children of
+CAN, preserved among the secret traditions treasured up by the priests
+in the dark recesses of their temples: the same story, even with all its
+details. It is TYPHO who kills his brother OSIRIS, the husband of their
+sister ISIS. Some of the names only have been changed when the members
+of the royal family of CAN, the founder of the cities of Mayab, reaching
+apotheosis, were presented to the people as gods, to be worshiped.
+
+That the story of _Isis_ and _Osiris_ is a mythical account of CHAACMOL
+and MO�, from all the circumstances connected with it, according to the
+relations of the priests of Egypt that tally so closely with what we
+learn in Chichen-Itza from the bas-reliefs, it seems impossible to
+doubt.
+
+Effectively, _Osiris_ and _Isis_ are considered as king and queen of the
+Amenti--the region of the West--the mansion of the dead, of the
+ancestors. Whatever may be the etymology of the name of Osiris, it is a
+_fact_, that in the sculptures he is often represented with a spotted
+skin suspended near him, and Diodorus Siculus says: "That the skin is
+usually represented without the head; but some instances where this is
+introduced show it to be the _leopard's_ or _panther's_." Again, the
+name of Osiris as king of the West, of the Amenti, is always written, in
+hieroglyphic characters, representing a crouching _leopard_ with an eye
+above it. It is also well known that the priests of Osiris wore a
+_leopard_ skin as their ceremonial dress.
+
+Now, Chaacmol reigned with his sister Mo�, at Chichen-Itza, in Mayab, in
+the land of the West for Egypt. The name _Chaacmol_ means, in Maya, a
+_Spotted_ tiger, a _leopard_; and he is represented as such in all his
+totems in the sculptures on the monuments; his shield being made of the
+skin of leopard, as seen in the mural paintings.
+
+Osiris, in Egypt, is a myth. Chaacmol, in Mayab, a reality. A warrior
+whose mausoleum I have opened; whose weapons and ornaments of jade are
+in Mrs. Le Plongeon's possession; whose heart I have found, and sent a
+piece of it to be analysed by professor Thompson of Worcester, Mass.;
+whose effigy, with his name inscribed on the tablets occupying the place
+of the ears, forms now one of the most precious relics in the National
+Museum of Mexico.
+
+ISIS was the wife and sister of Osiris. As to the etymology of her name
+the Maya affords it in I[C]IN--_the younger sister_. As Queen of the
+Amenti, of the West, she also is represented in hieroglyphs by the same
+characters as her husband--a _leopard, with an eye above_, and the sign
+of the feminine gender an oval or egg. But as a goddess she is always
+portrayed with wings; the vulture being dedicated to her; and, as it
+were, her totem.
+
+MO� the wife and sister of _Chaacmol_ was the Queen of Chichen. She is
+represented on the Mausoleum of Chaacmol as a _Macaw_ (Mo� in the Maya
+language); also on the monuments at Uxmal: and the chroniclers tell us
+that she was worshiped in Izamal under the name of _Kinich-Kakm�_;
+reading from right to left the _fiery macaw with eyes like the sun_.
+
+Their protecting spirit is a _Serpent_, the totem of their father CAN.
+Another Egyptian divinity, _Apap_ or _Apop_, is represented under the
+form of a gigantic serpent covered with wounds. Plutarch in his
+treatise, _De Iside et Osiride_, tells us that he was enemy to the sun.
+
+TYPHO was the brother of Osiris and Isis; for jealousy, and to usurp the
+throne, he formed a conspiration and killed his brother. He is said to
+represent in the Egyptian mythology, the sea, by some; by others, _the
+sun_.
+
+AAK (turtle) was also the brother of Chaacmol and _Mo�_. For jealousy,
+and to usurp the throne, he killed his brother at treason with three
+thrusts of his _spear_ in the back. Around the belt of his statue at
+Uxmal used to be seen hanging the heads of his brothers CAY and
+CHAACMOL, together with that of MO�; whilst his feet rested on their
+flayed bodies. In the sculpture he is pictured surrounded by the _Sun_
+as his protecting spirit. The escutcheon of Uxmal shows that he called
+the place he governed the land of the Sun. In the bas-reliefs of the
+Queen's chamber at Chichen his followers are seen to render homage to
+the _Sun_; others, the friends of MO�, to the _Serpent_. So, in Mayab as
+in Egypt, the _Sun_ and _Serpent_ were inimical. In Egypt again this
+enmity was a myth, in Mayab a reality.
+
+AROERIS was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Typho. His business seems to
+have been that of a peace-maker.
+
+CAY was also the brother of _Chaacmol_, _Mo�_ and _Aac_. He was the high
+pontiff, and sided with Chaacmol and Mo� in their troubles, as we learn
+from the mural paintings, from his head and flayed body serving as
+trophy to Aac as I have just said.
+
+In June last, among the ruins of _Uxmal_, I discovered a magnificent
+bust of this personage; and I believe I know the place where his remains
+are concealed.
+
+NEPHTHIS was the sister of Isis, Osiris, Typho, and Aroeris, and the
+wife of Typho; but being in love with Osiris she managed to be taken to
+his embraces, and she became pregnant. That intrigue having been
+discovered by Isis, she adopted the child that Nephthis, fearing the
+anger of her husband, had hidden, brought him up as her own under the
+name of Anubis. Nephthis was also called NIK� by some.
+
+NIC or NICT� was the sister of _Chaacmol_, _Mo�_, _Aac_, and _Cay_, with
+whose name I find always her name associated in the sculptures on the
+monuments. Here the analogy between these personages would seem to
+differ, still further study of the inscriptions may yet prove the
+Egyptian version to contain some truth. _Nic_ or _Nicte_[TN-33] means
+flower; a cast of her face, with a flower sculptured on one cheek,
+exists among my collections.
+
+We are told that three children were born to Isis and Osiris: Horus,
+Macedo, and Harpocrates. Well, in the scene painted on the walls of
+Chaacmol's funeral chamber, in which the body of this warrior is
+represented stretched on the ground, cut open under the ribs for the
+extraction of the heart and visceras, he is seen surrounded by his wife,
+his sister NIC, his mother _Zo[c]_, and four children.
+
+I will close these similes by mentioning that _Thoth_ was reputed the
+preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of
+reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs
+under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient
+divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the
+lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the
+dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of
+writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters,
+reads _Nukta_; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes,
+since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand,
+to perceive, _Nuctah_: while his name Thoth, maya[TN-34] _thot_ means to
+scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at
+the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of
+which I found a sacrificial altar, there were six cynocephali in a
+sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were
+placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a
+platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the
+cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the yard[TN-35] of the
+principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the
+kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient
+city was in its glory.
+
+In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon
+(Cynocephalus) warning Mo� of impending danger. She is pictured in her
+home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen
+the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is
+symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before
+her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness
+of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral
+qualities, (the[TN-36] proving that the learned men of Mayab understood
+phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to
+seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her
+extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest
+read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the
+man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and
+threatening position. A serpent (_can_), her protecting spirit, is seen
+at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is
+another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded
+about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue
+protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing
+from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the
+myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the
+woman, the tempter.
+
+As to the charmed _leopard_ skin worn by the African warriors to render
+them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which
+Chaacmol met his death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known
+to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had
+imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being
+wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not
+laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still
+prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed
+during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of
+paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic
+words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be
+possessed of the power of making him invulnerable.
+
+I am acquainted with many people--and not ignorant--who believe that by
+wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the
+Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and
+other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir.
+
+That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did
+not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational
+conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing FACTS. If we had nothing
+but their _name_ to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its
+etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language.
+
+They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told
+that, in very remote ages, _Maya_, a prince of the Davanas, established
+himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book
+where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise
+magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura
+(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the
+Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist--gods and men.
+
+Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call
+themselves _Mayas_, and that the names of their tribes and cities are
+words belonging to the American Maya language.
+
+Who can give the etymology of the name _Magi_, the learned men amongst
+the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as _Maya_ in
+Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece,
+where we find again the name _Maia_, it is mentioned as that of a
+goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that
+she was the daughter of Atlantis--born of Atlantis. But if we come to
+the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a
+country called MAYAB, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a
+sieve (_Mayab_), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its
+inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called
+themselves _Mayas_. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their
+hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a
+_Lord_, a _Master_, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to
+indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants
+of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land,
+were people from MAYAB; particularly if we consider that the usual
+character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with
+the sign of land?
+
+We know that the _Mayas_ deified and paid divine honors to their eminent
+men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they
+undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they
+emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their
+inhabitants, who came to forget that MAYAB was a locality, converted it
+in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was
+considered as the _Mother of the Gods_, as we see in Hindostan and
+Greece.
+
+It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization
+from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores
+and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion.
+They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them
+at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and
+beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This
+appears to be the true side of the question; for in the figures
+sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly
+discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the
+celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American.
+
+The FACTS gathered from the monuments do not sustain the theory advanced
+by many, that the inhabitants of tropical America received their
+civilization from Egypt and Asia Minor. On the contrary. It is true that
+I have shown that many of the customs and attainments of the Egyptians
+were identical to those of the Mayas; but these had many religious rites
+and habits unknown to the Egyptians; who, as we know, always pointed
+towards the West as the birthplaces of their ancestors, and worshiped as
+gods and goddesses personages who had lived, and whose remains are still
+in MAYAB. Besides, the monuments themselves prove the respective
+antiquity of the two nations.
+
+According to the best authorities the most ancient monuments raised by
+the Egyptians do not date further back than about 2,500 years B. C.
+Well, in Ak�, a city about twenty-five miles from Merida, there exists
+still a monument sustaining thirty-six columns of _katuns_. Each of
+these columns indicate a lapse of one hundred and sixty years in the
+life of the nation. They then would show that 5,760 years has intervened
+between the time when the first stone was placed on the east corner of
+the uppermost of the three immense superposed platforms that compose the
+structure, and the placing of the last capping stone on the top of the
+thirty-sixth column. How long did that event occur before the Spanish
+conquest it is impossible to surmise. Supposing, however, it did take
+place at that time; this would give us a lapse of at least 6,100 years
+since, among the rejoicings of the people this sacred monument being
+finished, the first stone that was to serve as record of the age of the
+nation, was laid by the high priest, where we see it to-day. I will
+remark that the name AK� is one of the Egyptians' divinities, the third
+person of the triad of Esneh; always represented as a child, holding his
+finger to his mouth. AK� also means a _reed_. To-day the meaning of the
+word is lost in Yucatan.
+
+Cogolludo, in his history of Yucatan, speaking of the manner in which
+they computed time, says:
+
+"They counted their ages and eras, which they inscribed in their books
+every twenty years, in lustrums of four years. * * * When five of these
+lustrums were completed, they called the lapse of twenty years _katun_,
+which means to place a stone down upon another. * * * In certain sacred
+buildings and in the houses of the priests every twenty years they place
+a hewn stone upon those already there. When seven of these stones have
+thus been piled one over the other began the _Ahau katun_. Then after
+the first lustrum of four years they placed a small stone on the top of
+the big one, commencing at the east corner; then after four years more
+they placed another small stone on the west corner; then the next at the
+north; and the fourth at the south. At the end of the twenty years they
+put a big stone on the top of the small ones: and the column, thus
+finished, indicated a lapse of one hundred and sixty years."
+
+There are other methods for determining the approximate age of the
+monuments of Mayab:
+
+1st. By means of their actual orientation; starting from the _fact_ that
+their builders always placed either the faces or angles of the edifices
+fronting the cardinal points.
+
+2d. By determining the epoch when the mastodon became extinct. For,
+since _Can_ or his ancestors adopted the head of that animal as symbol
+of deity, it is evident they must have known it; hence, must have been
+contemporary with it.
+
+3d. By determining when, through some great cataclysm, the lands became
+separated, and all communications between the inhabitants of _Mayab_ and
+their colonies were consequently interrupted. If we are to credit what
+Psenophis and Sonchis, priests of Heliopolis and Sa�s, said to Solon
+"that nine thousand years before, the visit to them of the Athenian
+legislator, in consequence of great earthquakes and inundations, the
+lands of the West disappeared in one day and a fatal night," then we may
+be able to form an idea of the antiquity of the ruined cities of America
+and their builders.
+
+Reader, I have brought before you, without comments, some of the FACTS,
+that after ten years of research, the paintings on the walls of
+_Chaacmol's_ funeral chamber, the sculptured inscriptions carved on the
+stones of the crumbling monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the vernacular of the aborigines of that country, have revealed to us. I
+have no theory to offer. Many years of further patient investigations,
+the full interpretation of the monumental inscriptions, and, above all,
+the possession of the libraries of the learned men of _Mayab_, are the
+_sine qua non_ to form an uncontrovertible one, free from the
+speculations which invalidate all books published on the subject
+heretofore.
+
+If by reading these pages you have learned something new, your time has
+not been lost; nor mine in writing them.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+
+The following typographical errors have been maintained:
+
+     Page Error
+  TN-1   7  precipituous should read precipitous
+  TN-2  17  maya should read Maya
+  TN-3  20  Egpptian should read Egyptian
+  TN-4  23  _Moo_ should read _Mo�_
+  TN-5  23  Guetzalcoalt should read Quetzalcoatl
+  TN-6  26  ethonologists should read ethnologists
+  TN-7  26  what he said should read what he said.
+  TN-8  26  absorbant should read absorbent
+  TN-9  28  lazuri: should read lazuli:
+  TN-10 28  (Strange should read Strange
+  TN-11 28  Chichsen should read Chichen
+  TN-12 28  Mo� should read Mo�,
+  TN-13 32  Birmah should read Burmah
+  TN-14 32  Siameeses. should read Siameses.
+  TN-15 33  maya should read Maya
+  TN-16 34  valleys should read valleys,
+  TN-17 35  even to-day should read even to-day.
+  TN-18 38  inthe should read in the
+  TN-19 38  Bresseur should read Brasseur
+  TN-20 49  (maya) should read (Maya)
+  TN-21 51  epoch should read epochs
+  TN-22 52  Wishnu, should read Vishnu,
+  TN-23 58  his art, should read his art.
+  TN-24 59  _M�_, should read _Mo�_,
+  TN-25 62  Mayas should read Mayas'
+  TN-26 63  as symbol should read as a symbol
+  TN-27 66  e. g should read e. g.
+  TN-28 68  _Kukulean_ should read _Kukulcan_
+  TN-29 69  DuChaillu should read Du Chaillu
+  TN-30 72  death frequently occur; should read death frequently occurs;
+            or deaths frequently occur;
+  TN-31 72  is is should read it is
+  TN-32 73  beats should read beat
+  TN-33 80  _Nicte_ should read _Nict�_
+  TN-34 80  maya should read Maya
+  TN-35 81  yard should read yards
+  TN-36 81  qualities, (the should read qualities (thus
+
+The following words are inconsistently spelled and hyphenated:
+
+  Aac / Aak
+  Ak� / Ake
+  birth-place / birthplace
+  fa�ade / facade
+  H� / Ha
+  Hapim� / Hapimu
+  Hem� / Hema
+  Kinich-Kakm� / Kinich-kakmo
+  N� / Na
+  Rab-mag / Rabmag
+  _senotes_ / senotes
+  Tipho / Typho
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon
+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon.
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+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: Vestiges of the Mayas
+       or, Facts Tending to Prove that Communications and Intimate
+              Relations Must Have Existed, in very Remote Times, Between
+              the Inhabitants of Mayab and Those of Asia and Africa
+
+Author: Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2009 [EBook #30752]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
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+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="tn">
+<p class="titlepage"><b>Transcriber’s Note</b></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version of
+this book. They are <ins class="correction" title="correction">marked</ins> and the corrected text is shown in the popup.
+A description of the errors is found in the <a href="#trans_note">list</a> at the end of the text.
+Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been maintained.
+A list of inconsistently spelled, hyphenated, and capitalized words is found
+in a <a href="#trans_note">list</a> at the end of the text.</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">The following less-common characters are used in this version of the book.
+If they do not display properly, please try changing your font.</p>
+
+<ul class="ix">
+  <li>☉  Sun symbol</li>
+  <li>ā  a with macron</li>
+  <li>ɔ  open o</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+<h1 class="chapterhead">VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS,</h1>
+
+<p class="titlepage" style="margin-top: 2em;">OR,<br />
+<br />
+<i>Facts tending to prove that Communications and Intimate Relations
+  must have<br />existed, in very remote times, between the inhabitants of</i><br />
+<br />
+<span style="font-size: 160%;">MAYAB</span><br />
+<br />
+AND THOSE OF<br />
+<br />
+<span style="font-size: 140%;">ASIA AND AFRICA.</span></p>
+
+<p class="titlepage" style="margin-top: 2em;">BY<br />
+<br />
+  <span class="smcap">AUGUSTUS Le PLONGEON, M. D.</span>,<br />
+<br />
+  Member of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., of the
+  California<br />Academy of Sciences, and several other Scientific Societies.
+  Author of various<br />Essays and Scientific Works.</p>
+
+<hr class="declong" />
+
+<p class="titlepage">NEW YORK:<br />
+  JOHN POLHEMUS, PRINTER AND STATIONER,<br />
+  102 NASSAU STREET.</p>
+
+<hr class="decshort" />
+
+<p class="titlepage">1881.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p class="titlepage" style="margin-top: 4em;">To</p>
+
+<p class="titlepage"><i>MR. PIERRE LORILLARD.</i></p>
+
+<p>Who deserves the thanks of the students of American Archæology more than
+you, for the interest manifested in the explorations of the ruined
+monuments of Central America, handiwork of the races that inhabited this
+continent in remote ages, and the material help given by you to Foreign
+and American explorers in that field of investigations?</p>
+
+<p>Accept, then, my personal thanks, with the dedication of this small
+Essay. It forms part of the result of many years’ study and hardships
+among the ruined cities of the Incas, in Peru, and of the Mayas in
+Yucatan.</p>
+
+<p class="titlepage">Yours very respectfully,<br />
+<br />
+  <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 10em;">AUGUSTUS Le PLONGEON, M. D.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">New York</span>, <i>December 15, 1881</i>.</p>
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class="titlepage">Entered according to an Act of Congress, in December, 1881,<br />
+
+  <span class="smcap">By AUGUSTUS Le PLONGEON</span>,<br />
+
+  In the Office of the <span class="smcap">Librarian of Congress</span> in Washington, D.C.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="chapterhead">VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Yucatan</span> is the peninsula which divides the Gulf of Mexico from the
+Caribbean Sea. It is comprised between the 17° 30´ and 21° 50´, of
+latitude north, and the 88° and 91° of longitude west from the Greenwich
+meridian.</p>
+
+<p>The whole peninsula is of fossiferous limestone formation. Elevated a
+few feet only above the sea, on the coasts, it gradually raises toward
+the interior, to a maximum height of above 70 feet. A bird’s-eye view,
+from a lofty building, impresses the beholder with the idea that he is
+looking on an immense sea of verdure, having the horizon for boundary;
+without a hill, not even a hillock, to break the monotony of the
+landscape. Here and there clusters of palm trees, or artificial mounds,
+covered with shrubs, loom above the green dead-level as islets, over
+that expanse of green foliage, affording a momentary relief to the eyes
+growing tired of so much sameness.</p>
+
+<p>About fifty miles from the northwestern coast begins a low, narrow range
+of hills, whose highest point is not much above 500 feet. It traverses
+the peninsula in a direction a little south from east, commencing a few
+miles north from the ruined city of Uxmal, and terminating some distance
+from the eastern coast, opposite to the magnificent bay of Ascension.</p>
+
+<p>Lately I have noticed that some veins of red oxide of iron exist among
+these hills&mdash;quarries of marble must also be found there; since the
+sculptured ornaments that adorn the facade of all the monuments at Uxmal
+are of that stone. To-day the inhabitants of Yucatan are even ignorant
+of the existence of these minerals in their country, and ocher to paint,
+and marble slabs to floor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> their houses, are imported from abroad. I
+have also discovered veins of good lithographic stones that could be
+worked at comparatively little expense.</p>
+
+<p>The surface of the country is undulating; its stony waves recall
+forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems as if, in
+times long gone by, the soil was upheaved, <i>en masse</i>, from the bottom
+of the sea, by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many
+centuries ago, since isolated columns of <i>Katuns</i> 1m. 50c. square,
+erected at least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular
+position, as at the time when another stone was added to those already
+piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding
+countries&mdash;Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India Islands&mdash;are
+frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of Yucatan is
+entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of mother earth. This
+immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to the innumerable and
+extensive caves with which the whole country is entirely honeycombed;
+and the large number of immense natural wells, called Senotes, that are
+to be found everywhere. These caves and senotes afford an outlet for the
+escape of the gases generated in the superficial strata of the earth.
+These, finding no resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these
+vents without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions
+that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>Some of those caves are said to be very extensive&mdash;None, however, has
+been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few, certainly extremely
+beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant stalactites depending from
+their roofs, that seem as if supported by the stalagmites that must have
+required ages to be formed gradually from the floor into the massive
+columns, as we see them to-day.</p>
+
+<p>In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> springs of clear,
+pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and fishes. No one can
+tell whence they come or where they go. All currents of water are
+subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on the surface; not even the
+smallest of streamlets, where the birds of the air, or the wild beasts
+of the forests, can allay their thirst during the dry season. The
+plants, if there are no chinks or crevices in the stony soil through
+which their roots can penetrate and seek the life-sustaining fluid
+below, wither and die. It is a curious sight that presented by the roots
+of the trees, growing on the <a name="corr1" id="corr1"></a><ins class="correction" title="precipitous">precipituous</ins> brinks of the <i>senotes</i>,
+in their search for water. They go down and down, even a hundred feet,
+until they reach the liquid surface, from where they suck up the fluid
+to aliment the body of the tree. They seem like many cables and ropes
+stretched all round the sides of the well; and, in fact, serves as such
+to some of the most daring of the natives, to ascend or descend to enjoy
+a refreshing bath.</p>
+
+<p>These <i>senotes</i> are immense circular holes, the diameter of which varies
+from 50 to 500 feet, with perpendicular walls from 50 to 150 feet deep.
+These holes might be supposed to have served as ducts for the
+subterranean gases at the time of the upheaval of the country. Now they
+generally contain water. In some, the current is easily noticeable; many
+are completely dry; whilst others contain thermal mineral water,
+emitting at times strong sulphurous odor and vapor.</p>
+
+<p>Many strange stories are told by the aborigines concerning the
+properties possessed by the water in certain senotes, and the strange
+phenomena that takes place in others. In one, for example, you are
+warned to approach the water walking backward, and to breathe very
+softly, otherwise it becomes turbid and unfit for drinking until it has
+settled and become clear again. In another you are told not to speak
+above a whisper, for if any one raises the voice the tranquil surface of
+the water immediately becomes agitated, and soon assumes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> the appearance
+of boiling; even its level raises. These and many other things are told
+in connection with the caves and senotes; and we find them mentioned in
+the writings of the chroniclers and historians from the time of the
+Spanish conquest.</p>
+
+<p>No lakes exist on the surface, at least within the territories occupied
+by the white men. Some small sheets of water, called aguadas, may be
+found here and there, and are fed by the underground current; but they
+are very rare. There are three or four near the ruins of the ancient
+city of Mayapan: probably its inhabitants found in them an abundant
+supply of water. Following all the same direction, they are, as some
+suppose, no doubt with reason, the outbreaks of a subterranean stream
+that comes also to the surface in the senote of <i>Mucuyché</i>. A mile or so
+from Uxmal is another aguada; but judging from the great number of
+artificial reservoirs, built on the terraces and in the courts of all
+the monuments, it would seem as if the people there depended more on the
+clouds for their provision of water than on the wells and senotes. Yet I
+feel confident that one of these must exist under the building known as
+the Governor’s house; having discovered in its immediate vicinity the
+entrance&mdash;now closed&mdash;of a cave from which a cool current of air is
+continually issuing; at times with great force.</p>
+
+<p>I have been assured by Indians from the village of Chemax, who pretend
+to know that part of the country well, that, at a distance of about
+fifty miles from the city of Valladolid, the actual largest settlement
+on the eastern frontier, in the territories occupied by the <span class="smcap">Santa Cruz</span>
+Indians, there exists, near the ruins of <i>Kaba</i>, two extensive sheets of
+water, from where, in years gone by, the inhabitants of Valladolid
+procured abundant supply of excellent fishes. These ruins of Kaba, said
+to be very interesting, have never been visited by any foreigner; nor
+are they likely to be for many years to come, on account of the imminent
+danger of falling into the hands of those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> of Santa Cruz&mdash;that, since
+1847, wage war to the knife against the Yucatecans.</p>
+
+<p>On the coast, the sea penetrating in the lowlands have formed sloughs
+and lakes, on the shores of which thickets of mangroves grow, with
+tropical luxuriancy. Intermingling their crooked roots, they form such a
+barrier as to make landing well nigh impossible. These small lakes,
+subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, are the resort of innumerable
+sea birds and water fowls of all sizes and descriptions; from the snipe
+to the crane, and brightly colored flamingos, from the screeching sea
+gulls to the serious looking pelican. They are attracted to these lakes
+by the solitude of the forests of mangroves that afford them excellent
+shelter, where to build their nests, and find protection from the storms
+that, at certain season of the year, sweep with untold violence along
+the coast: and because with ease they can procure an abundant supply of
+food, these waters being inhabited by myriads of fishes, as they come to
+bask on the surface which is seldom ruffled even when the tempest rages
+outside.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the want of superficial water, the air is always charged
+with moisture; the consequence being a most equable temperature all the
+year round, and an extreme luxuriance of all vegetation. The climate is
+mild and comparatively healthy for a country situated within the
+tropics, and bathed by the waters of the Mexican Gulf. This mildness and
+healthiness may be attributed to the sea breezes that constantly pass
+over the peninsula, carrying the malaria and noxious gases that have not
+been absorbed by the forests, which cover the main portion of the land;
+and to the great abundance of oxygen exuded by the plants in return.
+This excessive moisture and the decomposition of dead vegetable matter
+is the cause of the intermittent fevers that prevail in all parts of the
+peninsula, where the yellow fever, under a mild form generally, is also
+endemic. When it appears, as this year, in an epidemic form, the natives
+themselves enjoy no immunity from its ravages, and fall victims to it as
+well as unacclimated foreigners.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>These epidemics, those of smallpox and other diseases that at times make
+their appearance in Yucatan, generally present themselves after the
+rainy season, particularly if the rains have been excessive. The country
+being extremely flat, the drainage is necessarily very bad: and in
+places like Merida, for example, where a crowding of population exists,
+and the cleanliness of the streets is utterly disregarded by the proper
+authorities, the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter is very
+large; and the miasmas generated, being carried with the vapors arising
+from the constant evaporation of stagnant waters, are the origin of
+those scourges that decimate the inhabitants. Yucatan, isolated as it
+is, its small territory nearly surrounded by water, ought to be, if the
+laws of health were properly enforced, one of the most healthy countries
+on the earth; where, as in the Island of Cozumel, people should only die
+of old age or accident. The thermometer varies but little, averaging
+about 80° <i>Far</i>. True, it rises in the months of July and August as high
+as 96° in the shade, but it seldom falls below 65° in the month of
+December. In the dry season, from January to June, the trees become
+divested of their leaves, that fall more particularly in March and
+April. Then the sun, returning from the south on its way to the north,
+passes over the land and darts its scorching perpendicular rays on it,
+causing every living creature to thirst for a drop of cool water; the
+heat being increased by the burning of those parts of the forests that
+have been cut down to prepare fields for cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>In the portion of the peninsula, about one-third of it, that still
+remains in possession of the white, the Santa Cruz Indians holding,
+since 1847, the richest and most fertile, two-thirds, the soil is
+entirely stony. The arable loam, a few inches in thickness, is the
+result of the detriti of the stones, mixed with the remainder of the
+decomposition of vegetable matter. In certain districts, towards the
+eastern and southern parts of the State, patches of red clay form
+excellent ground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> for the cultivation of the sugar cane and Yuca root.
+From this an excellent starch is obtained in large quantities. Withal,
+the soil is of astonishing fertility, and trees, even, are met with of
+large size, whose roots run on the surface of the bare stone,
+penetrating the chinks and crevices only in search of moisture. Often
+times I have seen them growing from the center of slabs, the seed having
+fallen in a hole that happened to be bored in them. In the month of May
+the whole country seems parched and dry. Not a leaf, not a bud. The
+branches and boughs are naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray
+dust. Nothing to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare trunks
+and branches, with the withes entwining them. With the first days of
+June come the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand had been
+waved over the land, the view changes&mdash;life springs everywhere. In the
+short space of a few days the forests have resumed their holiday attire;
+buds appear and the leaves shoot; the flowers bloom sending forth their
+fragrance, that wafted by the breeze perfume the air far and near. The
+birds sing their best songs of joy; the insects chirp their shrillest
+notes; butterflies of gorgeous colors flutter in clouds in every
+direction in search of the nectar contained in the cups of the
+newly-opened blossom, and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds.
+All creation rejoices because a few tears of mother Nature have brought
+joy and happiness to all living beings, from the smallest blade of grass
+to the majestic palm; from the creeping worm to man, who proudly titles
+himself the lord of creation.</p>
+
+<p>Yucatan has no rich metallic mines, but its wealth of vegetable
+productions is immense. Large forests of mahogany, cedar, zapotillo
+trees cover vast extents of land in the eastern and southern portions of
+the peninsula; whilst patches of logwood and mora, many miles in length,
+grow near the coast. The wood is to-day cut down and exported by the
+Indians of Santa Cruz through their agents at Belize. Coffee, vanilla,
+tobacco, india-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>rubber, rosins of various kinds, copal in particular,
+all of good quality, abound in the country, but are not cultivated on
+account of its unsettled state; the Indians retaining possession of the
+most fertile territories where these rich products are found.</p>
+
+<p>The whites have been reduced to the culture of the Hennequen plant
+(agave sisalensis) in order to subsist. It is the only article of
+commerce that grows well on the stony soil to which they are now
+confined. The filament obtained from the plant, and the objects
+manufactured from it constitute the principal article of export; in fact
+the only source of wealth of the Yucatecans. As the filament is now much
+in demand for the fabrication of cordage in the United States and
+Europe, many of the landowners have ceased to plant maize, although the
+staple article of food in all classes, to convert their land into
+hennequen fields. The plant thrives well on stony soil, requires no
+water and but little care. The natural consequence of planting the whole
+country with hennequen has been so great a deficiency in the maize crop,
+that this year not enough was grown for the consumption, and people in
+the northeastern district were beginning to suffer from the want of it,
+when some merchants of Merida imported large quantities from New York.
+They, of course, sold it at advanced prices, much to the detriment of
+the poorer classes. Some sugar is also cultivated in the southern and
+eastern districts, but not in sufficient quantities even for the
+consumption; and not a little is imported from Habana.</p>
+
+<p>The population of the country, about 250,000 souls all told, are mostly
+Indians and mixed blood. In fact, very few families can be found of pure
+Caucasian race. Notwithstanding the great admixture of different races,
+a careful observer can readily distinguish yet four prominent ones, very
+noticeable by their features, their stature, the conformation of their
+body. The dwarfish race is certainly easily distinguishable from the
+descendants of the giants that tradition says once<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> upon a time existed
+in the country, whose bones are yet found, and whose portraits are
+painted on the walls of Chaacmol’s funeral chamber at Chichen-Itza. The
+almond-eyed, flat-nosed Siamese race of Copan is not to be mistaken for
+the long, big-nosed, flat-headed remnant of the Nahualt from Palenque,
+who are said to have invaded the country some time at the beginning of
+the Christian era; and whose advent among the Mayas, whose civilization
+they appear to have destroyed, has been commemorated by calling the
+<i>west</i>, the region whence they came, according to Landa, Cogolludo and
+other historians, <span class="smrom">NOHNIAL</span>, a word which means literally <i>big noses for
+our daughters</i>; whilst the coming of the bearded men from the <i>east</i>,
+better looking than those of the west, if we are to give credit to the
+bas-relief where their portraits are to be seen, was called
+<span class="smrom">CENIAL</span>&mdash;<i>ornaments for our daughters</i>.</p>
+
+<p>If we are to judge by the great number of ruined cities scattered
+everywhere through the forests of the peninsula; by the architectural
+beauty of the monuments still extant, the specimens of their artistic
+attainments in drawing and sculpture which have reached us in the
+bas-reliefs, statues and mural paintings of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza; by
+their knowledge in mathematical and astronomical sciences, as manifested
+in the construction of the gnomon found by me in the ruins of Mayapan;
+by the complexity of the grammatical form and syntaxis of their
+language, still spoken to-day by the majority of the inhabitants of
+Yucatan; by their mode of expressing their thoughts on paper, made from
+the bark of certain trees, with alphabetical and phonetical characters,
+we must of necessity believe that, at some time or other, the country
+was not only densely populated, but that the inhabitants had reached a
+high degree of civilization. To-day we can conceive of very few of their
+attainments by the scanty remains of their handiwork, as they have come
+to us injured by the hand of time, and, more so yet, by that of man,
+during the wars, the invasions, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> social and religious convulsions
+which have taken place among these people, as among all other nations.
+Only the opening of the buildings which contain the libraries of their
+learned men, and the reading of their works, could solve the mystery,
+and cause us to know how much they had advanced in the discovery and
+explanation of Nature’s arcana; how much they knew of mankind’s past
+history, and of the nations with which they held intercourse. Let us
+hope that the day may yet come when the Mexican government will grant to
+me the requisite permission, in order that I may bring forth, from the
+edifices where they are hidden, the precious volumes, without opposition
+from the owners of the property where the monuments exist. Until then we
+must content ourselves with the study of the inscriptions carved on the
+walls, and becoming acquainted with the history of their builders, and
+continue to conjecture what knowledge they possessed in order to be able
+to rear such enduring structures, besides the art of designing the plans
+and ornaments, and the manner of carving them on stone.</p>
+
+<p>Let us place ourselves in the position of the archæologists of thousands
+of years to come, examining the ruins of our great cities, finding still
+on foot some of the stronger built palaces and public buildings, with
+some rare specimens of the arts, sciences, industry of our days, the
+minor edifices having disappeared, gnawed by the steely tooth of time,
+together with the many products of our industry, the machines of all
+kinds, creation of man’s ingenuity, and his powerful helpmates. What
+would they know of the attainments and the progress in mechanics of our
+days? Would they be able to form a complete idea of our civilization,
+and of the knowledge of our scientific men, without the help of the
+volumes contained in our public libraries, and maybe of some one able to
+interpret them? Well, it seems to me that we stand in exactly the same
+position concerning the civilization of those who have preceded us five
+or ten thou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>sand years ago on this continent, as these future
+archæologists may stand regarding our civilization five or ten thousand
+years hence.</p>
+
+<p>It is a fact, recorded by all historians of the Conquest, that when for
+the first time in 1517 the Spaniards came in sight of the lands called
+by them Yucatan, they were surprised to see on the coast many monuments
+well built of stone; and to find the country strewn with large cities
+and beautiful monuments that recalled to their memory the best of Spain.
+They were no less astonished to meet in the inhabitants, not naked
+savages, but a civilized people, possessed of polite and pleasant
+manners, dressed in white cotton habiliments, navigating large boats
+propelled by sails, traveling on well constructed roads and causeways
+that, in point of beauty and solidity, could compare advantageously with
+similar Roman structures in Spain, Italy, England or France.</p>
+
+<p>I will not describe here the majestic monuments raised by the Mayas.
+Mrs. Le Plongeon, in her letters to the <i>New York World</i>, has given of
+those of <span class="smcap">Uxmal</span>, <span class="smcap">Ake</span> and <span class="smcap">Mayapan</span>, the only correct description ever
+published. My object at present is to relate some of the curious facts
+revealed to us by their weather-beaten and crumbling walls, and show how
+erroneous is the opinion of some European scientists, who think it not
+worth while to give a moment of their precious time to the study of
+American archæology, because say they: <i>No relations have ever been
+found to have existed between the monuments and civilizations of the
+inhabitants of this continent and those of the old world</i>. On what
+ground they hazard such an opinion it is difficult to surmise, since to
+my knowledge the ancient ruined cities of Yucatan, until lately, have
+never been thoroughly, much less scientifically, explored. The same is
+true of the other monumental ruins of the whole of Central America.</p>
+
+<p>When Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself landed at Progresso, in 1873, we
+thought that because we had read the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> works of Stephens, Waldeck,
+Norman, Fredeichstal; carefully examined the few photographic views made
+by Mr. Charnay of some of the monuments, we knew all about them. Alas!
+vain presumption! When in presence of the antique shrines and palaces of
+the Mayas, we soon saw how mistaken we had been; how little those
+writers had seen of the monuments they had pretended to describe: that
+the work of studying them systematically was not even begun; and that
+many years of close observation and patient labor would be necessary in
+order to dispel the mysteries which hang over them, and to discover the
+hidden meaning of their ornaments and inscriptions. To this difficult
+task we resolved to dedicate our time, and to concentrate our efforts to
+find a solution, if possible, to the enigma.</p>
+
+<p>We began our work by taking photographs of all the monuments in their
+<i>tout ensemble</i>, and in all their details, as much as practicable. Next,
+we surveyed them carefully; made accurate plans of them in order to be
+able to comprehend by the disposition of their different parts, for what
+possible use they were erected; taking, as a starting point, that the
+human mind and human inclinations and wants are the same in all times,
+in all countries, in all races when civilized and cultured. We next
+carefully examined what connection the ornaments bore to each other, and
+tried to understand the meaning of the designs. At first the maze of
+these designs seemed a very difficult riddle to solve. Yet, we believed
+that if a human intelligence had devised it, another human intelligence
+would certainly be able to unravel it. It was not, however, until we had
+nearly completed the tracing and study of the mural paintings, still
+extant in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, or room built on the top of
+the eastern wall of the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza, at its southern end,
+that Stephens mistook for a shrine dedicated to the god of the players
+at ball, that a glimmer of light began to dawn upon us. In tracing the
+figure of Chaacmol in battle, I remarked that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> shield worn by him
+had painted on it round green spots, and was exactly like the ornaments
+placed between tiger and tiger on the entablature of the same monument.
+I naturally concluded that the monument had been raised to the memory of
+the warrior bearing the shield; that the tigers represented his totem,
+and that <i>Chaacmol</i> or <i>Balam</i> <a name="corr2" id="corr2"></a><ins class="correction" title="Maya">maya</ins> words for spotted tiger or
+leopard, was his name. I then remembered that at about one hundred yards
+in the thicket from the edifice, in an easterly direction, a few days
+before, I had noticed the ruins of a remarkable mound of rather small
+dimensions. It was ornamented with slabs engraved with the images of
+spotted tigers, eating human hearts, forming magnificent bas-reliefs,
+conserving yet traces of the colors in which it was formerly painted. I
+repaired to the place. Doubts were no longer possible. The same round
+dots, forming the spots of their skins, were present here as on the
+shield of the warrior in battle, and that on the entablature of the
+building. On examining carefully the ground around the mound, I soon
+stumbled upon what seemed to be a half buried statue. On clearing the
+<i>débris</i> we found a statue in the round, representing a wounded tiger
+reclining on his right side. Three holes in the back indicated the
+places where he received his wounds. It was headless. A few feet
+further, I found a human head with the eyes half closed, as those of a
+dying person. When placed on the neck of the tiger it fitted exactly. I
+propped it with sticks to keep it in place. So arranged, it recalled
+vividly the Chaldean and Egyptian deities having heads of human beings
+and bodies of animals. The next object that called my attention was
+another slab on which was represented in bas-relief a dying warrior,
+reclining on his back, the head was thrown entirely backwards. His left
+arm was placed across his chest, the left hand resting on the right
+shoulder, exactly in the same position which the Egyptians were wont, at
+times, to give to the mummies of some of their eminent men. From his
+mouth was seen escaping two thin, narrow flames&mdash;the spirit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> the
+dying man abandoning the body with the last warm breath.</p>
+
+<p>These and many other sculptures caused me to suspect that this monument
+had been the mausoleum raised to the memory of the warrior with the
+shield covered with the round dots. Next to the slabs engraved with the
+image of tigers was another, representing an <i>ara militaris</i> (a bird of
+the parrot specie, very large and of brilliant plumage of various
+colors). I took it for the totem of his wife, <span class="smrom">MOÓ</span>, <i>macaw</i>; and so it
+proved to be when later I was able to interpret their ideographic
+writings. <i>Kinich-Kakmó</i> after her death obtained the honors of the
+apotheosis; had temples raised to her memory, and was worshipped at
+Izamal up to the time of the Spanish conquest, according to Landa,
+Cogolludo and Lizana.</p>
+
+<p>Satisfied that I had found the tomb of a great warrior among the Mayas,
+I resolved to make an excavation, notwithstanding I had no tools or
+implements proper for such work. After two months of hard toil, after
+penetrating through three level floors painted with yellow ochre, at
+last a large stone urn came in sight. It was opened in presence of
+Colonel D. Daniel Traconis. It contained a small heap of grayish dust
+over which lay the cover of a terra cotta pot, also painted yellow; a
+few small ornaments of macre that crumbled to dust on being touched, and
+a large ball of jade, with a hole pierced in the middle. This ball had
+at one time been highly polished, but for some cause or other the polish
+had disappeared from one side. Near, and lower than the urn, was
+discovered the head of the colossal statue, to-day the best, or one of
+the best pieces, in the National Museum of Mexico, having been carried
+thither on board of the gunboat <i>Libertad</i>, without my consent, and
+without any renumeration having even been offered by the Mexican
+government for my labor, my time and the money spent in the discovery.
+Close to the chest of the statue was another stone urn much larger than
+the first. On being uncovered it was found to contain a large quan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>tity
+of reddish substance and some jade ornaments. On closely examining this
+substance I pronounced it organic matter that had been subjected to a
+very great heat in an open vessel. (A chemical analysis of some of it by
+Professor Thompson, of Worcester, Mass., at the request of Mr. Stephen
+Salisbury, Jr., confirmed my opinion). From the position of the urn I
+made up my mind that its contents were the heart and viscera of the
+personage represented by the statue; while the dust found in the first
+urn must have been the residue of his brains.</p>
+
+<p>Landa tells us that it was the custom, even at the time of the Spanish
+conquest, when a person of eminence died to make images of stone, or
+terra cotta or wood in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes were
+placed in a hollow made on the back of the head for the purpose. Feeling
+sorry for having thus disturbed the remains of <i>Chaacmol</i>, so carefully
+concealed by his friends and relatives many centuries ago; in order to
+save them from further desecration, I burned the greater part reserving
+only a small quantity for future analysis. This finding of the heart and
+brains of that chieftain, afforded an explanation, if any was needed, of
+one of the scenes more artistically portrayed in the mural paintings of
+his funeral chamber. In this scene which is painted immediately over the
+entrance of the chamber, where is also a life-size representation of his
+corpse prepared for cremation, the dead warrior is pictured stretched on
+the ground, his back resting on a large stone placed for the purpose of
+raising the body and keeping open the cut made across it, under the
+ribs, for the extraction of the heart and other parts it was customary
+to preserve. These are seen in the hands of his children. At the feet of
+the statue were found a number of beautiful arrowheads of flint and
+chalcedony; also beads that formed part of his necklace. These, to-day
+petrified, seemed to have been originally of bone or ivory. They were
+wrought to figure shells of periwinkles. Surrounding the slab on which
+the figure rests was a large quantity of dried blood. This fact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> might
+lead us to suppose that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral, as
+Herodotus tells us it was customary with the Scythians, and we know it
+was with the Romans and other nations of the old world, and the Incas in
+Peru. Yet not a bone or any other human remains were found in the
+mausoleum.</p>
+
+<p>The statue forms a single piece with the slab on which it reclines, as
+if about to rise on his elbows, the legs being drawn up so that the feet
+rest flat on the slab. I consider this attitude given to the statues of
+dead personages that I have discovered in Chichen, where they are still,
+to be symbolical of their belief in reincarnation. They, in common with
+the Egyptians, the Hindoos, and other nations of antiquity, held that
+the spirit of man after being made to suffer for its shortcomings during
+its mundane life, would enjoy happiness for a time proportionate to its
+good deeds, then return to earth, animate the body and live again a
+material existence. The Mayas, however, destroying the body by fire,
+made statues in the semblance of the deceased, so that, being
+indestructible the spirit might find and animate them on its return to
+earth. The present aborigines have the same belief. Even to-day, they
+never fail to prepare the <i>hanal pixan</i>, the food for the spirits, which
+they place in secluded spots in the forests or fields, every year, in
+the month of November. These statues also hold an urn between their
+hands. This fact again recalls to the mind the <a name="corr3" id="corr3"></a><ins class="correction" title="Egyptian">Egpptian</ins> custom of
+placing an urn in the coffins with the mummies, to indicate that the
+spirit of the deceased had been judged and found righteous.</p>
+
+<p>The ornament hanging on the breast of Chaacmol’s effigy, from a ribbon
+tied with a peculiar knot behind his neck, is simply a badge of his
+rank; the same is seen on the breast of many other personages in the
+bas-reliefs and mural paintings. A similar mark of authority is yet in
+usage in Burmah.</p>
+
+<p>I have tarried so long on the description of my first important
+discovery because I desired to explain the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> method followed by me in the
+investigation of these monuments, to show that the result of our labors
+are by no means the work of imagination&mdash;as some have been so kind a
+<i>short</i> time ago as to intimate&mdash;but of careful and patient analysis and
+comparison; also, in order, from the start, to call your attention to
+the similarity of certain customs in the funeral rites that the Mayas
+seem to have possessed in common with other nations of the old world:
+and lastly, because my friend, Dr. Jesus Sanchez, Professor of
+Archæology in the National Museum of Mexico, ignoring altogether the
+circumstances accompanying the discovery of the statue, has published in
+the <i>Anales del Museo Nacional</i>, a long dissertation&mdash;full of erudition,
+certainly&mdash;to prove that the statue discovered by me at Chichen-Itza,
+was a representation of the <i>God of the natural production of the
+earth</i>, and that the name given by me was altogether arbitrary; and,
+also, because an article has appeared in the <i>North American Review</i> for
+October, 1880, signed by Mr. Charnay, in which the author, after
+re-producing Mr. Sanchez’s writing, pronounces <i>ex cathedra</i> and <i>de
+perse</i>, but without assigning any reason for his opinion, that the
+statue is the effigy of the <i>god of wine</i>&mdash;the Mexican Bacchus&mdash;without
+telling us which of them, for there were two.</p>
+
+<p>Having been obliged to abandon the statue in the forests&mdash;well wrapped
+in oilcloth, and sheltered under a hut of palm leaves, constructed by
+Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself&mdash;my men having been disarmed by order of
+General Palomino, then commander-in-chief of the federal forces in
+Yucatan, in consequence of a revolutionary movement against Dr.
+Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and in favor of General Diaz&mdash;I went to Uxmal
+to continue my researches among its ruined temples and palaces. There I
+took many photographs, surveyed the monuments, and, for the first time,
+found the remnants of the phallic worship of the Nahualts. Its symbols
+are not to be seen in Chichen&mdash;the city of the holy and learned men,
+Itzaes&mdash;but are frequently met with in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> northern parts of the
+peninsula, and all the regions where the Nahualt influence predominated.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt that in very ancient times the same customs and
+religious worship existed in Uxmal and Chichen, since these two cities
+were founded by the same family, that of <span class="smcap">Can</span> (serpent), whose name is
+written on all the monuments in both places. <span class="smcap">Can</span> and the members of his
+family worshipped Deity under the symbol of the mastodon’s head. At
+Chichen a tableau of said worship forms the ornament of the building,
+designated in the work of Stephens, “Travels in Yucatan,” as <span class="smcap">Iglesia</span>;
+being, in fact, the north wing of the palace and museum. This is the
+reason why the mastodon’s head forms so prominent a feature in all the
+ornaments of the edifices built by them. They also worshipped the sun
+and fire, which they represented by the same hieroglyph used by the
+Egyptians for the sun ☉. In this worship of the fire they resembled
+the Chaldeans and Hindoos, but differed from the Egyptians, who had no
+veneration for this element. They regarded it merely as an animal that
+devoured all things within its reach, and died with all it had
+swallowed, when replete and satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>From certain inscriptions and pictures&mdash;in which the <i>Cans</i> are
+represented crawling on all fours like dogs&mdash;sculptured on the façade of
+their house of worship, it would appear that their religion of the
+mastodon was replaced by that of the reciprocal forces of nature,
+imported in the country by the big-nosed invaders, the Nahualts coming
+from the west. These destroyed Chichen, and established their capital at
+<i>Uxmal</i>. There they erected in all the courts of the palaces, and on the
+platforms of the temples the symbols of their religion, taking care,
+however, not to interfere with the worship of the sun and fire, that
+seems to have been the most popular.</p>
+
+<p>Bancroft in his work, “<i>The Native Races of the Pacific States</i>,” Vol.
+IV., page 277, remarks: “That the scarcity of idols among the Maya
+antiquities must be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> regarded as extraordinary. That the people of
+Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection
+with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, and rivalling
+or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for,
+but in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were
+very small, and that such as escaped the fatal iconoclasms of the
+Spanish ecclesiastics were buried by the natives as the only means of
+preventing their desecration.”</p>
+
+<p>That the people who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish
+conquest had a multiplicity of gods there can be no doubt. The primitive
+form of worship, with time and by the effect of invasions from outside,
+had disappeared, and been replaced by that of their great men and women,
+who were deified and had temples raised to their memory, as we see, for
+example, in the case of <a name="corr4" id="corr4"></a><ins class="correction" title="Moó,"><i>Moo</i>,</ins> wife and sister of Chaacmol, whose
+shrine was built on the high mound on the north side of the large square
+in the city of Izamal. There pilgrims flocked from all parts of the
+country to listen to the oracles delivered by the mouth of her priests;
+and see the goddess come down from the clouds every day, at mid-day,
+under the form of a resplendent macaw, and light the fire that was to
+consume the offerings deposited on her altar; even at the time of the
+conquest, according to the chroniclers, Chaacmol himself seems to have
+become the god of war, that always appeared in the midst of the battle,
+fighting on the side of his followers, surrounded with flames. Kukulcan,
+“the culture” hero of the Mayas, the winged serpent, worshipped by the
+Mexicans as the god <a name="corr5" id="corr5"></a><ins class="correction" title="Quetzalcoatl,">Guetzalcoalt,</ins> and by the Quichés as Cucumatz, if not
+the father himself of Chaacmol, <span class="smcap">Can</span>, at least one of his ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>The friends and followers of that prince may have worshipped him after
+his death, and the following generations, seeing the representation of
+his totems (serpent) covered with feathers, on the walls of his palaces,
+and of the sanctuaries built by him to the deity, called him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> Kukulcan,
+the winged serpent: when, in fact, the artists who carved his emblems on
+the walls covered them with the cloaks he and all the men in authority
+and the high priests wore on ceremonial occasions&mdash;feathered
+vestments&mdash;as we learned from the study of mural paintings.</p>
+
+<p>In the temples and palaces of the ancient Mayas I have never seen
+anything that I could in truth take for idols. I have seen many symbols,
+such as double-headed tigers, corresponding to the double-headed lions
+of the Egyptians, emblems of the sun. I have seen the representation of
+people kneeling in a peculiar manner, with their right hand resting on
+the left shoulder&mdash;sign of respect among the Mayas as among the
+inhabitants of Egypt&mdash;in the act of worshiping the mastodon head; but I
+doubt if this can be said to be idol worship. <i>Can</i> and his family were
+probably monotheists. The masses of the people, however, may have placed
+the different natural phenomena under the direct supervision of special
+imaginary beings, prescribing to them the same duties that among the
+Catholics are prescribed, or rather attributed, to some of the saints;
+and may have tributed to them the sort of worship of <i>dulia</i>, tributed
+to the saints&mdash;even made images that they imagined to represent such or
+such deity, as they do to-day; but I have never found any. They
+worshiped the divine essence, and called it <span class="smcap">Kú</span>.</p>
+
+<p>In course of time this worship may have been replaced by idolatrous
+rites, introduced by the barbarous or half civilized tribes which
+invaded the country, and implanted among the inhabitants their religious
+belief, their idolatrous superstitions and form of worship with their
+symbols. The monuments of Uxmal afford ample evidence of that fact.</p>
+
+<p>My studies, however, have nothing to do with the history of the country
+posterior to the invasion of the Nahualts. These people appear to have
+destroyed the high form of civilization existing at the time of their
+advent; and tampered with the ornaments of the buildings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> in order to
+introduce the symbols of the reciprocal forces of nature.</p>
+
+<p>The language of the ancient Mayas, strange as it may appear, has
+survived all the vicissitudes of time, wars, and political and religious
+convulsions. It has, of course, somewhat degenerated by the mingling of
+so many races in such a limited space as the peninsula of Yucatan is;
+but it is yet the vernacular of the people. The Spaniards themselves,
+who strived so hard to wipe out all vestiges of the ancient customs of
+the aborigines, were unable to destroy it; nay, they were obliged to
+learn it; and now many of their descendants have forgotten the mother
+tongue of their sires, and speak Maya only.</p>
+
+<p>In some localities in Central America it is still spoken in its pristine
+purity, as, for example, by the <i>Chaacmules</i>, a tribe of bearded men, it
+is said, who live in the vicinity of the unexplored ruins of the ancient
+city of <i>Tekal</i>. It is a well-known fact that many tribes, as that of
+the Itzaes, retreating before the Nahualt invaders, after the surrender
+and destruction of their cities, sought refuge in the islands of the
+lake <i>Peten</i> of to-day, and called it <i>Petenitza</i>, the <i>islands of the
+Itzaes</i>; or in the well nigh inaccessible valleys, defended by ranges of
+towering mountains. There they live to-day, preserving the customs,
+manners, language of their forefathers unaltered, in the tract of land
+known to us as <i>Tierra de Guerra</i>. No white man has ever penetrated
+their zealously guarded stronghold that lays between Guatemala, Tabasco,
+Chiapas and Yucatan, the river <i>Uzumasinta</i> watering part of their
+territory.</p>
+
+<p>The Maya language seems to be one of the oldest tongues spoken by man,
+since it contains words and expressions of all, or nearly all, the known
+polished languages on earth. The name <i>Maya</i>, with the same
+signification everywhere it is met, is to be found scattered over the
+different countries of what we term the Old World, as in Central
+America.</p>
+
+<p>I beg to call your attention to the following facts. They may have no
+significance. They may be mere coinci<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>dences, the strange freaks of
+hazard, of no possible value in the opinion of some among the learned
+men of our days. Just as the finding of English words and English
+customs, as now exist among the most remote nations and heterogeneous
+people and tribes of all races and colors, who do not even suspect the
+existence of one another, may be regarded by the learned philologists
+and <a name="corr6" id="corr6"></a><ins class="correction" title="ethnologists">ethonologists</ins> of two or three thousand years hence. These
+will, perhaps, also pretend that <i>these coincidences</i> are simply the
+curious workings of the human mind&mdash;the efforts of men endeavoring to
+express their thoughts in language, that being reduced to a certain
+number of sounds, must, of necessity produce, if not the same, at least
+very similar words to express the same idea&mdash;and that this similarity
+does not prove that those who invented them had, at any time,
+communication, unless, maybe, at the time of the building of the
+hypothetical Tower of Babel. Then all the inhabitants of earth are said
+to have bid each other a friendly good night, a certain evening, in a
+universal tongue, to find next morning that everybody had gone stark mad
+during the night: since each one, on meeting sixty-nine of his friends,
+was greeted by every one in a different and unknown manner, according to
+learned rabbins; and that he could no more understand what they said,
+than they what he <a name="corr7" id="corr7"></a><ins class="correction" title="said.">said</ins></p>
+
+<p>It is very difficult without the help of the books of the learned
+priests of <i>Mayab</i> to know positively why they gave that name to the
+country known to-day as Yucatan. I can only surmise that they so called
+it from the great <a name="corr8" id="corr8"></a><ins class="correction" title="absorbent">absorbant</ins> quality of its stony soil, which, in
+an incredibly short time, absorbs the water at the surface. This
+percolating through the pores of the stone is afterward found filtered
+clear and cool in the senotes and caves. <i>Mayab</i>, in the Maya language,
+means a tammy, a sieve. From the name of the country, no doubt, the
+Mayas took their name, as natural; and that name is found, as that of
+the English to-day, all over the ancient civilized world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>When, on January 28, 1873, I had the honor of reading a paper before the
+New York American Geographical Society&mdash;on the coincidences that exist
+between the monuments, customs, religious rites, etc. of the prehistoric
+inhabitants of America and those of Asia and Egypt&mdash;I pointed to the
+fact that sun circles, dolmen and tumuli, similar to the megalithic
+monuments of America, had been found to exist scattered through the
+islands of the Pacific to Hindostan; over the plains of the peninsulas
+at the south of Asia, through the deserts of Arabia, to the northern
+parts of Africa; and that not only these rough monuments of a primitive
+age, but those of a far more advanced civilization were also to be seen
+in these same countries. Allow me to repeat now what I then said
+regarding these strange facts: If we start from the American continent
+and travel towards the setting sun we may be able to trace the route
+followed by the mound builders to the plains of Asia and the valley of
+the Nile. The mounds scattered through the valley of the Mississippi
+seem to be the rude specimens of that kind of architecture. Then come
+the more highly finished teocalis of Yucatan and Mexico and Peru; the
+pyramidal mounds of <i>Maui</i>, one of the Sandwich Islands; those existing
+in the Fejee and other islands of the Pacific; which, in China, we find
+converted into the high, porcelain, gradated towers; and these again
+converted into the more imposing temples of Cochin-China, Hindostan,
+Ceylon&mdash;so grand, so stupendous in their wealth of ornamentation that
+those of Chichen-Itza Uxmal, Palenque, admirable as they are, well nigh
+dwindle into insignificance, as far as labor and imagination are
+concerned, when compared with them. That they present the same
+fundamental conception in their architecture is evident&mdash;a platform
+rising over another platform, the one above being of lesser size than
+the one below; the American monuments serving, as it were, as models for
+the more elaborate and perfect, showing the advance of art and
+knowledge.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>The name Maya seems to have existed from the remotest times in the
+meridional parts of Hindostan. Valmiki, in his epic poem, the Ramayana,
+said to be written 1500 before the Christian era, in which he recounts
+the wars and prowesses of <span class="smcap">Rama</span> in the recovery of his lost wife, the
+beautiful <span class="smcap">Sita</span>, speaking of the country inhabited by the Mayas,
+describes it as abounding in mines of silver and gold, with precious
+stones and lapiz <a name="corr9" id="corr9"></a><ins class="correction" title="lazuli:">lazuri:</ins> and bounded by the <i>Vindhya</i> mountains on one
+side, the <i>Prastravana</i> range on the other and the sea on the third. The
+emissaries of <span class="smcap">Rama</span> having entered by mistake within the Mayas
+territories, learned that all foreigners were forbidden to penetrate
+into them; and that those who were so imprudent as to violate this
+prohibition, even through ignorance, seldom escaped being put to death.
+<a name="corr10" id="corr10"></a><ins class="correction" title="Strange">(Strange</ins> to say, the same thing happens to-day to those who try to
+penetrate into the territories of the <i>Santa Cruz</i> Indians, or in the
+valleys occupied by the <i>Lacandones</i>, <i>Itzaes</i> and other tribes that
+inhabit <i>La Tierra de Guerra</i>. The Yucatecans themselves do not like
+foreigners to go, and less to settle, in their country&mdash;are consequently
+opposed to immigration.</p>
+
+<p>The emissaries of Rama, says the poet, met in the forest a woman who
+told them: That in very remote ages a prince of the Davanas, a learned
+magician, possessed of great power, whose name was <i>Maya</i>, established
+himself in the country, and that he was the architect of the principal
+of the Davanas: but having fallen in love with the nymph <i>Hemâ</i>, married
+her; whereby he roused the jealousy of the god <i>Pourandura</i>, who
+attacked and killed him with a thunderbolt. Now, it is worthy of notice,
+that the word <i>Hem</i> signifies in the Maya language to <i>cross with
+ropes</i>; or according to Brasseur, <i>hidden mysteries</i>.</p>
+
+<p>By a most rare coincidence we have the same identical story recorded in
+the mural paintings of Chaacmol’s funeral chamber, and in the sculptures
+of <a name="corr11" id="corr11"></a><ins class="correction" title="Chichen">Chichsen</ins> and Uxmal. There we find that Chaacmol, the husband of
+<a name="corr12" id="corr12"></a><ins class="correction" title="Moó,">Moó</ins> is killed by his brother Aac, who stabbed him three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> times in the
+back with his spear for jealousy. Aac was in love with his sister Moó,
+but she married his brother Chaacmol from choice, and because the law of
+the country prescribed that the younger brother should marry his sister,
+making it a crime for the older brothers to marry her.</p>
+
+<p>In another part of the <i>Ramayana</i>, <span class="smcap">Maya</span> is described as a powerful
+<i>Asoura</i>, always thirsting for battles and full of arrogance and
+pride&mdash;an enemy to Bāli, chief of one of the monkey tribes, by whom
+he was finally vanquished. The celebrated Indianist, Mr. H. T.
+Colebrooke, in a memoir on the sacred books of the Hindoos, published in
+Vol. VIII of the “Asiatic Researches,” says: “The <i>Soûryasiddkântu</i> (the
+most ancient Indian treatise on astronomy), is not considered as written
+by <span class="smcap">Maya</span>; but this personage is represented as receiving his science from
+a partial incarnation of the sun.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maya</span> is also, according to the Rig-Veda, the goddess, by whom all things
+are created by her union with Brahma. She is the cosmic egg, the golden
+uterus, the <i>Hiramyagarbha</i>. We see an image of it, represented floating
+amidst the water, in the sculptures that adorn the panel over the door
+of the east facade of the monument, called by me palace and museum at
+Chichen-Itza. Emile Burnouf, in his Sanscrit Dictionary, at the word
+Maya, says: Maya, an architect of the <i>Datyas</i>; Maya (<i>mas.</i>), magician,
+prestidigitator; (<i>fem.</i>) illusion, prestige; Maya, the magic virtue of
+the gods, their power for producing all things; also the feminine or
+producing energy of Brahma.</p>
+
+<p>I will complete the list of these remarkable coincidences with a few
+others regarding customs exactly similar in both countries. One of these
+consists in carrying children astride on the hip in Yucatan as in India.
+In Yucatan this custom is accompanied by a very interesting ceremony
+called <i>hetzmec</i>. It is as follows: When a child reaches the age of four
+months an invitation is sent to the friends and members of the family of
+the parents to assemble at their house. Then in presence of all
+as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>sembled the legs of the child are opened, and he is placed astride
+the hip of the <i>nailah</i> or <i>hetzmec</i> godmother; she in turn encircling
+the little one with her arm, supports him in that position whilst she
+walks five times round the house. During the time she is occupied in
+that walk five eggs are placed in hot ashes, so that they may burst and
+the five senses of the child be opened. By the manner in which they
+burst and the time they require for bursting, they pretend to know if he
+will be intelligent or not. During the ceremony they place in his tiny
+hands the implement pertaining to the industry he is expected to
+practice. The <i>nailah</i> is henceforth considered as a second mother to
+the child; who, when able to understand, is made to respect her: and she
+is expected, in case of the mother’s death, to adopt and take care of
+the child as if he were her own.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I will call your attention to another strange and most remarkable
+custom that was common to the inhabitants of <i>Mayab</i>, some tribes of the
+aborigines of North America, and several of those that dwell in
+Hindostan, and practice it even to-day. I refer to the printing of the
+human hand, dipped in a red colored liquid, on the walls of certain
+sacred edifices. Could not this custom, existing amongst nations so far
+apart, unknown to each other, and for apparently the same purposes, be
+considered as a link in the chain of evidence tending to prove that very
+intimate relations and communications have existed anciently between
+their ancestors? Might it not help the ethnologists to follow the
+migrations of the human race from this western continent to the eastern
+and southern shores of Asia, across the wastes of the Pacific Ocean? I
+am told by unimpeachable witnesses that they have seen the red or bloody
+hand in more than one of the temples of the South Sea islanders; and his
+Excellency Fred. P. Barlee, Esq., the actual governor of British
+Honduras, has assured me that he has examined this seemingly indelible
+imprint of the red hand on some rocks in caves in Australia. There is
+scarcely a monument in Yucatan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> that does not preserve the imprint of
+the open upraised hand, dipped in red paint of some sort, perfectly
+visible on its walls. I lately took tracings of two of these imprints
+that exist in the back saloon of the main hall, in the governor’s house
+at Uxmal, in order to calculate the height of the personage who thus
+attested to those of his race, as I learned from one of my Indian
+friends, who passes for a wizard, that the building was <i>in naá</i>, my
+house. I may well say that the archway of the palace of the priests,
+toward the court, was nearly covered with them. Yet I am not aware that
+such symbol was ever used by the inhabitants of the countries bordering
+on the shores of the Mediterranean or by the Assyrians, or that it ever
+was discovered among the ruined temples or palaces of Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>The meaning of the red hand used by the aborigines of some parts of
+America has been, it is well known, a subject of discussion for learned
+men and scientific societies. Its uses as a symbol remained for a long
+time a matter of conjecture. It seems that Mr. Schoolcraft had truly
+arrived at the knowledge of its veritable meaning. Effectively, in the
+2d column of the 5th page of the <i>New York Herald</i> for April 12, 1879,
+in the account of the visit paid by Gen. Grant to Ram Singh, Maharajah
+of Jeypoor, we read the description of an excursion to the town of
+Amber. Speaking of the journey to the <i>home of an Indian king</i>, among
+other things the writer says:&mdash;“We passed small temples, some of them
+ruined, some others with offerings of grains, or fruits, or flowers,
+some with priests and people at worship. On the walls of some of the
+temples we saw the marks of the human hand as though it had been steeped
+in blood and pressed against the white wall. We were told that it was
+the custom, when seeking from the gods some benison to note the vow by
+putting the hand into a liquid and printing it on the wall. This was to
+remind the gods of the vow and prayer. And if it came to pass in the
+shape of rain, or food, or health, or children, the joy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>ous devotee
+returned to the temple and made other offerings.” In Yucatan it seems to
+have had the same meaning. That is to say: that the owners of the house
+if private, or the priests, in the temples and public buildings, called
+upon the edifices at the time of taking possession and using them for
+the first time, the blessing of the Deity; and placed the hand’s
+imprints on the walls to recall the vows and prayer: and also, as the
+interpretation communicated to me by the Indians seems to suggest, as a
+signet or mark of property&mdash;<i>in naá</i>, my house.</p>
+
+<p>I need not speak of the similarity of many religious rites and beliefs
+existing in Hindostan and among the inhabitants of <i>Mayab</i>. The worship
+of the fire, of the phallus, of Deity under the symbol of the mastodon’s
+head, recalling that of Ganeza, the god with an elephant’s head, hence
+that of the elephant in Siam, <a name="corr13" id="corr13"></a><ins class="correction" title="Burmah">Birmah</ins> and other places of the Asiatic
+peninsula even in our day; and various other coincidences so numerous
+and remarkable that many would not regard them as simple coincidences.
+What to think, effectively, of the types of the personages whose
+portraits are carved on the obelisks of Copan? Were they in Siam instead
+of Honduras, who would doubt but they are <a name="corr14" id="corr14"></a><ins class="correction" title="Siameses">Siameeses.</ins> What to say
+of the figures of men and women sculptured on the walls of the
+stupendous temples hewn, from the live rock, at Elephanta, so American
+is their appearance and features? Who would not take them to be pure
+aborigines if they were seen in Yucatan instead of Madras, Elephanta and
+other places of India.</p>
+
+<p>If now we abandon that country and, crossing the Himalaya’s range enter
+Afghanistan, there again we find ourselves in a country inhabited by
+Maya tribes; whose names, as those of many of their cities, are of pure
+American-Maya origin. In the fourth column of the sixth page of the
+London <i>Times</i>, weekly edition, of March 4, 1879, we read: “4,000 or
+5,000 assembled on the opposite bank of the river <i>Kabul</i>, and it
+appears that in that day or evening they attacked the Maya villages
+situated on the north side of the river.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>He, the correspondent of the <i>Times</i>, tells us that Maya tribes form
+still part of the population of Afghanistan. He also tells us that
+<i>Kabul</i> is the name of the river, on the banks of which their villages
+are situated. But <i>Kabul</i> is the name of an antique shrine in the city
+of Izamal. Cogolludo, in the lib. IV., cap. VIII. of his History of
+Yucatan, says: “They had another temple on another mound, on the west
+side of the square, also dedicated to the same idol. They had there the
+symbol of a hand, as souvenir. To that temple they carried their dead
+and the sick. They called it <i>Kabul</i>, the working hand, and made there
+great offerings.” Father Lizana says the same: so we have two witnesses
+to the fact. <i>Kab</i>, in Maya means hand; and <i>Bul</i> is to play at hazard.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the names of places and towns of Afghanistan have not only a
+meaning in the American-Maya language, but are actually the same as
+those of places and villages in Yucatan to-day, for example:</p>
+
+<p>The Valley of <i>Chenar</i> would be the valley of the <i>well of the woman’s
+children</i>&mdash;<i>chen</i>, well, and <i>al</i>, the woman’s children. The fertile
+valley of <i>Kunar</i> would be the valley of the <i>god of the ears of corn</i>;
+or, more probably, the <i>nest of the ears of corn</i>: as <span class="smcap">Kú</span>, pronounced
+short, means <i>God</i>, and <i>Kuu</i>, pronounced long, is nest. <span class="smcap">Nal</span>, is the
+<i>ears of corn</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The correspondent of the London <i>Times</i>, in his letters, mentions the
+names of some of the principal tribes, such as the <i>Kuki-Khel</i>, the
+<i>Akakhel</i>, the <i>Khambhur Khel</i>, etc. The suffix Khel simply signifies
+tribe, or clan. So similar to the Maya vocable <i>Kaan</i>, a tie, a rope;
+hence a clan: a number of people held together by the tie of parentage.
+Now, Kuki would be Kukil, or Kukum <a name="corr15" id="corr15"></a><ins class="correction" title="Maya">maya</ins> for feather, hence the
+<span class="smcap">Kuki-Khel</span> would be the tribe of the feather.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Aka-Khel</span> in the same manner would be the tribe of the reservoir, or
+pond. <span class="smcap">Akal</span> is the Maya name for the artificial reservoirs, or ponds in
+which the ancient inhabitants of Mayab collected rain water for the time
+of drought.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>Similarly the <span class="smcap">Khambhur Khel</span> is the tribe of the <i>pleasant</i>: <i>Kambul</i> in
+Maya. It is the name of several villages of Yucatan, as you may satisfy
+yourself by examining the map.</p>
+
+<p>We have also the <span class="smcap">Zaka-Khel</span>, the tribe of the locust, <span class="smrom">ZAK</span>. It is useless
+to quote more for the present: enough to say that if you read the names
+of the cities, <a name="corr16" id="corr16"></a><ins class="correction" title="valleys,">valleys</ins> clans, roads even of Afghanistan to any of
+the aborigines of Yucatan, they will immediately give you their meaning
+in their own language. Before leaving the country of the Afghans, by the
+<span class="smcap">Khiber</span> Pass&mdash;that is to say, the <i>road of the hawk</i>; <span class="smcap">Hi</span>, <i>hawk</i>, and
+<span class="smrom">BEL</span>, road&mdash;allow me to inform you that in examining their types, as
+published in the London illustrated papers, and in <i>Harper’s Weekly</i>, I
+easily recognized the same cast of features as those of the bearded men,
+whose portraits we discovered in the bas-reliefs which adorn the antæ
+and pillars of the castle, and queen’s box in the Tennis Court at
+Chichen-Itza.</p>
+
+<p>On our way to the coast of Asia Minor, and hence to Egypt, we may, in
+following the Mayas’ footsteps, notice that a tribe of them, the learned
+<span class="smcap">Magi</span>, with their Rabmag at their head, established themselves in
+Babylon, where they became, indeed, a powerful and influential body.
+Their chief they called <i>Rab-mag</i>&mdash;or <span class="smcap">Lab-mac</span>&mdash;the old person&mdash;<span class="smrom">LAB</span>,
+<i>old</i>&mdash;<span class="smrom">MAC</span>, person; and their name Magi, meant learned men, magicians,
+as that of Maya in India. I will directly speak more at length of
+vestiges of the Mayas in Babylon, when explaining by means of the
+<i>American Maya</i>, the meaning and probable etymology of the names of the
+Chaldaic divinities. At present I am trying to follow the footprints of
+the Mayas.</p>
+
+<p>On the coast of Asia Minor we find a people of a roving and piratical
+disposition, whose name was, from the remotest antiquity and for many
+centuries, the terror of the populations dwelling on the shores of the
+Mediterranean; whose origin was, and is yet unknown; who must have
+spoken Maya, or some Maya dialect, since we find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> words of that
+language, and with the same meaning inserted in that of the Greeks, who,
+Herodotus tells us, used to laugh at the manner the <i>Carians</i>, or
+<i>Caras</i>, or <i>Caribs</i>, spoke their tongue; whose women wore a white linen
+dress that required no fastening, just as the Indian and Mestiza women
+of Yucatan even <a name="corr17" id="corr17"></a><ins class="correction" title="to-day.">to-day</ins></p>
+
+<p>To tell you that the name of the <span class="smcap">Caras</span> is found over a vast extension of
+country in America, would be to repeat what the late and lamented
+Brasseur de Bourbourg has shown in his most learned introduction to the
+work of Landa, “Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan;” but this I may say,
+that the description of the customs and mode of life of the people of
+Yucatan, even at the time of the conquest, as written by Landa, seems to
+be a mere verbatim plagiarism of the description of the customs and mode
+of life of the Carians of Asia Minor by Herodotus.</p>
+
+<p>If identical customs and manners, and the worship of the same divinities
+under the same name, besides the traditions of a people pointing towards
+a certain point of the globe as being the birth-place of their
+ancestors, prove anything, then I must say that in Egypt also we meet
+with the tracks of the Mayas, of whose name we again have a reminiscence
+in that of the goddess Maia, the daughter of Atlantis, worshiped in
+Greece. Here, at this end of the voyage, we seem to find an intimation
+as to the place where the Mayas originated. We are told that Maya is
+born from Atlantis; in other words, that the Mayas came from beyond the
+Atlantic waters. Here, also, we find that Maia is called the mother of
+the gods <i>Kubeles</i>. <i>Kú</i>, Maya <i>God</i>, <i>Bel</i> the road, the way. Ku-bel,
+the road, the origin of the gods as among the Hindostanees. These, we
+have seen in the Rig Veda, called Mâyâ, the feminine energy&mdash;the
+productive virtue of Brahma.</p>
+
+<p>I do not pretend to present here anything but facts, resulting from my
+study of the ancient monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the Maya language, in which the ancient inscriptions, I have been able
+to de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>cipher, are written. Let us see if those <i>facts</i> are sustained by
+others of a different character.</p>
+
+<p>I will make a brief parallel between the architectural monuments of the
+primitive Chaldeans, their mode of writing, their burial places, and
+give you the etymology of the names of their divinities in the American
+Maya language.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of the primitive Chaldees is yet an unsettled matter among
+learned men. Some professing one opinion, others another. All agree,
+however, that they were strangers to the lower Mesopotamian valleys,
+where they settled in very remote ages, their capital being, in the time
+of Abraham, as we learn from Scriptures, <i>Ur</i> or <i>Hur</i>. So named either
+because its inhabitants were worshipers of the moon, or from the moon
+itself&mdash;<span class="smrom">U</span> in the Maya language&mdash;or perhaps also because the founders
+being strangers and guests, as it were, in the country, it was called
+the city of guests, <span class="smcap">Hula</span> (Maya), <i>guest just arrived</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Recent researches in the plains of lower Mesopotamia have revealed to us
+their mode of building their sacred edifices, which is precisely
+identical to that of the Mayas.</p>
+
+<p>It consisted of mounds composed of superposed platforms, either square
+or oblong, forming cones or pyramids, their angles at times, their faces
+at others, facing exactly the cardinal points.</p>
+
+<p>Their manner of construction was also the same, with the exception of
+the materials employed&mdash;each people using those most at hand in their
+respective countries&mdash;clay and bricks in Chaldea, stones in Yucatan. The
+filling in of the buildings being of inferior materials, crude or
+sun-dried bricks at Warka and Mugheir; of unhewn stones of all shapes
+and sizes, in Uxmal and Chichen, faced with walls of hewn stones, many
+feet in thickness throughout. Grand exterior staircases lead to the
+summit, where was the shrine of the god, and temple.</p>
+
+<p>In Yucatan these mounds are generally composed of seven superposed
+platforms, the one above being smaller<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> than that immediately below; the
+temple or sanctuary containing invariably two chambers, the inner one,
+the Sanctum Sanctorum, being the smallest.</p>
+
+<p>In Babylon, the supposed tower of Babel&mdash;the <i>Birs-i-nimrud</i>&mdash;the temple
+of the seven lights, was made of seven stages or platforms.</p>
+
+<p>The roofs of these buildings in both countries were flat; the walls of
+vast thickness; the chambers long and narrow, with outer doors opening
+into them directly; the rooms ordinarily let into one another: squared
+recesses were common in the rooms. Mr. Loftus is of opinion that the
+chambers of the Chaldean buildings were usually arched with bricks, in
+which opinion Mr. Taylor concurs. We know that the ceilings of the
+chambers in all the monuments of Yucatan, without exception, form
+triangular arches. To describe their construction I will quote from the
+description by Herodotus, of some ceilings in Egyptian buildings and
+Scythian tombs, that resemble that of the brick vaults found at Mugheir.
+“The side walls slope outward as they ascend, the arch is formed by each
+successive layer of brick from the point where the arch begins, a little
+overlapping the last, till the two sides of the roof are brought so near
+together, that the aperture may be closed by a single brick.”</p>
+
+<p>Some of the sepulchers found in Yucatan are very similar to the jar
+tombs common at Mugheir. These consist of two large open-mouthed jars,
+united with bitumen after the body has been deposited in them, with the
+usual accompaniments of dishes, vases and ornaments, having an air hole
+bored at one extremity. Those found at Progreso were stone urns about
+three feet square, cemented in pairs, mouth to mouth, and having also an
+air hole bored in the bottom. Extensive mounds, made artificially of a
+vast number of coffins, arranged side by side, divided by thin walls of
+masonry crossing each other at right angles, to separate the coffins,
+have been found in the lower plains of Chaldea&mdash;such as exist along the
+coast of Peru, and in Yucatan. At Izamal many human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> remains, contained
+in urns, have been found in the mounds.</p>
+
+<p>“The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chaldeans,” says
+Canon Rawlison, in his work, the Five Great Monarchies, “seems to have
+consisted of a single garment, a short tunic tied round the waist, and
+reaching thence to the knees. To this may sometimes have been added an
+<i>abba</i>, or cloak, thrown over the shoulders; the material of the former
+we may perhaps presume to have been linen.” The mural paintings at
+Chichen show that the Mayas sometimes used the same costume; and that
+dress is used to-day by the aborigines of Yucatan, and the inhabitants
+of the <i>Tierra de Guerra</i>. They were also bare-footed, and wore on the
+head a band of cloth, highly ornamented with mother-of-pearl instead of
+camel’s hair, as the Chaldee. This band is to be seen in bas-relief at
+Chichen-Itza, <a name="corr18" id="corr18"></a><ins class="correction" title="in the">inthe</ins> mural paintings, and on the head of the statue
+of Chaacmol. The higher classes wore a long robe extending from the neck
+to the feet, sometimes adorned with a fringe; it appears not to have
+been fastened to the waist, but kept in place by passing over one
+shoulder, a slit or hole being made for the arm on one side of the dress
+only. In some cases the upper part of the dress seems to have been
+detached from the lower, and to form a sort of jacket which reached
+about to the hips. We again see this identical dress portrayed in the
+mural paintings. The same description of ornaments were affected by the
+Chaldees and the Mayas&mdash;bracelets, earrings, armlets, anklets, made of
+the materials they could procure.</p>
+
+<p>The Mayas at times, as can be seen from the slab discovered by
+<a name="corr19" id="corr19"></a><ins class="correction" title="Brasseur">Bresseur</ins> in Mayapan (an exact fac-simile of which cast, from a
+mould made by myself, is now in the rooms of the American Antiquarian
+Society at Worcester, Mass.), as the primitive Chaldee, in their
+writings, made use of characters composed of straight lines only,
+inclosed in square or oblong figures; as we see from the inscriptions in
+what has been called hieratic form of writing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> found at Warka and
+Mugheir and the slab from Mayapan and others.</p>
+
+<p>The Chaldees are said to have made use of three kinds of characters that
+Canon Rawlinson calls <i>letters proper</i>, <i>monograms</i> and <i>determinative</i>.
+The Maya also, as we see from the monumental inscriptions, employed
+three kinds of characters&mdash;<i>letters proper</i>, <i>monograms</i> and
+<i>pictorial</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It may be said of the religion of the Mayas, as I have had occasion to
+remark, what the learned author of the Five Great Monarchies says of
+that of the primitive Chaldees: “The religion of the Chaldeans, from the
+very earliest times to which the monuments carry us back, was, in its
+outward aspect, a polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite
+possible that there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the
+priests and the more learned; which, resolving the personages of the
+Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconcile the apparent multiplicity
+of Gods with monotheism.” I will now consider the names of the Chaldean
+deities in their turn of rotation as given us by the author above
+mentioned, and show you that the language of the American Mayas gives us
+an etymology of the whole of them, quite in accordance with their
+particular attributes.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">RA.</h3>
+
+<p>The learned author places ‘<i>Ra</i>’ at the head of the Pantheon, stating
+that the meaning of the word is simply <i>God</i>, or the God emphatically.
+We know that <i>Ra</i> was the Sun among the Egyptians, and that the
+hieroglyph, a circle, representation of that God was the same in Babylon
+as in Egypt. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon. Which
+was <i>ka-ra</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Now the Mayas called <span class="smrom">LA</span>, that which has existed for ever, the truth <i>par
+excellence</i>. As to the native name of Babylon it would simply be the
+<i>city of the infinite truth</i>&mdash;<i>cah</i>, city; <span class="smrom">LA</span>, eternal truth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">ANA OR DIS.</h3>
+
+<p>Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signified <i>God</i> in the highest sense.
+Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and
+antiquity; <i>the original chief</i>, the <i>father of the gods</i>, the <i>lord of
+darkness or death</i>. The Maya gives us <span class="smrom">A</span>, <i>thy</i>; <span class="smrom">NA</span>, <i>mother</i>. At times
+he was called <span class="smcap">Dis</span>, and was the patron god of <i>Erech</i>, the great city of
+the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. <span class="smcap">Tix</span>, Maya is a cavity
+formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city of
+<i>Niffer</i>, called <i>Calneh</i> in the translation of the Septuagint, from
+<i>kal-ana</i>, which is translated the “fort of Ana;” or according to the
+Maya, the <i>prison of Ana</i>, <span class="smrom">KAL</span> being prison, or the prison of thy
+mother.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">ANATA</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is
+only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the
+Maya designates her as the companion of Ana; <span class="smrom">TA</span>, with; <i>Anata</i> with
+<i>Ana</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">BIL OR ENU</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative
+adjunct, possessing great interest, <span class="smcap">Nipru</span>. To that name, which recalls
+that of <span class="smcap">Nebroth</span> or <i>Nimrod</i>, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar
+(make to flee). His epithets are the <i>supreme</i>, <i>the father of the
+gods</i>, the <i>procreator</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Maya gives us <span class="smcap">Bil</span>, or <i>Bel</i>; the way, the road; hence the <i>origin</i>,
+the father, the procreator. Also <span class="smrom">ENA</span>, who is before; again the father,
+the procreator.</p>
+
+<p>As to the qualificative adjunct <i>nipru</i>. It would seem to be the Maya
+<i>niblu</i>; <i>nib</i>, to thank; <span class="smrom">LU</span>, the <i>Bagre</i>, a <i>silurus fish</i>. <i>Niblu</i>
+would then be the <i>thanksgiving fish</i>. Strange to say, the high priest
+at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son of <i>Can</i>, the
+founder of those cities, is <span class="smcap">Cay</span>, the fish, whose effigy is my last
+discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> bust is contained
+within the jaws of a serpent, <i>Can</i>, and over it, is a beautiful
+mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which
+read <span class="smrom">TZAA</span>, that which is necessary.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">BELTIS</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">is the wife of <i>Bel-nipru</i>. But she is more than his mere female power.
+She is a separate and important deity. Her common title is the <i>Great
+Goddess</i>. In Chaldea her name was <i>Mulita</i> or <i>Enuta</i>, both words
+signifying the lady. Her favorite title was the <i>mother of the gods</i>,
+the origin of the gods.</p>
+
+<p>In Maya <span class="smrom">BEL</span> is the road, the way; and <span class="smrom">TE</span> means <i>here</i>. <span class="smcap">Belté</span> or <span class="smcap">Beltis</span>
+would be I am the way, the origin.</p>
+
+<p><i>Mulita</i> would correspond to <span class="smrom">MUL-TE</span>, many here, <i>many in me</i>. I am the
+mother of many. Her other name <i>Enuta</i> seems to be (Maya) <i>Ena-te</i>,
+signifies <span class="smrom">ENA</span>, the first, before anybody, and <span class="smrom">TE</span> here. <span class="smcap">Enaté</span>, <i>I am here
+before anybody</i>, I am the mother of the Gods.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">HEA OR HOA.</h3>
+
+<p>The God Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from
+the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on
+the Euphrates and Tigris.</p>
+
+<p>According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia by
+<i>Oannes</i> and six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half
+fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen
+that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers;
+and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to
+clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the shores of
+the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats.</p>
+
+<p>Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his
+residence or house on the water. <span class="smcap">Ha</span>, being water; <i>a</i>, thy; <i>ná</i>, house;
+literally, <i>water thy house</i>. Canon Rawlison remarks in that
+connection:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> “There are very strong grounds for connecting <span class="smrom">HEA</span> or Hoa,
+with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of
+the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.” As the title of the god of
+knowledge and science, <i>Oannes</i>, is the lord of the abyss, or of the
+great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent,
+<span class="smcap">Can</span>, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods
+on the black stones recording benefactions.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">DAV-KINA</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">Is the wife of <i>Hoa</i>, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady.
+But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more
+appropriate. <span class="smcap">Tab-kin</span> would be the <i>rays of the sun</i>: the rays of the
+light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants
+of Mesopotamia.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">SIN OR HURKI</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain.
+Its titles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is
+particularly designated as “<i>the bright</i>, <i>the shining</i>” the lord of the
+month.</p>
+
+<p>Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend.
+<i>Zinil</i> is the extension of the whole of the universe. <i>Hurki</i> would be
+the Maya <span class="smcap">Hulkin</span>&mdash;sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the
+sun. Hurki is also the god presiding over buildings and architecture; in
+this connection he is called <i>Bel-Zuna</i>. The <i>lord of building</i>, the
+<i>supporting architect</i>, the <i>strengthener of fortifications</i>. <i>Bel-Zuna</i>
+would also signify the lord of the strong house. <i>Zuú</i>, Maya, close,
+thick. <i>Na</i>, house: and the city where he had his great temple was <i>Ur</i>;
+named after him. <i>U</i>, in Maya, signifies moon.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">SAN OR SANSI,</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">the Sun God, the <i>lord of fire</i>, the <i>ruler of the day</i>. He <i>who
+illumines the expanse of heaven and earth</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span><i>Zamal</i> (Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are
+the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and
+Egypt.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">VUL OR IVA,</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the
+tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who
+makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as
+does the tempest. As <span class="smcap">Vul</span> he is represented with a flaming sword in his
+hand. <i>Hul</i> (Maya) an arrow. He is then the god of the atmosphere, who
+gives rain.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">ISHTAR OR NANA,</h3>
+
+<p class="noindent">the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory
+account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following
+and description quoting.</p>
+
+<p>The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name
+seems composed of <i>ix</i>, the feminine article, <i>she</i>; and of <i>tac</i>, or
+<i>tal</i>, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want
+or inclination. <span class="smcap">Ixtal</span> would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a
+corporal inclination. As to her other name, <i>Nana</i>, it simply means the
+great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses,
+we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also
+furnishes a perfect etymology for them.</p>
+
+<p>In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans,
+we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is <i>Thalatth</i>, was said to
+have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were
+generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her
+<i>Thalassa</i> (the sea). But the Maya vocable <i>Thallac</i>, signifies a thing
+without steadiness, like the sea.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">URUKH.</h3>
+
+<p>The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are
+ascribed the most archaic monuments of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> plains of Lower Mesopotamia.
+He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He
+constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases,
+their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior
+staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this
+description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can
+fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in
+Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very
+name <i>Urkuh</i> seems composed of two Maya words <span class="smcap">Huk</span>, to make everything,
+and <span class="smcap">Luk</span>, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his
+building propensities and of the materials used by him.</p>
+
+
+<h3 class="sectionhead">ASSYRIA.</h3>
+
+<p>The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur,
+the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without
+adding “Asshur is my lord,” is still an undecided matter amongst the
+learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was
+named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name
+from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the
+significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew
+languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the
+god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was
+named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much
+sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively
+the word <i>asshur</i>, sometimes written <i>ashur</i>, would be <span class="smrom">AXUL</span> in Maya.</p>
+
+<p><i>A</i>, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun,
+as the second person, thy or thine, and <i>xul</i>, means end, termination.
+It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. <i>Axul</i>
+would therefore be <i>thy end</i>. Among all the nations which have
+recognized the existence of a <span class="smcap">Supreme Being</span>, Deity has been considered
+as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be
+united.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out
+of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea
+are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the <i>Kiprat-arbat</i>,
+or <span class="smrom">FOUR RACES</span>. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the
+universe, king of the giants, whose capital was <i>Tiahuanaco</i>, the
+magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the
+lake of Titicaca, reigned over <i>Ttahuatyn-suyu</i>, the <span class="smrom">FOUR PROVINCES</span>. In
+the <i>Chou-King</i> we read that in very remote times <i>China</i> was called by
+its inhabitants <i>Sse-yo</i>, <span class="smrom">THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE</span>. The
+<i>Manava-Dharma-Sastra</i>, the <i>Ramayana</i>, and other sacred books of
+Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their
+country as the <span class="smrom">FOUR MOUNTAINS</span>, and from some of the monumental
+inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place
+was called the land of the <i>canchi</i>, or <span class="smrom">FOUR MOUTHS</span>, that recalls
+vividly the name of Chaldea <i>Arba-Lisun</i>, the <span class="smrom">FOUR TONGUES</span>.</p>
+
+<p>That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but
+became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel.
+It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at
+the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek,
+Latin, Sanscrit, &amp;c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the
+Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of
+Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it.</p>
+
+<p>In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of
+the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King
+Belshazzar was banqueting, the words “Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin,”
+which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the
+king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their
+interpretation: <i>Numbered</i>, <i>numbered</i>, <i>weighed</i>, <i>dividing</i>, perhaps
+with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be
+the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>dean and
+Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of
+King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of
+the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus
+enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in
+the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, <i>mene</i> or <i>mane</i>,
+<i>numbered</i>, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, <span class="smrom">MAN</span>, to buy, to
+purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity&mdash;or <span class="smrom">MANEL</span>,
+to pass, to exceed. <i>Tekel</i>, weighed, would correspond to <span class="smrom">TEC</span>, light.
+To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity,
+nimbleness: and <i>Upharsin</i>, dividing, seem allied to the words <span class="smrom">PPA</span>, to
+divide two things united; or <i>uppah</i>, to break, making a sharp sound; or
+<i>paah</i>, to break edifices; or, again, <span class="smrom">PAALTAL</span>, to break, to scatter the
+inhabitants of a place.</p>
+
+<p>As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross,
+as reported by the Evangelists, <i>Eli, Eli</i>, according to St. Matthew,
+and <i>Eloi, Eloi</i>, according to St. Mark, <i>lama sabachthani</i>, they are
+pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed
+to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the
+mouth of the dying martyr these words: <i>My God, my God, why hast thou
+forsaken me?</i> they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his
+last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to
+his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to
+the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than
+all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to
+his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him?
+He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned
+biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what
+he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: <i>This man
+calleth for Elias.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>His bosom friend, who never abandoned him&mdash;who stood to the last at the
+foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do
+not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He
+simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he
+complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with
+vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: <span class="smcap">It is finished!</span> and
+<i>he bowed his head and gave up the ghost</i>. (St. John, chap. xix., v.
+30.)</p>
+
+<p>Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words, <span class="smcap">Helo, Helo, lamah
+zabac ta ni</span>, literally: <span class="smcap">Helo, Helo</span>, now, now; <span class="smrom">LAMAH</span>, sinking; <span class="smrom">ZABAC</span>,
+black ink; <span class="smrom">TA</span>, over; <span class="smrom">NI</span>, nose; in our language: <i>Now, now I am sinking;
+darkness covers my face!</i> No weakness, no despair&mdash;He merely tells his
+friends all is over. <i>It is finished!</i> and expires.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the
+Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who
+inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those
+of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised
+Land, for example&mdash;that part of the coast of Phœnicia so famous for
+the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during
+forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so
+many hard-fought battles&mdash;was known as <i>Canaan</i>. This is a Maya word
+that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled <i>Kanaan</i>,
+it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the
+country.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tyre</span>, the great emporium of the Phœnicians, called <i>Tzur</i>, probably
+on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the
+Maya <span class="smcap">Tzuc</span>, a promontory, or a number of villages, <i>Tzucub</i> being a
+province.</p>
+
+<p>Again, we have the people called <i>Khati</i> by the Egyptians. They formed a
+great nation that inhabited the <i>Cæle-Syria</i> and the valley of the
+Orontes, where they have left very interesting proofs of their passage
+on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> earth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately
+discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved.
+They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and
+Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently
+mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the
+Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they
+placed well nigh insuperable <i>obstacles in the way</i> of the conquests of
+these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful
+adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in
+all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their
+emporium <i>Carchemish</i> had no less importance than Tyre or Carthage.
+There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither
+the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were
+wont to worship at the Sacred City, <i>Katish</i> of the Khati. The etymology
+of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that
+they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we
+may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya
+language.</p>
+
+<p>All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by
+Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at
+Thebes, the <i>Memnonium</i>, always placed obstacles on the way of the
+Egyptians and opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is
+significative of these facts, since <span class="smcap">Kat</span> or <span class="smcap">Katah</span> is a verb that means to
+place impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage.</p>
+
+<p><i>Carchemish</i> was their great emporium, where merchants from afar
+congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. <span class="smcap">Cah</span> means a city,
+and <i>Chemul</i> is navigator. <i>Carchemish</i> would then be <i>cah-chemul</i>, the
+city of navigators, of merchants.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Katish</span>, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are
+offered. <span class="smcap">Cah</span>, city, and <span class="smrom">TICH</span>, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas,
+and still performed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> their descendants all through Central America.
+This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to <span class="smcap">Balam</span>, the
+<i>Yumil-Kaax</i>, the “Lord of the fields,” the <i>primitiæ</i> of all their
+fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or <i>cah-tich</i> would then be
+the city of the sacrifices&mdash;the holy city.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Egypt</span> is the country that in historical times has called, more than any
+other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on
+account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of
+its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in
+all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position
+at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be
+the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world:
+yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the
+first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not
+autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the
+regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and
+designated the country in which they lived, the East, as the <i>pure
+land</i>, the <i>land of the sun</i>, of <i>light</i>, in contradistinction of the
+country of the dead, of darkness&mdash;the Amenti, the West&mdash;where Osiris sat
+as King, reigning judge, over the souls.</p>
+
+<p>If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with
+vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere.
+Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile
+by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that
+came from the West called it <span class="smcap">Chem</span>: not on account of the black color of
+the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, “<i>De Iside et Osiride</i>,” but
+more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably,
+because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants
+communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the
+country of boats&mdash;<span class="smcap">Chem</span> <a name="corr20" id="corr20"></a><ins class="correction" title="(Maya).">(maya).</ins> The hieroglyph representing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> the
+name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross
+circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a
+sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat.
+The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names of <span class="smcap">Misir</span> or <span class="smcap">Misur</span>,
+probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are
+uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all
+over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the
+soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the
+Maya verb <span class="smcap">Miz</span>&mdash;to <i>clean</i>, to <i>remove rubbish formed by the body of dead
+trees</i>; whilst the verb <span class="smcap">Musur</span> means to <i>cut the trees by the roots</i>. It
+would seem that the name <i>Mizraim</i> given to Egypt in the Scriptures also
+might come from these words.</p>
+
+<p>When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by
+the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of
+<i>Hapimú</i>. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists,
+who agree, however, that its meaning is the <i>abyss of water</i>. The Maya
+tells us that this name is composed of two words&mdash;<span class="smcap">Há</span>, water, and <span class="smrom">PIMIL</span>,
+the thickness of flat things. <i>Hapimu</i>, or <span class="smcap">Hapimil</span>, would then be the
+thickness, the <i>abyss of water</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We find that the prophets <i>Jeremiah</i> (xlvi., 25,) and <i>Nahum</i> (iii., 8,
+10,) call <span class="smcap">Thebes</span>, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty:
+<span class="smcap">Nó</span> or <span class="smcap">Ná-amun</span>, the mansion of Amun. <i>Ná</i> signifies in Maya, house,
+mansion, residence. But <i>Thebes</i> is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs <span class="smcap">Ap</span>,
+or <span class="smcap">Apé</span>, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine
+article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings,
+it becomes <span class="smcap">Tapé</span>; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson (“Manners and
+Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” <i>tom.</i> III., page 210, N. Y. Edition,
+1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians <i>Taba</i>; and in the Menphitic
+dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The
+Maya verb <i>Teppal</i>, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> each
+side of the mastodons’ heads, which form so prominent a feature in the
+ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts,
+the word <i>Dapas</i>; hence <span class="smcap">Tabas</span> is written in ancient Egyptian characters,
+and read, I presume, in old Maya, <i>head</i>. To-day the word is pronounced
+<span class="smrom">THAB</span>, and means <i>baldness</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their
+religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they
+inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners;
+the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used
+by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to
+infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their
+forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to
+nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the
+countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the
+Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate
+communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of
+these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious
+belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the
+characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any
+reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be
+altogether accidental.</p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Sun</span>, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt;
+and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent
+Uræus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA
+signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is&mdash;the
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day
+preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the
+adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain <a name="corr21" id="corr21"></a><ins class="correction" title="epochs">epoch</ins> of the
+year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> west
+façade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that city,
+teaches us that the place was called <span class="smrom">U LUUMIL KIN</span>, <i>the land of the
+sun</i>. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written with a
+cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is the sign
+for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical
+meaning. The figure of <i>Amun</i> was that of a man whose body was light
+blue, like the Indian god <a name="corr22" id="corr22"></a><ins class="correction" title="Vishnu,">Wishnu,</ins> and that of the god Nilus; as if to
+indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being
+that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the
+same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell
+us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those
+who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural
+paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this
+assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some
+marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs.
+After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded
+them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the
+funerals.</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards
+and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the
+souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls
+after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and
+inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why
+they took so much pains to embalm the body.</p>
+
+<p>The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have
+already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during
+a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having
+enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they
+were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as
+the body was corruptible,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or
+wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a
+hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in
+stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to
+earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as
+body during their new existence.</p>
+
+<p>I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in
+transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I
+have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever,
+even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments.
+I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may
+have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but
+softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not
+kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile,
+as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited
+from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment
+inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego
+what they called the superstitions of their race&mdash;the idolatrous creed
+of their forefathers.</p>
+
+<p>I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as
+many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken,
+notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the
+hands of ignorant and barbaric <i>Christians</i> (?)</p>
+
+<p>I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly
+manifested.</p>
+
+<p>The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and
+cables, made of withes and the bark of the <i>habin</i> tree, were finished
+and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of
+trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers,
+already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the
+surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation;
+my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> men, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and
+their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other,
+unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where
+their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by
+letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the
+mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin
+trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be
+injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already
+overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and
+even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the
+withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation
+were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think,
+knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had
+made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they
+considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior
+and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome
+their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that,
+as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in
+reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great
+pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of
+the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta,
+every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of
+warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types
+recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans.</p>
+
+<p>On one of the antæ, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait
+of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like
+that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in
+profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same
+position of my face as that of <span class="smcap">Uxan</span>, and called the attention of my
+Indians to the similarity of his and my own features.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> They followed
+every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the
+beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: “<i>Thou!</i>
+<i>here!</i>” and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone
+and my own.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>So, so,</i>” they said, “<i>thou too art one of our great men, who has been
+disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol.
+That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to
+disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived.</i>”</p>
+
+<p>From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned
+to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon
+brought up the ponderous statue to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and
+noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one.
+Colonel <i>Don</i> Felipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the
+eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written
+notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile
+Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp
+look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in
+the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather
+difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there
+is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that
+danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued
+our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny.</p>
+
+<p>On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing
+that the visitors had no guns, but only their <i>machetes</i>, I gave orders
+not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray,
+his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at
+a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long
+time he broke out, speaking to his own people: “This, boys, is one of
+the great men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> we speak to you about.” Then the young men came forward,
+with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their
+lips against them.</p>
+
+<p>Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the
+old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm
+to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face
+near that of my stone <i>Sosis</i>, and again the same scene was enacted as
+with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their
+knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a
+while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: “Rememberest thou
+what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?” It was quite a
+difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I
+did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. “Well,
+father,” I asked him, “dreamest thou sometimes?” He nodded his head in
+an affirmative manner. “And when thou awakest, dost thou remember
+distinctly thy dreams?” “<i>Má</i>,” no! was the answer. “Well, father,” I
+continued, “so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place
+during the time I was enchanted.” This answer seemed to satisfy him. I
+again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the
+foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not
+to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people
+were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore;
+where they went, I don’t know.</p>
+
+<p>Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote
+times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de
+Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied
+observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to
+have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It
+consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left
+hand on the right shoulder; or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> the right arm across the chest, the
+right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his
+work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr.
+Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases
+even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins
+with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in
+use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the
+figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon’s head, on the
+west façade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and
+museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in
+Chaacmol’s funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the
+representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that
+chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being
+common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their
+utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their
+veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in
+which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms
+spontaneously.</p>
+
+<p><i>The sistrum</i> was an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during
+the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have
+seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of
+the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and
+viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, called <i>canopas</i>, that were
+placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol’s mausoleum
+I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head
+containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart
+and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom
+among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an
+empty vase&mdash;symbol that the deceased had been judged and found
+righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol,
+is also found held in the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> manner by many other statues of
+different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in
+the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So
+also with the Mayas&mdash;if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his
+weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of his <a name="corr23" id="corr23"></a><ins class="correction" title="art.">art,</ins></p>
+
+<p>The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich&mdash;which generally consisted
+of one or two chambers&mdash;with sculptures and paintings reciting the names
+and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged.
+The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different
+superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled,
+polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with
+magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his
+wife&mdash;dying warriors&mdash;the whole being surrounded by the image of a
+feathered serpent&mdash;<i>Can</i>, his family name, whilst the walls of the two
+apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory,
+were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol’s
+own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his
+contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were
+in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and
+other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his
+time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented
+life-size.</p>
+
+<p>In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or
+wood, with bright colors&mdash;yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In
+Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still
+easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very
+brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in
+the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to
+have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as
+pigments, and cinnabar&mdash;we having found such metallic colors in
+Chaacmol’s mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>serves some in her
+possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at
+present.</p>
+
+<p>The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it
+an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their
+principal duties being to play the sistrum.</p>
+
+<p>We find that in Yucatan, <i>Nicté</i> (flower) the sister of <i>Chaacmol</i>,
+assisted her elder brother, <i>Cay</i>, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her
+name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn
+the western façade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister,
+<a name="corr24" id="corr24"></a><ins class="correction" title="Moó,"><i>Mó</i>,</ins> is with Chaacmol’s in some of the monuments at Chichen.</p>
+
+<p>Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses, <i>virgins of the sun</i>,
+mentions a tradition that seems to refer to <i>Nicté</i>, stating that the
+daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple,
+obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped
+under the name of <i>Zuhuy-Kak</i> (the fire-virgin), and became the goddess
+of the maidens, who were recommended to her care.</p>
+
+<p>As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their
+death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo
+pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other
+abject animals, “even the devil himself, which appeared to them in
+horrible forms” (“Historia de Yucatan,” book IV., chap. vii.)</p>
+
+<p>Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes in
+<i>Mayab</i> wore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate
+character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the
+middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented
+with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of
+clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar
+to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was
+fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a
+large bow, the ends of which reached<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> to the ankles. Their shoulders
+were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the
+chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept
+in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next,
+and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the
+ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore
+leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow;
+sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of
+different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to
+have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in
+the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen’s
+chamber at Chichen. The king’s coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to
+have served as model for the <i>pschent</i>, that symbol of domination over
+the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point
+formed the front, and in Egypt the back.</p>
+
+<p>The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by
+their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the
+loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs.
+Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped
+a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to
+the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on
+one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day
+the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight
+modifications. While the aborigines of the <i>Tierra de Guerra</i>, who still
+preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign
+admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see
+represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural
+paintings of <i>Mayab</i> and Egypt.</p>
+
+<p>Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study
+of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of
+learning. The soothsayers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> formed a respected order of the priesthood.
+From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the
+chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of
+consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails
+of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a
+turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the
+<i>Hong-fan</i> or “the great and sublime doctrine,” one of the books of the
+<i>Chou-king</i>, the ceremonies of <i>Pou</i> and <i>Chi</i> are described at length).
+The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies,
+purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching
+of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in
+the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even
+at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the
+country, and congregated at the shrine of <i>Kinich-kakmo</i>, the deified
+daughter of <span class="smcap">Can</span>, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the
+mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the
+examination of the mural paintings, we know that <i>animal magnetism</i> was
+understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have
+consulted clairvoyants.</p>
+
+<p>The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress
+in astronomical sciences.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>gnomon</i>, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined
+city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were
+not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good
+mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not
+inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the
+construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of
+calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the
+solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest
+angle of declination of the sun, 23° 27´, occurred when that luminary
+reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle of
+declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the <i>sun</i> had
+arrived at his resting place.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by
+lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen
+months, of twenty days, that they called <span class="smrom">U</span>&mdash;moon&mdash;to which they added
+five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so
+ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the
+Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of
+thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, called
+<i>Mesoré</i>, five days, named <i>Epact</i>.</p>
+
+<p>By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas,
+considered these additive five days <i>unlucky</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of
+365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the <a name="corr25" id="corr25"></a><ins class="correction" title="Mayas'">Mayas</ins> sacred
+year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6 hours;
+which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that joins
+the centers of the stela that forms it.</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system of <i>fives</i>
+and <i>tens</i>; the Mayas by a system of <i>fives</i> and <i>twenties</i>, to four
+hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest
+antiquity, but <span class="smrom">SEVEN</span> seems to have been a <i>mystic number</i> among them as
+among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations.</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the
+grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall
+is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above
+overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to
+all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the
+height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen
+and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to
+assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the
+<i>Pleiades</i> or <i>Seven stars</i>. <i>Alcyone</i>, the central star of the group,
+being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was
+constructed, and <i>Alpha</i> of Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower
+culmination.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific
+attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument
+surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity,
+believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its
+designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people,
+possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try
+to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the
+great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a
+predilection for number <span class="smrom">SEVEN</span>. Since we find that their artificial
+mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of
+Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace
+of King <span class="smcap">Can</span> was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents,
+his totem, which adorn the east façade of the west wing of this
+building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens
+were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number <span class="smrom">SEVEN</span>
+prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has
+predominated.</p>
+
+<p>It is a <span class="smrom">FACT</span>, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance,
+that this number <span class="smrom">SEVEN</span> seems to have been the mystic number of many of
+the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being
+used as <a name="corr26" id="corr26"></a><ins class="correction" title="a symbol">symbol</ins> by several of the secret societies existing among us.</p>
+
+<p>If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life
+in the countries known as the <i>old world</i>, we find this number <span class="smrom">SEVEN</span>
+among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in
+Babylon, the celebrated temple of <i>the seven lights</i> was made of <i>seven</i>
+stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the <i>seven marouts</i>,
+or genii of the winds, the <i>seven amschaspands</i>; then among the Aryans
+and their descendants, the <i>seven horses</i> that drew the chariot of the
+sun, the <i>seven apris</i> or shape of the flame, the <i>seven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> rays</i> of Agni,
+the <i>seven manons</i> or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the
+<i>seven days</i> of the creation, the <i>seven lamps</i> of the ark and of
+Zacharias’s vision, the <i>seven branches</i> of the golden candlestick, the
+<i>seven days</i> of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon,
+the <i>seven years</i> of plenty, the <i>seven years</i> of famine; in the
+Christian dispensation, the <i>seven</i> churches with the <i>seven</i> angels at
+their head, the <i>seven</i> golden candlesticks, the <i>seven seals</i> of the
+book, the <i>seven</i> trumpets of the angels, the <i>seven heads</i> of the beast
+that rose from the sea, the <i>seven vials</i> full of the wrath of God, the
+<i>seven</i> last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the
+<i>seven</i> heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of the prevalence of that number <span class="smrom">SEVEN</span> amongst all the
+nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been
+satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different
+interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their
+religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have
+found that it originated with the <i>seven</i> members of <span class="smcap">Can’s</span> family, who
+were the founders of the principal cities of <i>Mayab</i>, and to each of
+whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their
+names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by
+them at Uxmal and Chichen, were&mdash;<span class="smcap">Can</span> (serpent) and <span class="smcap">ɔoz</span> (bat), his
+wife, from whom were born <span class="smcap">Cay</span> (fish), the pontiff; <span class="smcap">Aak</span> (turtle), who
+became the governor of Uxmal; <span class="smcap">Chaacmol</span> (leopard), the warrior, who
+became the husband of his sister <span class="smcap">Moó</span> (macaw), the Queen of <i>Chichen</i>,
+worshiped after her death at Izamal; and <span class="smcap">Nicté</span> (flower), the priestess
+who, under the name of <i>Zuhuy-Kuk</i>, became the goddess of the maidens.</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three
+different kinds of characters&mdash;phonetic, ideographic and
+symbolic&mdash;placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to
+be read from right to left, from left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> to right, as indicated by the
+position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their
+writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining
+these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a
+manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the façade
+of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the
+monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the
+ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No
+truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except
+those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and
+learned men of <span class="smcap">Mayab</span> hid them from the <i>Nahualt</i> or <i>Toltec</i> invaders.</p>
+
+<p>As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines,
+to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay
+does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a
+work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present
+purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the
+Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly
+all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning,
+in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs
+used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by
+us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in
+discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions,
+written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as
+models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck,
+seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters,
+together with others that seem to be purely Mayab.</p>
+
+<p>Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions,
+giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in
+which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines
+of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> course, the
+original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence
+of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other
+nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect
+man’s speech.</p>
+
+<p>The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical;
+possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations.
+Among the symbolical, I may cite a few: <i>water</i>, <i>country or region</i>,
+<i>king</i>, <i>Lord</i>, <i>offerings</i>, <i>splendor</i>, the <i>various emblems of the
+sun</i> and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the
+so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription
+of the <i>Akabɔib</i> at Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient
+Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have
+been able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own.</p>
+
+<p>A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the
+same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of
+the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the
+Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP
+identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of
+the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other
+things, the names of the founders of the city of <span class="smcap">Uxmal</span>; as that of the
+city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst,
+in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs,
+notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the
+founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also
+in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the
+totems of the personages: e. <a name="corr27" id="corr27"></a><ins class="correction" title="g.">g</ins> for <span class="smcap">Aak</span>, which means turtle, is the
+image of a turtle; for <span class="smcap">Cay</span> (fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol
+(leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility
+of misinterpretation.</p>
+
+<p>Having found that the language of the inscriptions was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> Maya, of course
+I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value,
+since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the
+people.</p>
+
+<p>I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present
+to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the
+mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not
+merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people
+must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the
+questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only
+solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority.</p>
+
+<p>I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son of <i>Seb and
+Nut</i>, the brother of <i>Aroeris</i>, the elder <i>Horus</i>, of <i>Typho</i>, of
+<i>Isis</i>, and of <i>Nephthis</i>, named also <span class="smcap">Niké</span>. The authors have given
+numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of
+that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of
+the inundations of the <span class="smcap">Nile</span>; <span class="smcap">Isis</span>, his wife and sister, that of the
+irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister, <i>Nephthis</i>, that
+of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters
+of the Nile; his brother and murderer <i>Tipho</i>, that of the sea which
+swallows up the <i>Nile</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times
+and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious
+people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the
+mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris
+on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I
+am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert,
+that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture
+hero of the Mayas.</p>
+
+<p>It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere
+coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What
+conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many
+strange similes?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir
+Gardner Wilkinson’s work, chap. xiii:</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">“<i>Osiris</i>, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards
+civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former
+barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and
+improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good
+disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world,
+inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the
+mildest persuasion.”</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his
+brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his
+wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by <i>Typho</i>,
+who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final
+defeat of Typho by Osiris’s son, Horus.</p>
+
+<p>Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to
+civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions
+of the deeds of the culture heroes <a name="corr28" id="corr28"></a><ins class="correction" title="Kukulcan"><i>Kukulean</i></ins> and Quetzalcoatl of the
+Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo,
+where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures
+of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the
+temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral
+chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the
+queen’s chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen.</p>
+
+<p class="blockquot">“The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less
+mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that
+the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the
+latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the
+candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain
+it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations
+were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher
+mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It
+was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed.”
+Wilkinson, chap. xiii.</p>
+
+<p>In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered
+in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called the
+<i>Dwarf’s House</i>, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+through different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to
+judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the
+disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this
+discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols
+were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used
+among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published in
+<i>Harper’s Weekly</i>, a full description of the building, with plans of the
+same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret
+societies exist still among the <i>Zuñis</i> and other Pueblo Indians of New
+Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman
+sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and
+history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr.
+Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zuñis, whose
+language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other
+remarkable things he has discovered is “the existence of twelve sacred
+orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded
+as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have
+a strange resemblance.” (From the New York <i>Times</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of
+the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of
+the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr.
+<a name="corr29" id="corr29"></a><ins class="correction" title="Du Chaillu">DuChaillu</ins> in the relation of his voyage to the “Land of Ashango,”
+so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest
+that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between
+their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible
+still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not
+place that <i>fact</i> without the peradventure of a doubt. We also see
+figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African
+features.</p>
+
+<p>We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the
+priestess found by me at the foot of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> altar in front of the shrine
+of <i>Ix-cuina</i>, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of <i>Isla
+Mugeres</i>, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth
+in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion
+still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and
+little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue
+among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly
+those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians.</p>
+
+<p>Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the
+Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of
+beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans
+as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol’s
+mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen
+enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the
+hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the
+people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these
+last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by
+the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the
+mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such
+barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies’ hearts.</p>
+
+<p>The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in
+witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of
+X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of
+Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating
+that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die
+unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from
+malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of
+tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my
+advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out,
+probably, if I was a stronger wizard than the <i>H-Men</i> who had bewitched
+him. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> must have failed to discover on my face the proverbial
+distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an
+incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he
+simply replied: “No use&mdash;I am bewitched&mdash;there is no remedy for me.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of
+Equatorial Africa, says: “The greatest curse of the whole country is the
+belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with
+the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He
+becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and
+really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per
+cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery.”
+In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards
+because of their supposed supernatural powers.</p>
+
+<p>From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the
+chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious
+libations with <i>Balché</i>. To-day the aborigines still use it in the
+celebrations of their ancient rites. <i>Balché</i> is a liquor made from the
+bark of a tree called Balché, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left
+to ferment. It is their beverage <i>par excellence</i>. The nectar drank by
+the God of Greek Mythology.</p>
+
+<p>Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of <i>Mayo</i>lo,
+a city in which he resided for some time, says: “Next day he was so much
+elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a
+fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen
+ill, and which he made by <i>mixing honey and water, and adding to it
+pieces of bark of a certain tree</i>.” (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.)</p>
+
+<p>I will remark here that, by a strange <i>coincidence</i>, we not only find
+that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with
+the <span class="smcap">Mayas</span>, but that the name of one of their cities <span class="smcap">Mayo</span><i>lo</i>, seems to
+be a corruption of <span class="smcap">Mayab</span>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends,
+where they deposit furniture, dress and food&mdash;and sometimes slay slaves,
+men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief
+that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been
+sacrificed.</p>
+
+<p>I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the
+tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade
+or profession; and that the great quantity of blood found scattered
+round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend
+to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral.</p>
+
+<p>The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died.
+Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for
+they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it.</p>
+
+<p>The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their
+villages when <a name="corr30" id="corr30"></a><ins class="correction" title="death frequently occurs; or deaths frequently occur;">death frequently occur;</ins> for, say they, the place is no
+longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased.</p>
+
+<p>Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of
+drums&mdash;the <i>Tunkul</i> and the <i>Zacatan</i>. They are still used by the
+aborigines in their religious festivals and dances.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Tunkul</i> is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to
+leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about
+four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave
+between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches
+from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to
+form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two
+balls of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the
+instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it
+can be heard, <a name="corr31" id="corr31"></a><ins class="correction" title="it">is</ins> is said, at a distance of six miles in calm
+weather. The <i>Zacatan</i> is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the
+trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> a piece of
+skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand,
+the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a
+slanting position, that it is played.</p>
+
+<p>Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case
+of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten,
+and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu asserts having seen one of
+these <i>Ngoma</i>, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and
+describes a <i>Fan</i> drum which corresponds to the <i>Zacatan</i> of the Mayas
+as follows: “The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in
+diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed
+out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the
+drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks <a name="corr32" id="corr32"></a><ins class="correction" title="beat">beats</ins>
+furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the cylinder.”</p>
+
+<p>We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of
+the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African
+towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages
+in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at
+times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause
+the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry
+with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had
+better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the
+cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently
+dedicated to the god of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an
+infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the
+villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts.</p>
+
+<p>Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the
+native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of
+more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: “The pure bred
+native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly
+tail; the hair is short and the color yel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>lowish; the pure breed being
+known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept
+very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears;
+I don’t think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs.”</p>
+
+<p>I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already
+mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close
+it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu asserts exists
+among the African warriors: “<i>The charmed leopard’s skin worn about the
+warrior’s middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof.</i>”</p>
+
+<p>Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the <span class="smrom">FACTS</span> mentioned in
+the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to
+be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the <i>Mayas</i> were a great and
+powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization.
+That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their
+attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have
+reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere.
+That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth;
+for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their
+language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants
+they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they
+gave names to their gods, to their tribes, to their cities.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions
+of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their
+nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have
+established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their
+birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured,
+wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored
+imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to
+hide the truth from the ignorant mass of the people, fostering their
+superstitions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over
+them, as in Egypt.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>In Hindostan, for example, we find the Maya custom of carrying the
+children astride on the hips of the nurses. That of recording the vow of
+the devotees, or of imploring the blessings of deity by the imprint of
+the hand, dipped in red liquid, stamped on the walls of the shrines and
+palaces. The worship of the mastodon, still extant in India, Siam,
+Burmah, as in the worship of <i>Ganeza</i>, the god of knowledge, with an
+elephant head, degenerated in that of the elephant itself.</p>
+
+<p>Still extant we find likewise the innate propensity of the Mayas to
+exclude all foreigners from their country; even to put to death those
+who enter their territories (as do, even to-day, those of Santa Cruz and
+the inhabitants of the Tierra de Guerra) as the emissaries of Rama were
+informed by the friend of the owner of the country, the widow of the
+<i>great architect</i>, <span class="smcap">Maya</span>, whose name <span class="smcap">Hema</span> means in the Maya language “she
+who places ropes across the roads to impede the passage.” Even the
+history of the death of her husband <span class="smcap">Maya</span>, killed with a thunderbolt, by
+the god <i>Pourandara</i>, whose jealousy was aroused by his love for her and
+their marriage, recalls that of <i>Chaacmol</i>, the husband of <i>Moó</i>, killed
+by their brother Aac, by being stabbed by him three times in the back
+with a spear, through jealousy&mdash;for he also loved <i>Moó</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Some Maya tribes, after a time, probably left their home at the South of
+Hindostan and emigrated to Afghanistan, where their descendants still
+live and have villages on the North banks of the river <i>Kabul</i>. They
+left behind old traditions, that they may have considered as mere
+fantasies of their poets, and other customs of their forefathers. Yet we
+know so little about the ancient Afghans, or the Maya tribes living
+among them, that it is impossible at present to say how much, if any,
+they have preserved of the traditions of their race. All we know for a
+certainty is that many of the names of their villages and tribes are
+pure American-Maya words: that their types are very similar to the
+features of the bearded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> men carved on the pillars of the castle, and on
+the walls of other edifices at Chichen-Itza: while their warlike habits
+recall those of the Mayas, who fought so bravely and tenaciously the
+Spanish invaders.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the Maya tribes, traveling towards the west and northwest,
+reached probably the shores of Ethiopia; while others, entering the
+Persian Gulf, landed near the embouchure of the Euphrates, and founded
+their primitive capital at a short distance from it. They called it <i>Hur
+(Hula) city of guests just arrived</i>&mdash;and according to Berosus gave
+themselves the name of <i>Khaldi</i>; probably because they intrenched their
+city: <i>Kal</i> meaning intrenchment in the American-Maya language. We have
+seen that the names of all the principal deities of the primitive
+Chaldeans had a natural etymology in that tongue. Such strange
+coincidences cannot be said to be altogether accidental. Particularly
+when we consider that their learned men were designated as <span class="smcap">Magi</span>, (Mayas)
+and their Chief <i>Rab-Mag</i>, meaning, in Maya, the <i>old man</i>; and were
+great architects, mathematicians and astronomers. As again we know of
+them but imperfectly, we cannot tell what traditions they had preserved
+of the birthplace of their forefathers. But by the inscriptions on the
+tablets or bricks, found at Mugheir and Warka, we know for a certainty
+that, in the archaic writings, they formed their characters of straight
+lines of uniform thickness; and inclosed their sentences in squares or
+parallelograms, as did the founders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. And
+from the signet cylinder of King Urukh, that their mode of dressing was
+identical with that of many personages represented in the mural
+paintings at Chichen-Itza.</p>
+
+<p>We have traced the <span class="smcap">Mayas</span> again on the shores of Asia Minor, where the
+<span class="smcap">Carians</span> at last established themselves, after having spread terror among
+the populations bordering on the Mediterranean. Their origin is unknown:
+but their customs were so similar to those of the inhabitants of Yucatan
+at the time even of the Spanish conquest&mdash;and their names <span class="smcap">Car</span>, <i>Carib</i>
+or <i>Carians</i>, so extensively<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> spread over the western continent, that we
+might well surmise, that, navigators as they were, they came from those
+parts of the world; particularly when we are told by the Greek poets and
+historians, that the goddess <span class="smcap">Maia</span> was the daughter of <i>Atlantis</i>. We
+have seen that the names of the khati, those of their cities, that of
+Tyre, and finally that of Egypt, have their etymology in the Maya.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the numerous coincidences already pointed out, and many more
+I could bring forth, between the attainments and customs of the Mayas
+and the Egyptians; in view also of the fact that the priests and learned
+men of Egypt constantly pointed toward the <span class="smcap">West</span> as the birthplace of
+their ancestors, it would seem as if a colony, starting from Mayab, had
+emigrated Eastward, and settled on the banks of the Nile; just as the
+Chinese to-day, quitting their native land and traveling toward the
+rising sun, establish themselves in America.</p>
+
+<p>In Egypt again, as in Hindostan, we find the history of the children of
+<span class="smcap">Can</span>, preserved among the secret traditions treasured up by the priests
+in the dark recesses of their temples: the same story, even with all its
+details. It is <span class="smcap">Typho</span> who kills his brother <span class="smcap">Osiris</span>, the husband of their
+sister <span class="smcap">Isis</span>. Some of the names only have been changed when the members
+of the royal family of <span class="smcap">Can</span>, the founder of the cities of Mayab, reaching
+apotheosis, were presented to the people as gods, to be worshiped.</p>
+
+<p>That the story of <i>Isis</i> and <i>Osiris</i> is a mythical account of <span class="smcap">Chaacmol</span>
+and <span class="smcap">Moó</span>, from all the circumstances connected with it, according to the
+relations of the priests of Egypt that tally so closely with what we
+learn in Chichen-Itza from the bas-reliefs, it seems impossible to
+doubt.</p>
+
+<p>Effectively, <i>Osiris</i> and <i>Isis</i> are considered as king and queen of the
+Amenti&mdash;the region of the West&mdash;the mansion of the dead, of the
+ancestors. Whatever may be the etymology of the name of Osiris, it is a
+<i>fact</i>, that in the sculptures he is often represented with a spotted
+skin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> suspended near him, and Diodorus Siculus says: “That the skin is
+usually represented without the head; but some instances where this is
+introduced show it to be the <i>leopard’s</i> or <i>panther’s</i>.” Again, the
+name of Osiris as king of the West, of the Amenti, is always written, in
+hieroglyphic characters, representing a crouching <i>leopard</i> with an eye
+above it. It is also well known that the priests of Osiris wore a
+<i>leopard</i> skin as their ceremonial dress.</p>
+
+<p>Now, Chaacmol reigned with his sister Moó, at Chichen-Itza, in Mayab, in
+the land of the West for Egypt. The name <i>Chaacmol</i> means, in Maya, a
+<i>Spotted</i> tiger, a <i>leopard</i>; and he is represented as such in all his
+totems in the sculptures on the monuments; his shield being made of the
+skin of leopard, as seen in the mural paintings.</p>
+
+<p>Osiris, in Egypt, is a myth. Chaacmol, in Mayab, a reality. A warrior
+whose mausoleum I have opened; whose weapons and ornaments of jade are
+in Mrs. Le Plongeon’s possession; whose heart I have found, and sent a
+piece of it to be analysed by professor Thompson of Worcester, Mass.;
+whose effigy, with his name inscribed on the tablets occupying the place
+of the ears, forms now one of the most precious relics in the National
+Museum of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Isis</span> was the wife and sister of Osiris. As to the etymology of her name
+the Maya affords it in <span class="smcap">Iɔin</span>&mdash;<i>the younger sister</i>. As Queen of the
+Amenti, of the West, she also is represented in hieroglyphs by the same
+characters as her husband&mdash;a <i>leopard, with an eye above</i>, and the sign
+of the feminine gender an oval or egg. But as a goddess she is always
+portrayed with wings; the vulture being dedicated to her; and, as it
+were, her totem.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Moó</span> the wife and sister of <i>Chaacmol</i> was the Queen of Chichen. She is
+represented on the Mausoleum of Chaacmol as a <i>Macaw</i> (Moó in the Maya
+language); also on the monuments at Uxmal: and the chroniclers tell us
+that she was worshiped in Izamal under the name of <i>Kinich-Kakmó</i>;
+reading from right to left the <i>fiery macaw with eyes like the sun</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>Their protecting spirit is a <i>Serpent</i>, the totem of their father <span class="smcap">Can</span>.
+Another Egyptian divinity, <i>Apap</i> or <i>Apop</i>, is represented under the
+form of a gigantic serpent covered with wounds. Plutarch in his
+treatise, <i>De Iside et Osiride</i>, tells us that he was enemy to the sun.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Typho</span> was the brother of Osiris and Isis; for jealousy, and to usurp the
+throne, he formed a conspiration and killed his brother. He is said to
+represent in the Egyptian mythology, the sea, by some; by others, <i>the
+sun</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Aak</span> (turtle) was also the brother of Chaacmol and <i>Moó</i>. For jealousy,
+and to usurp the throne, he killed his brother at treason with three
+thrusts of his <i>spear</i> in the back. Around the belt of his statue at
+Uxmal used to be seen hanging the heads of his brothers <span class="smcap">Cay</span> and
+<span class="smcap">Chaacmol</span>, together with that of <span class="smcap">Moó</span>; whilst his feet rested on their
+flayed bodies. In the sculpture he is pictured surrounded by the <i>Sun</i>
+as his protecting spirit. The escutcheon of Uxmal shows that he called
+the place he governed the land of the Sun. In the bas-reliefs of the
+Queen’s chamber at Chichen his followers are seen to render homage to
+the <i>Sun</i>; others, the friends of <span class="smcap">Moó</span>, to the <i>Serpent</i>. So, in Mayab as
+in Egypt, the <i>Sun</i> and <i>Serpent</i> were inimical. In Egypt again this
+enmity was a myth, in Mayab a reality.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Aroeris</span> was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Typho. His business seems to
+have been that of a peace-maker.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cay</span> was also the brother of <i>Chaacmol</i>, <i>Moó</i> and <i>Aac</i>. He was the high
+pontiff, and sided with Chaacmol and Moó in their troubles, as we learn
+from the mural paintings, from his head and flayed body serving as
+trophy to Aac as I have just said.</p>
+
+<p>In June last, among the ruins of <i>Uxmal</i>, I discovered a magnificent
+bust of this personage; and I believe I know the place where his remains
+are concealed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Nephthis</span> was the sister of Isis, Osiris, Typho, and Aroeris, and the
+wife of Typho; but being in love with Osiris she managed to be taken to
+his embraces, and she became pregnant. That intrigue having been
+discovered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> by Isis, she adopted the child that Nephthis, fearing the
+anger of her husband, had hidden, brought him up as her own under the
+name of Anubis. Nephthis was also called <span class="smcap">Niké</span> by some.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Nic</span> or <span class="smcap">Nicté</span> was the sister of <i>Chaacmol</i>, <i>Moó</i>, <i>Aac</i>, and <i>Cay</i>, with
+whose name I find always her name associated in the sculptures on the
+monuments. Here the analogy between these personages would seem to
+differ, still further study of the inscriptions may yet prove the
+Egyptian version to contain some truth. <i>Nic</i> or <a name="corr33" id="corr33"></a><ins class="correction" title="Nicté"><i>Nicte</i></ins> means
+flower; a cast of her face, with a flower sculptured on one cheek,
+exists among my collections.</p>
+
+<p>We are told that three children were born to Isis and Osiris: Horus,
+Macedo, and Harpocrates. Well, in the scene painted on the walls of
+Chaacmol’s funeral chamber, in which the body of this warrior is
+represented stretched on the ground, cut open under the ribs for the
+extraction of the heart and visceras, he is seen surrounded by his wife,
+his sister <span class="smcap">Nic</span>, his mother <i>Zoɔ</i>, and four children.</p>
+
+<p>I will close these similes by mentioning that <i>Thoth</i> was reputed the
+preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of
+reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs
+under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient
+divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the
+lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the
+dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of
+writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters,
+reads <i>Nukta</i>; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes,
+since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand,
+to perceive, <i>Nuctah</i>: while his name Thoth, <a name="corr34" id="corr34"></a><ins class="correction" title="Maya">maya</ins> <i>thot</i> means to
+scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at
+the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of
+which I found a sacrificial altar, there were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> six cynocephali in a
+sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were
+placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a
+platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the
+cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the <a name="corr35" id="corr35"></a><ins class="correction" title="yards">yard</ins> of the
+principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the
+kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient
+city was in its glory.</p>
+
+<p>In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon
+(Cynocephalus) warning Moó of impending danger. She is pictured in her
+home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen
+the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is
+symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before
+her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness
+of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral
+qualities, <a name="corr36" id="corr36"></a><ins class="correction" title="(thus">(the</ins> proving that the learned men of Mayab understood
+phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to
+seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her
+extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest
+read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the
+man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and
+threatening position. A serpent (<i>can</i>), her protecting spirit, is seen
+at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is
+another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded
+about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue
+protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing
+from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the
+myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the
+woman, the tempter.</p>
+
+<p>As to the charmed <i>leopard</i> skin worn by the African warriors to render
+them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which
+Chaacmol met his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known
+to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had
+imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being
+wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not
+laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still
+prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed
+during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of
+paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic
+words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be
+possessed of the power of making him invulnerable.</p>
+
+<p>I am acquainted with many people&mdash;and not ignorant&mdash;who believe that by
+wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the
+Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and
+other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir.</p>
+
+<p>That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did
+not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational
+conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing <span class="smrom">FACTS</span>. If we had nothing
+but their <i>name</i> to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its
+etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language.</p>
+
+<p>They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told
+that, in very remote ages, <i>Maya</i>, a prince of the Davanas, established
+himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book
+where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise
+magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura
+(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the
+Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist&mdash;gods and men.</p>
+
+<p>Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call
+themselves <i>Mayas</i>, and that the names of their tribes and cities are
+words belonging to the American Maya language.</p>
+
+<p>Who can give the etymology of the name <i>Magi</i>, the learned men amongst
+the Chaldees. We only know<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> that its meaning is the same as <i>Maya</i> in
+Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece,
+where we find again the name <i>Maia</i>, it is mentioned as that of a
+goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that
+she was the daughter of Atlantis&mdash;born of Atlantis. But if we come to
+the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a
+country called <span class="smcap">Mayab</span>, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a
+sieve (<i>Mayab</i>), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its
+inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called
+themselves <i>Mayas</i>. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their
+hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a
+<i>Lord</i>, a <i>Master</i>, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to
+indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants
+of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land,
+were people from <span class="smcap">Mayab</span>; particularly if we consider that the usual
+character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with
+the sign of land?</p>
+
+<p>We know that the <i>Mayas</i> deified and paid divine honors to their eminent
+men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they
+undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they
+emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their
+inhabitants, who came to forget that <span class="smcap">Mayab</span> was a locality, converted it
+in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was
+considered as the <i>Mother of the Gods</i>, as we see in Hindostan and
+Greece.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization
+from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores
+and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion.
+They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them
+at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and
+beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This
+appears<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> to be the true side of the question; for in the figures
+sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly
+discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the
+celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American.</p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smrom">FACTS</span> gathered from the monuments do not sustain the theory advanced
+by many, that the inhabitants of tropical America received their
+civilization from Egypt and Asia Minor. On the contrary. It is true that
+I have shown that many of the customs and attainments of the Egyptians
+were identical to those of the Mayas; but these had many religious rites
+and habits unknown to the Egyptians; who, as we know, always pointed
+towards the West as the birthplaces of their ancestors, and worshiped as
+gods and goddesses personages who had lived, and whose remains are still
+in <span class="smcap">Mayab</span>. Besides, the monuments themselves prove the respective
+antiquity of the two nations.</p>
+
+<p>According to the best authorities the most ancient monuments raised by
+the Egyptians do not date further back than about 2,500 years B. C.
+Well, in Aké, a city about twenty-five miles from Merida, there exists
+still a monument sustaining thirty-six columns of <i>katuns</i>. Each of
+these columns indicate a lapse of one hundred and sixty years in the
+life of the nation. They then would show that 5,760 years has intervened
+between the time when the first stone was placed on the east corner of
+the uppermost of the three immense superposed platforms that compose the
+structure, and the placing of the last capping stone on the top of the
+thirty-sixth column. How long did that event occur before the Spanish
+conquest it is impossible to surmise. Supposing, however, it did take
+place at that time; this would give us a lapse of at least 6,100 years
+since, among the rejoicings of the people this sacred monument being
+finished, the first stone that was to serve as record of the age of the
+nation, was laid by the high priest, where we see it to-day. I will
+remark that the name <span class="smcap">Aké</span> is one of the Egyptians<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>’ divinities, the third
+person of the triad of Esneh; always represented as a child, holding his
+finger to his mouth. <span class="smcap">Aké</span> also means a <i>reed</i>. To-day the meaning of the
+word is lost in Yucatan.</p>
+
+<p>Cogolludo, in his history of Yucatan, speaking of the manner in which
+they computed time, says:</p>
+
+<p>“They counted their ages and eras, which they inscribed in their books
+every twenty years, in lustrums of four years. * * * When five of these
+lustrums were completed, they called the lapse of twenty years <i>katun</i>,
+which means to place a stone down upon another. * * * In certain sacred
+buildings and in the houses of the priests every twenty years they place
+a hewn stone upon those already there. When seven of these stones have
+thus been piled one over the other began the <i>Ahau katun</i>. Then after
+the first lustrum of four years they placed a small stone on the top of
+the big one, commencing at the east corner; then after four years more
+they placed another small stone on the west corner; then the next at the
+north; and the fourth at the south. At the end of the twenty years they
+put a big stone on the top of the small ones: and the column, thus
+finished, indicated a lapse of one hundred and sixty years.”</p>
+
+<p>There are other methods for determining the approximate age of the
+monuments of Mayab:</p>
+
+<p>1st. By means of their actual orientation; starting from the <i>fact</i> that
+their builders always placed either the faces or angles of the edifices
+fronting the cardinal points.</p>
+
+<p>2d. By determining the epoch when the mastodon became extinct. For,
+since <i>Can</i> or his ancestors adopted the head of that animal as symbol
+of deity, it is evident they must have known it; hence, must have been
+contemporary with it.</p>
+
+<p>3d. By determining when, through some great cataclysm, the lands became
+separated, and all communications between the inhabitants of <i>Mayab</i> and
+their colonies were consequently interrupted. If we are to credit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> what
+Psenophis and Sonchis, priests of Heliopolis and Saïs, said to Solon
+“that nine thousand years before, the visit to them of the Athenian
+legislator, in consequence of great earthquakes and inundations, the
+lands of the West disappeared in one day and a fatal night,” then we may
+be able to form an idea of the antiquity of the ruined cities of America
+and their builders.</p>
+
+<p>Reader, I have brought before you, without comments, some of the <span class="smrom">FACTS</span>,
+that after ten years of research, the paintings on the walls of
+<i>Chaacmol’s</i> funeral chamber, the sculptured inscriptions carved on the
+stones of the crumbling monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the vernacular of the aborigines of that country, have revealed to us. I
+have no theory to offer. Many years of further patient investigations,
+the full interpretation of the monumental inscriptions, and, above all,
+the possession of the libraries of the learned men of <i>Mayab</i>, are the
+<i>sine qua non</i> to form an uncontrovertible one, free from the
+speculations which invalidate all books published on the subject
+heretofore.</p>
+
+<p>If by reading these pages you have learned something new, your time has
+not been lost; nor mine in writing them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chapbreak" />
+
+<div class="tn">
+<p class="titlepage"><a name="trans_note" id="trans_note"></a><b>Transcriber’s Note</b></p>
+
+<p class="noindent">The following errors and inconsistencies have been maintained.</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">Misspelled words and typographical errors:</p>
+
+<table style="margin-left: 0;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="typos">
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr">Page</td>
+  <td>Error</td>
+  <td>Correction</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr1">7</a></td>
+  <td>precipituous</td>
+  <td>precipitous</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr2">17</a></td>
+  <td>maya</td>
+  <td>Maya</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr3">20</a></td>
+  <td>Egpptian</td>
+  <td>Egyptian</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr4">23</a></td>
+  <td><i>Moo</i></td>
+  <td><i>Moó</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr5">23</a></td>
+  <td>Guetzalcoalt</td>
+  <td>Quetzalcoatl</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr6">26</a></td>
+  <td>ethonologists</td>
+  <td>ethnologists</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr7">26</a></td>
+  <td>what he said</td>
+  <td>what he said.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr8">26</a></td>
+  <td>absorbant</td>
+  <td>absorbent</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr9">28</a></td>
+  <td>lazuri:</td>
+  <td>lazuli:</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr10">28</a></td>
+  <td>(Strange</td>
+  <td>Strange</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr11">28</a></td>
+  <td>Chichsen</td>
+  <td>Chichen</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr12">28</a></td>
+  <td>Mó</td>
+  <td>Moó,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr13">32</a></td>
+  <td>Birmah</td>
+  <td>Burmah</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr14">32</a></td>
+  <td>Siameeses.</td>
+  <td>Siameses.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr15">33</a></td>
+  <td>maya</td>
+  <td>Maya</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr16">34</a></td>
+  <td>valleys</td>
+  <td>valleys,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr17">35</a></td>
+  <td>even to-day</td>
+  <td>even to-day.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr18">38</a></td>
+  <td>inthe</td>
+  <td>in the</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr19">38</a></td>
+  <td>Bresseur</td>
+  <td>Brasseur</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr20">49</a></td>
+  <td>(maya).</td>
+  <td>(Maya)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr21">51</a></td>
+  <td>epoch</td>
+  <td>epochs</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr22">52</a></td>
+  <td>Wishnu,</td>
+  <td>Vishnu,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr23">58</a></td>
+  <td>his art,</td>
+  <td>his art.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr24">59</a></td>
+  <td><i>Mó</i>,</td>
+  <td><i>Moó</i>,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr25">62</a></td>
+  <td>Mayas</td>
+  <td>Mayas'</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr26">6</a>3</td>
+  <td>as symbol</td>
+  <td>as a symbol</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr27">66</a></td>
+  <td>e. g</td>
+  <td>e. g.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr28">68</a></td>
+  <td><i>Kukulean</i></td>
+  <td><i>Kukulcan</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr29">69</a></td>
+  <td>DuChaillu</td>
+  <td>Du Chaillu</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr30">72</a></td>
+  <td>death frequently occur;</td>
+  <td>death frequently occurs; or deaths frequently occur;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr31">72</a></td>
+  <td>is is</td>
+  <td>it is</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr32">73</a></td>
+  <td>beats</td>
+  <td>beat</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr33">80</a></td>
+  <td><i>Nicte</i></td>
+  <td><i>Nicté</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr34">80</a></td>
+  <td>maya</td>
+  <td>Maya</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr35">81</a></td>
+  <td>yard</td>
+  <td>yards</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdr"><a href="#corr36">81</a></td>
+  <td>qualities, (the</td>
+  <td>qualities (thus</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="noindent">The following words are inconsistently spelled and hyphenated:</p>
+
+
+<ul class="ix">
+  <li>Aac / Aak</li>
+  <li>Aké / Ake</li>
+  <li>birth-place / birthplace</li>
+  <li>façade / facade</li>
+  <li>Há / Ha</li>
+  <li>Hapimú / Hapimu</li>
+  <li>Hemâ / Hema</li>
+  <li>Kinich-Kakmó / Kinich-kakmo</li>
+  <li>Ná / Na</li>
+  <li>Rab-mag / Rabmag</li>
+  <li><i>senotes</i> / senotes</li>
+  <li>Tipho / Typho</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+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: Vestiges of the Mayas
+       or, Facts Tending to Prove that Communications and Intimate
+       Relations Must Have Existed, in very Remote Times, Between
+       the Inhabitants of Mayab and Those of Asia and Africa
+
+Author: Augustus Le Plongeon
+
+Release Date: December 25, 2009 [EBook #30752]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+A number of typographical errors 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.
+Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and capitalization have been
+maintained. A list of inconsistently spelled, hyphenated, and
+capitalized words is found in a list at the end of the text.
+
+Oe ligatures have been expanded. The following codes are used for
+characters that are not available in the character set used for this
+book:
+
+  [sun]  Sun symbol
+  [=a]   a with macron
+  [c]    open o
+  [C]    open O
+
+
+
+
+  VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS,
+
+  OR,
+
+  _Facts tending to prove that Communications and Intimate Relations
+  must have existed, in very remote times, between the inhabitants of_
+
+  MAYAB
+
+  AND THOSE OF
+
+  ASIA AND AFRICA.
+
+  BY
+
+  AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D.,
+
+  Member of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., of the
+  California Academy of Sciences, and several other Scientific Societies.
+  Author of various Essays and Scientific Works.
+
+  NEW YORK:
+  JOHN POLHEMUS, PRINTER AND STATIONER,
+  102 NASSAU STREET.
+
+  1881.
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+_MR. PIERRE LORILLARD._
+
+Who deserves the thanks of the students of American Archaeology more than
+you, for the interest manifested in the explorations of the ruined
+monuments of Central America, handiwork of the races that inhabited this
+continent in remote ages, and the material help given by you to Foreign
+and American explorers in that field of investigations?
+
+Accept, then, my personal thanks, with the dedication of this small
+Essay. It forms part of the result of many years' study and hardships
+among the ruined cities of the Incas, in Peru, and of the Mayas in
+Yucatan.
+
+    Yours very respectfully,
+
+      AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON, M. D.
+
+NEW YORK, _December 15, 1881_.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered according to an Act of Congress, in December, 1881,
+
+  BY AUGUSTUS LE PLONGEON,
+
+  In the Office of the LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS in Washington, D.C.
+
+
+
+
+VESTIGES OF THE MAYAS.
+
+
+Yucatan is the peninsula which divides the Gulf of Mexico from the
+Caribbean Sea. It is comprised between the 17 deg. 30' and 21 deg. 50',
+of latitude north, and the 88 deg. and 91 deg. of longitude west from
+the Greenwich meridian.
+
+The whole peninsula is of fossiferous limestone formation. Elevated a
+few feet only above the sea, on the coasts, it gradually raises toward
+the interior, to a maximum height of above 70 feet. A bird's-eye view,
+from a lofty building, impresses the beholder with the idea that he is
+looking on an immense sea of verdure, having the horizon for boundary;
+without a hill, not even a hillock, to break the monotony of the
+landscape. Here and there clusters of palm trees, or artificial mounds,
+covered with shrubs, loom above the green dead-level as islets, over
+that expanse of green foliage, affording a momentary relief to the eyes
+growing tired of so much sameness.
+
+About fifty miles from the northwestern coast begins a low, narrow range
+of hills, whose highest point is not much above 500 feet. It traverses
+the peninsula in a direction a little south from east, commencing a few
+miles north from the ruined city of Uxmal, and terminating some distance
+from the eastern coast, opposite to the magnificent bay of Ascension.
+
+Lately I have noticed that some veins of red oxide of iron exist among
+these hills--quarries of marble must also be found there; since the
+sculptured ornaments that adorn the facade of all the monuments at Uxmal
+are of that stone. To-day the inhabitants of Yucatan are even ignorant
+of the existence of these minerals in their country, and ocher to paint,
+and marble slabs to floor their houses, are imported from abroad. I
+have also discovered veins of good lithographic stones that could be
+worked at comparatively little expense.
+
+The surface of the country is undulating; its stony waves recall
+forcibly to the mind the heavy swell of mid-ocean. It seems as if, in
+times long gone by, the soil was upheaved, _en masse_, from the bottom
+of the sea, by volcanic forces. This upheaval must have taken place many
+centuries ago, since isolated columns of _Katuns_ 1m. 50c. square,
+erected at least 6,000 years ago, stand yet in the same perpendicular
+position, as at the time when another stone was added to those already
+piled up, to indicate a lapse of twenty years in the life of the nation.
+
+It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that whilst the surrounding
+countries--Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and the other West India Islands--are
+frequently convulsed by earthquakes, the peninsula of Yucatan is
+entirely free from these awe-inspiring convulsions of mother earth. This
+immunity may be attributed, in my opinion, to the innumerable and
+extensive caves with which the whole country is entirely honeycombed;
+and the large number of immense natural wells, called Senotes, that are
+to be found everywhere. These caves and senotes afford an outlet for the
+escape of the gases generated in the superficial strata of the earth.
+These, finding no resistance to their passage, follow, harmlessly, these
+vents without producing on the surface any of those terrible commotions
+that fill the heart of man and beast alike with fright and dismay.
+
+Some of those caves are said to be very extensive--None, however, has
+been thoroughly explored. I have visited a few, certainly extremely
+beautiful, adorned as they are with brilliant stalactites depending from
+their roofs, that seem as if supported by the stalagmites that must have
+required ages to be formed gradually from the floor into the massive
+columns, as we see them to-day.
+
+In all the caves are to be found either inexhaustible springs of clear,
+pure, cold water, or streams inhabited by shrimps and fishes. No one can
+tell whence they come or where they go. All currents of water are
+subterraneous. Not a river is to be found on the surface; not even the
+smallest of streamlets, where the birds of the air, or the wild beasts
+of the forests, can allay their thirst during the dry season. The
+plants, if there are no chinks or crevices in the stony soil through
+which their roots can penetrate and seek the life-sustaining fluid
+below, wither and die. It is a curious sight that presented by the roots
+of the trees, growing on the precipituous[TN-1] brinks of the _senotes_,
+in their search for water. They go down and down, even a hundred feet,
+until they reach the liquid surface, from where they suck up the fluid
+to aliment the body of the tree. They seem like many cables and ropes
+stretched all round the sides of the well; and, in fact, serves as such
+to some of the most daring of the natives, to ascend or descend to enjoy
+a refreshing bath.
+
+These _senotes_ are immense circular holes, the diameter of which varies
+from 50 to 500 feet, with perpendicular walls from 50 to 150 feet deep.
+These holes might be supposed to have served as ducts for the
+subterranean gases at the time of the upheaval of the country. Now they
+generally contain water. In some, the current is easily noticeable; many
+are completely dry; whilst others contain thermal mineral water,
+emitting at times strong sulphurous odor and vapor.
+
+Many strange stories are told by the aborigines concerning the
+properties possessed by the water in certain senotes, and the strange
+phenomena that takes place in others. In one, for example, you are
+warned to approach the water walking backward, and to breathe very
+softly, otherwise it becomes turbid and unfit for drinking until it has
+settled and become clear again. In another you are told not to speak
+above a whisper, for if any one raises the voice the tranquil surface of
+the water immediately becomes agitated, and soon assumes the appearance
+of boiling; even its level raises. These and many other things are told
+in connection with the caves and senotes; and we find them mentioned in
+the writings of the chroniclers and historians from the time of the
+Spanish conquest.
+
+No lakes exist on the surface, at least within the territories occupied
+by the white men. Some small sheets of water, called aguadas, may be
+found here and there, and are fed by the underground current; but they
+are very rare. There are three or four near the ruins of the ancient
+city of Mayapan: probably its inhabitants found in them an abundant
+supply of water. Following all the same direction, they are, as some
+suppose, no doubt with reason, the outbreaks of a subterranean stream
+that comes also to the surface in the senote of _Mucuyche_. A mile or so
+from Uxmal is another aguada; but judging from the great number of
+artificial reservoirs, built on the terraces and in the courts of all
+the monuments, it would seem as if the people there depended more on the
+clouds for their provision of water than on the wells and senotes. Yet I
+feel confident that one of these must exist under the building known as
+the Governor's house; having discovered in its immediate vicinity the
+entrance--now closed--of a cave from which a cool current of air is
+continually issuing; at times with great force.
+
+I have been assured by Indians from the village of Chemax, who pretend
+to know that part of the country well, that, at a distance of about
+fifty miles from the city of Valladolid, the actual largest settlement
+on the eastern frontier, in the territories occupied by the SANTA CRUZ
+Indians, there exists, near the ruins of _Kaba_, two extensive sheets of
+water, from where, in years gone by, the inhabitants of Valladolid
+procured abundant supply of excellent fishes. These ruins of Kaba, said
+to be very interesting, have never been visited by any foreigner; nor
+are they likely to be for many years to come, on account of the imminent
+danger of falling into the hands of those of Santa Cruz--that, since
+1847, wage war to the knife against the Yucatecans.
+
+On the coast, the sea penetrating in the lowlands have formed sloughs
+and lakes, on the shores of which thickets of mangroves grow, with
+tropical luxuriancy. Intermingling their crooked roots, they form such a
+barrier as to make landing well nigh impossible. These small lakes,
+subject to the ebb and flow of the tides, are the resort of innumerable
+sea birds and water fowls of all sizes and descriptions; from the snipe
+to the crane, and brightly colored flamingos, from the screeching sea
+gulls to the serious looking pelican. They are attracted to these lakes
+by the solitude of the forests of mangroves that afford them excellent
+shelter, where to build their nests, and find protection from the storms
+that, at certain season of the year, sweep with untold violence along
+the coast: and because with ease they can procure an abundant supply of
+food, these waters being inhabited by myriads of fishes, as they come to
+bask on the surface which is seldom ruffled even when the tempest rages
+outside.
+
+Notwithstanding the want of superficial water, the air is always charged
+with moisture; the consequence being a most equable temperature all the
+year round, and an extreme luxuriance of all vegetation. The climate is
+mild and comparatively healthy for a country situated within the
+tropics, and bathed by the waters of the Mexican Gulf. This mildness and
+healthiness may be attributed to the sea breezes that constantly pass
+over the peninsula, carrying the malaria and noxious gases that have not
+been absorbed by the forests, which cover the main portion of the land;
+and to the great abundance of oxygen exuded by the plants in return.
+This excessive moisture and the decomposition of dead vegetable matter
+is the cause of the intermittent fevers that prevail in all parts of the
+peninsula, where the yellow fever, under a mild form generally, is also
+endemic. When it appears, as this year, in an epidemic form, the natives
+themselves enjoy no immunity from its ravages, and fall victims to it as
+well as unacclimated foreigners.
+
+These epidemics, those of smallpox and other diseases that at times make
+their appearance in Yucatan, generally present themselves after the
+rainy season, particularly if the rains have been excessive. The country
+being extremely flat, the drainage is necessarily very bad: and in
+places like Merida, for example, where a crowding of population exists,
+and the cleanliness of the streets is utterly disregarded by the proper
+authorities, the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter is very
+large; and the miasmas generated, being carried with the vapors arising
+from the constant evaporation of stagnant waters, are the origin of
+those scourges that decimate the inhabitants. Yucatan, isolated as it
+is, its small territory nearly surrounded by water, ought to be, if the
+laws of health were properly enforced, one of the most healthy countries
+on the earth; where, as in the Island of Cozumel, people should only die
+of old age or accident. The thermometer varies but little, averaging
+about 80 deg. _Far_. True, it rises in the months of July and August as
+high as 96 deg. in the shade, but it seldom falls below 65 deg. in the
+month of December. In the dry season, from January to June, the trees
+become divested of their leaves, that fall more particularly in March
+and April. Then the sun, returning from the south on its way to the
+north, passes over the land and darts its scorching perpendicular rays
+on it, causing every living creature to thirst for a drop of cool water;
+the heat being increased by the burning of those parts of the forests
+that have been cut down to prepare fields for cultivation.
+
+In the portion of the peninsula, about one-third of it, that still
+remains in possession of the white, the Santa Cruz Indians holding,
+since 1847, the richest and most fertile, two-thirds, the soil is
+entirely stony. The arable loam, a few inches in thickness, is the
+result of the detriti of the stones, mixed with the remainder of the
+decomposition of vegetable matter. In certain districts, towards the
+eastern and southern parts of the State, patches of red clay form
+excellent ground for the cultivation of the sugar cane and Yuca root.
+From this an excellent starch is obtained in large quantities. Withal,
+the soil is of astonishing fertility, and trees, even, are met with of
+large size, whose roots run on the surface of the bare stone,
+penetrating the chinks and crevices only in search of moisture. Often
+times I have seen them growing from the center of slabs, the seed having
+fallen in a hole that happened to be bored in them. In the month of May
+the whole country seems parched and dry. Not a leaf, not a bud. The
+branches and boughs are naked, and covered with a thick coating of gray
+dust. Nothing to intercept the sight in the thicket but the bare trunks
+and branches, with the withes entwining them. With the first days of
+June come the first refreshing showers. As if a magic wand had been
+waved over the land, the view changes--life springs everywhere. In the
+short space of a few days the forests have resumed their holiday attire;
+buds appear and the leaves shoot; the flowers bloom sending forth their
+fragrance, that wafted by the breeze perfume the air far and near. The
+birds sing their best songs of joy; the insects chirp their shrillest
+notes; butterflies of gorgeous colors flutter in clouds in every
+direction in search of the nectar contained in the cups of the
+newly-opened blossom, and dispute it with the brilliant humming-birds.
+All creation rejoices because a few tears of mother Nature have brought
+joy and happiness to all living beings, from the smallest blade of grass
+to the majestic palm; from the creeping worm to man, who proudly titles
+himself the lord of creation.
+
+Yucatan has no rich metallic mines, but its wealth of vegetable
+productions is immense. Large forests of mahogany, cedar, zapotillo
+trees cover vast extents of land in the eastern and southern portions of
+the peninsula; whilst patches of logwood and mora, many miles in length,
+grow near the coast. The wood is to-day cut down and exported by the
+Indians of Santa Cruz through their agents at Belize. Coffee, vanilla,
+tobacco, india-rubber, rosins of various kinds, copal in particular,
+all of good quality, abound in the country, but are not cultivated on
+account of its unsettled state; the Indians retaining possession of the
+most fertile territories where these rich products are found.
+
+The whites have been reduced to the culture of the Hennequen plant
+(agave sisalensis) in order to subsist. It is the only article of
+commerce that grows well on the stony soil to which they are now
+confined. The filament obtained from the plant, and the objects
+manufactured from it constitute the principal article of export; in fact
+the only source of wealth of the Yucatecans. As the filament is now much
+in demand for the fabrication of cordage in the United States and
+Europe, many of the landowners have ceased to plant maize, although the
+staple article of food in all classes, to convert their land into
+hennequen fields. The plant thrives well on stony soil, requires no
+water and but little care. The natural consequence of planting the whole
+country with hennequen has been so great a deficiency in the maize crop,
+that this year not enough was grown for the consumption, and people in
+the northeastern district were beginning to suffer from the want of it,
+when some merchants of Merida imported large quantities from New York.
+They, of course, sold it at advanced prices, much to the detriment of
+the poorer classes. Some sugar is also cultivated in the southern and
+eastern districts, but not in sufficient quantities even for the
+consumption; and not a little is imported from Habana.
+
+The population of the country, about 250,000 souls all told, are mostly
+Indians and mixed blood. In fact, very few families can be found of pure
+Caucasian race. Notwithstanding the great admixture of different races,
+a careful observer can readily distinguish yet four prominent ones, very
+noticeable by their features, their stature, the conformation of their
+body. The dwarfish race is certainly easily distinguishable from the
+descendants of the giants that tradition says once upon a time existed
+in the country, whose bones are yet found, and whose portraits are
+painted on the walls of Chaacmol's funeral chamber at Chichen-Itza. The
+almond-eyed, flat-nosed Siamese race of Copan is not to be mistaken for
+the long, big-nosed, flat-headed remnant of the Nahualt from Palenque,
+who are said to have invaded the country some time at the beginning of
+the Christian era; and whose advent among the Mayas, whose civilization
+they appear to have destroyed, has been commemorated by calling the
+_west_, the region whence they came, according to Landa, Cogolludo and
+other historians, NOHNIAL, a word which means literally _big noses for
+our daughters_; whilst the coming of the bearded men from the _east_,
+better looking than those of the west, if we are to give credit to the
+bas-relief where their portraits are to be seen, was called
+CENIAL--_ornaments for our daughters_.
+
+If we are to judge by the great number of ruined cities scattered
+everywhere through the forests of the peninsula; by the architectural
+beauty of the monuments still extant, the specimens of their artistic
+attainments in drawing and sculpture which have reached us in the
+bas-reliefs, statues and mural paintings of Uxmal and Chichen-Itza; by
+their knowledge in mathematical and astronomical sciences, as manifested
+in the construction of the gnomon found by me in the ruins of Mayapan;
+by the complexity of the grammatical form and syntaxis of their
+language, still spoken to-day by the majority of the inhabitants of
+Yucatan; by their mode of expressing their thoughts on paper, made from
+the bark of certain trees, with alphabetical and phonetical characters,
+we must of necessity believe that, at some time or other, the country
+was not only densely populated, but that the inhabitants had reached a
+high degree of civilization. To-day we can conceive of very few of their
+attainments by the scanty remains of their handiwork, as they have come
+to us injured by the hand of time, and, more so yet, by that of man,
+during the wars, the invasions, the social and religious convulsions
+which have taken place among these people, as among all other nations.
+Only the opening of the buildings which contain the libraries of their
+learned men, and the reading of their works, could solve the mystery,
+and cause us to know how much they had advanced in the discovery and
+explanation of Nature's arcana; how much they knew of mankind's past
+history, and of the nations with which they held intercourse. Let us
+hope that the day may yet come when the Mexican government will grant to
+me the requisite permission, in order that I may bring forth, from the
+edifices where they are hidden, the precious volumes, without opposition
+from the owners of the property where the monuments exist. Until then we
+must content ourselves with the study of the inscriptions carved on the
+walls, and becoming acquainted with the history of their builders, and
+continue to conjecture what knowledge they possessed in order to be able
+to rear such enduring structures, besides the art of designing the plans
+and ornaments, and the manner of carving them on stone.
+
+Let us place ourselves in the position of the archaeologists of thousands
+of years to come, examining the ruins of our great cities, finding still
+on foot some of the stronger built palaces and public buildings, with
+some rare specimens of the arts, sciences, industry of our days, the
+minor edifices having disappeared, gnawed by the steely tooth of time,
+together with the many products of our industry, the machines of all
+kinds, creation of man's ingenuity, and his powerful helpmates. What
+would they know of the attainments and the progress in mechanics of our
+days? Would they be able to form a complete idea of our civilization,
+and of the knowledge of our scientific men, without the help of the
+volumes contained in our public libraries, and maybe of some one able to
+interpret them? Well, it seems to me that we stand in exactly the same
+position concerning the civilization of those who have preceded us five
+or ten thousand years ago on this continent, as these future
+archaeologists may stand regarding our civilization five or ten thousand
+years hence.
+
+It is a fact, recorded by all historians of the Conquest, that when for
+the first time in 1517 the Spaniards came in sight of the lands called
+by them Yucatan, they were surprised to see on the coast many monuments
+well built of stone; and to find the country strewn with large cities
+and beautiful monuments that recalled to their memory the best of Spain.
+They were no less astonished to meet in the inhabitants, not naked
+savages, but a civilized people, possessed of polite and pleasant
+manners, dressed in white cotton habiliments, navigating large boats
+propelled by sails, traveling on well constructed roads and causeways
+that, in point of beauty and solidity, could compare advantageously with
+similar Roman structures in Spain, Italy, England or France.
+
+I will not describe here the majestic monuments raised by the Mayas.
+Mrs. Le Plongeon, in her letters to the _New York World_, has given of
+those of UXMAL, AKE and MAYAPAN, the only correct description ever
+published. My object at present is to relate some of the curious facts
+revealed to us by their weather-beaten and crumbling walls, and show how
+erroneous is the opinion of some European scientists, who think it not
+worth while to give a moment of their precious time to the study of
+American archaeology, because say they: _No relations have ever been
+found to have existed between the monuments and civilizations of the
+inhabitants of this continent and those of the old world_. On what
+ground they hazard such an opinion it is difficult to surmise, since to
+my knowledge the ancient ruined cities of Yucatan, until lately, have
+never been thoroughly, much less scientifically, explored. The same is
+true of the other monumental ruins of the whole of Central America.
+
+When Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself landed at Progresso, in 1873, we
+thought that because we had read the works of Stephens, Waldeck,
+Norman, Fredeichstal; carefully examined the few photographic views made
+by Mr. Charnay of some of the monuments, we knew all about them. Alas!
+vain presumption! When in presence of the antique shrines and palaces of
+the Mayas, we soon saw how mistaken we had been; how little those
+writers had seen of the monuments they had pretended to describe: that
+the work of studying them systematically was not even begun; and that
+many years of close observation and patient labor would be necessary in
+order to dispel the mysteries which hang over them, and to discover the
+hidden meaning of their ornaments and inscriptions. To this difficult
+task we resolved to dedicate our time, and to concentrate our efforts to
+find a solution, if possible, to the enigma.
+
+We began our work by taking photographs of all the monuments in their
+_tout ensemble_, and in all their details, as much as practicable. Next,
+we surveyed them carefully; made accurate plans of them in order to be
+able to comprehend by the disposition of their different parts, for what
+possible use they were erected; taking, as a starting point, that the
+human mind and human inclinations and wants are the same in all times,
+in all countries, in all races when civilized and cultured. We next
+carefully examined what connection the ornaments bore to each other, and
+tried to understand the meaning of the designs. At first the maze of
+these designs seemed a very difficult riddle to solve. Yet, we believed
+that if a human intelligence had devised it, another human intelligence
+would certainly be able to unravel it. It was not, however, until we had
+nearly completed the tracing and study of the mural paintings, still
+extant in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, or room built on the top of
+the eastern wall of the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza, at its southern end,
+that Stephens mistook for a shrine dedicated to the god of the players
+at ball, that a glimmer of light began to dawn upon us. In tracing the
+figure of Chaacmol in battle, I remarked that the shield worn by him
+had painted on it round green spots, and was exactly like the ornaments
+placed between tiger and tiger on the entablature of the same monument.
+I naturally concluded that the monument had been raised to the memory of
+the warrior bearing the shield; that the tigers represented his totem,
+and that _Chaacmol_ or _Balam_ maya[TN-2] words for spotted tiger or
+leopard, was his name. I then remembered that at about one hundred yards
+in the thicket from the edifice, in an easterly direction, a few days
+before, I had noticed the ruins of a remarkable mound of rather small
+dimensions. It was ornamented with slabs engraved with the images of
+spotted tigers, eating human hearts, forming magnificent bas-reliefs,
+conserving yet traces of the colors in which it was formerly painted. I
+repaired to the place. Doubts were no longer possible. The same round
+dots, forming the spots of their skins, were present here as on the
+shield of the warrior in battle, and that on the entablature of the
+building. On examining carefully the ground around the mound, I soon
+stumbled upon what seemed to be a half buried statue. On clearing the
+_debris_ we found a statue in the round, representing a wounded tiger
+reclining on his right side. Three holes in the back indicated the
+places where he received his wounds. It was headless. A few feet
+further, I found a human head with the eyes half closed, as those of a
+dying person. When placed on the neck of the tiger it fitted exactly. I
+propped it with sticks to keep it in place. So arranged, it recalled
+vividly the Chaldean and Egyptian deities having heads of human beings
+and bodies of animals. The next object that called my attention was
+another slab on which was represented in bas-relief a dying warrior,
+reclining on his back, the head was thrown entirely backwards. His left
+arm was placed across his chest, the left hand resting on the right
+shoulder, exactly in the same position which the Egyptians were wont, at
+times, to give to the mummies of some of their eminent men. From his
+mouth was seen escaping two thin, narrow flames--the spirit of the
+dying man abandoning the body with the last warm breath.
+
+These and many other sculptures caused me to suspect that this monument
+had been the mausoleum raised to the memory of the warrior with the
+shield covered with the round dots. Next to the slabs engraved with the
+image of tigers was another, representing an _ara militaris_ (a bird of
+the parrot specie, very large and of brilliant plumage of various
+colors). I took it for the totem of his wife, MOO, _macaw_; and so it
+proved to be when later I was able to interpret their ideographic
+writings. _Kinich-Kakmo_ after her death obtained the honors of the
+apotheosis; had temples raised to her memory, and was worshipped at
+Izamal up to the time of the Spanish conquest, according to Landa,
+Cogolludo and Lizana.
+
+Satisfied that I had found the tomb of a great warrior among the Mayas,
+I resolved to make an excavation, notwithstanding I had no tools or
+implements proper for such work. After two months of hard toil, after
+penetrating through three level floors painted with yellow ochre, at
+last a large stone urn came in sight. It was opened in presence of
+Colonel D. Daniel Traconis. It contained a small heap of grayish dust
+over which lay the cover of a terra cotta pot, also painted yellow; a
+few small ornaments of macre that crumbled to dust on being touched, and
+a large ball of jade, with a hole pierced in the middle. This ball had
+at one time been highly polished, but for some cause or other the polish
+had disappeared from one side. Near, and lower than the urn, was
+discovered the head of the colossal statue, to-day the best, or one of
+the best pieces, in the National Museum of Mexico, having been carried
+thither on board of the gunboat _Libertad_, without my consent, and
+without any renumeration having even been offered by the Mexican
+government for my labor, my time and the money spent in the discovery.
+Close to the chest of the statue was another stone urn much larger than
+the first. On being uncovered it was found to contain a large quantity
+of reddish substance and some jade ornaments. On closely examining this
+substance I pronounced it organic matter that had been subjected to a
+very great heat in an open vessel. (A chemical analysis of some of it by
+Professor Thompson, of Worcester, Mass., at the request of Mr. Stephen
+Salisbury, Jr., confirmed my opinion). From the position of the urn I
+made up my mind that its contents were the heart and viscera of the
+personage represented by the statue; while the dust found in the first
+urn must have been the residue of his brains.
+
+Landa tells us that it was the custom, even at the time of the Spanish
+conquest, when a person of eminence died to make images of stone, or
+terra cotta or wood in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes were
+placed in a hollow made on the back of the head for the purpose. Feeling
+sorry for having thus disturbed the remains of _Chaacmol_, so carefully
+concealed by his friends and relatives many centuries ago; in order to
+save them from further desecration, I burned the greater part reserving
+only a small quantity for future analysis. This finding of the heart and
+brains of that chieftain, afforded an explanation, if any was needed, of
+one of the scenes more artistically portrayed in the mural paintings of
+his funeral chamber. In this scene which is painted immediately over the
+entrance of the chamber, where is also a life-size representation of his
+corpse prepared for cremation, the dead warrior is pictured stretched on
+the ground, his back resting on a large stone placed for the purpose of
+raising the body and keeping open the cut made across it, under the
+ribs, for the extraction of the heart and other parts it was customary
+to preserve. These are seen in the hands of his children. At the feet of
+the statue were found a number of beautiful arrowheads of flint and
+chalcedony; also beads that formed part of his necklace. These, to-day
+petrified, seemed to have been originally of bone or ivory. They were
+wrought to figure shells of periwinkles. Surrounding the slab on which
+the figure rests was a large quantity of dried blood. This fact might
+lead us to suppose that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral, as
+Herodotus tells us it was customary with the Scythians, and we know it
+was with the Romans and other nations of the old world, and the Incas in
+Peru. Yet not a bone or any other human remains were found in the
+mausoleum.
+
+The statue forms a single piece with the slab on which it reclines, as
+if about to rise on his elbows, the legs being drawn up so that the feet
+rest flat on the slab. I consider this attitude given to the statues of
+dead personages that I have discovered in Chichen, where they are still,
+to be symbolical of their belief in reincarnation. They, in common with
+the Egyptians, the Hindoos, and other nations of antiquity, held that
+the spirit of man after being made to suffer for its shortcomings during
+its mundane life, would enjoy happiness for a time proportionate to its
+good deeds, then return to earth, animate the body and live again a
+material existence. The Mayas, however, destroying the body by fire,
+made statues in the semblance of the deceased, so that, being
+indestructible the spirit might find and animate them on its return to
+earth. The present aborigines have the same belief. Even to-day, they
+never fail to prepare the _hanal pixan_, the food for the spirits, which
+they place in secluded spots in the forests or fields, every year, in
+the month of November. These statues also hold an urn between their
+hands. This fact again recalls to the mind the Egpptian[TN-3] custom of
+placing an urn in the coffins with the mummies, to indicate that the
+spirit of the deceased had been judged and found righteous.
+
+The ornament hanging on the breast of Chaacmol's effigy, from a ribbon
+tied with a peculiar knot behind his neck, is simply a badge of his
+rank; the same is seen on the breast of many other personages in the
+bas-reliefs and mural paintings. A similar mark of authority is yet in
+usage in Burmah.
+
+I have tarried so long on the description of my first important
+discovery because I desired to explain the method followed by me in the
+investigation of these monuments, to show that the result of our labors
+are by no means the work of imagination--as some have been so kind a
+_short_ time ago as to intimate--but of careful and patient analysis and
+comparison; also, in order, from the start, to call your attention to
+the similarity of certain customs in the funeral rites that the Mayas
+seem to have possessed in common with other nations of the old world:
+and lastly, because my friend, Dr. Jesus Sanchez, Professor of
+Archaeology in the National Museum of Mexico, ignoring altogether the
+circumstances accompanying the discovery of the statue, has published in
+the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, a long dissertation--full of erudition,
+certainly--to prove that the statue discovered by me at Chichen-Itza,
+was a representation of the _God of the natural production of the
+earth_, and that the name given by me was altogether arbitrary; and,
+also, because an article has appeared in the _North American Review_ for
+October, 1880, signed by Mr. Charnay, in which the author, after
+re-producing Mr. Sanchez's writing, pronounces _ex cathedra_ and _de
+perse_, but without assigning any reason for his opinion, that the
+statue is the effigy of the _god of wine_--the Mexican Bacchus--without
+telling us which of them, for there were two.
+
+Having been obliged to abandon the statue in the forests--well wrapped
+in oilcloth, and sheltered under a hut of palm leaves, constructed by
+Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself--my men having been disarmed by order of
+General Palomino, then commander-in-chief of the federal forces in
+Yucatan, in consequence of a revolutionary movement against Dr.
+Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and in favor of General Diaz--I went to Uxmal
+to continue my researches among its ruined temples and palaces. There I
+took many photographs, surveyed the monuments, and, for the first time,
+found the remnants of the phallic worship of the Nahualts. Its symbols
+are not to be seen in Chichen--the city of the holy and learned men,
+Itzaes--but are frequently met with in the northern parts of the
+peninsula, and all the regions where the Nahualt influence predominated.
+
+There can be no doubt that in very ancient times the same customs and
+religious worship existed in Uxmal and Chichen, since these two cities
+were founded by the same family, that of CAN (serpent), whose name is
+written on all the monuments in both places. CAN and the members of his
+family worshipped Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's head. At
+Chichen a tableau of said worship forms the ornament of the building,
+designated in the work of Stephens, "Travels in Yucatan," as IGLESIA;
+being, in fact, the north wing of the palace and museum. This is the
+reason why the mastodon's head forms so prominent a feature in all the
+ornaments of the edifices built by them. They also worshipped the sun
+and fire, which they represented by the same hieroglyph used by the
+Egyptians for the sun [sun]. In this worship of the fire they resembled
+the Chaldeans and Hindoos, but differed from the Egyptians, who had no
+veneration for this element. They regarded it merely as an animal that
+devoured all things within its reach, and died with all it had
+swallowed, when replete and satisfied.
+
+From certain inscriptions and pictures--in which the _Cans_ are
+represented crawling on all fours like dogs--sculptured on the facade of
+their house of worship, it would appear that their religion of the
+mastodon was replaced by that of the reciprocal forces of nature,
+imported in the country by the big-nosed invaders, the Nahualts coming
+from the west. These destroyed Chichen, and established their capital at
+_Uxmal_. There they erected in all the courts of the palaces, and on the
+platforms of the temples the symbols of their religion, taking care,
+however, not to interfere with the worship of the sun and fire, that
+seems to have been the most popular.
+
+Bancroft in his work, "_The Native Races of the Pacific States_," Vol.
+IV., page 277, remarks: "That the scarcity of idols among the Maya
+antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. That the people of
+Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection
+with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, and rivalling
+or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for,
+but in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were
+very small, and that such as escaped the fatal iconoclasms of the
+Spanish ecclesiastics were buried by the natives as the only means of
+preventing their desecration."
+
+That the people who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish
+conquest had a multiplicity of gods there can be no doubt. The primitive
+form of worship, with time and by the effect of invasions from outside,
+had disappeared, and been replaced by that of their great men and women,
+who were deified and had temples raised to their memory, as we see, for
+example, in the case of _Moo_,[TN-4] wife and sister of Chaacmol, whose
+shrine was built on the high mound on the north side of the large square
+in the city of Izamal. There pilgrims flocked from all parts of the
+country to listen to the oracles delivered by the mouth of her priests;
+and see the goddess come down from the clouds every day, at mid-day,
+under the form of a resplendent macaw, and light the fire that was to
+consume the offerings deposited on her altar; even at the time of the
+conquest, according to the chroniclers, Chaacmol himself seems to have
+become the god of war, that always appeared in the midst of the battle,
+fighting on the side of his followers, surrounded with flames. Kukulcan,
+"the culture" hero of the Mayas, the winged serpent, worshipped by the
+Mexicans as the god Guetzalcoalt,[TN-5] and by the Quiches as Cucumatz,
+if not the father himself of Chaacmol, CAN, at least one of his
+ancestors.
+
+The friends and followers of that prince may have worshipped him after
+his death, and the following generations, seeing the representation of
+his totems (serpent) covered with feathers, on the walls of his palaces,
+and of the sanctuaries built by him to the deity, called him Kukulcan,
+the winged serpent: when, in fact, the artists who carved his emblems on
+the walls covered them with the cloaks he and all the men in authority
+and the high priests wore on ceremonial occasions--feathered
+vestments--as we learned from the study of mural paintings.
+
+In the temples and palaces of the ancient Mayas I have never seen
+anything that I could in truth take for idols. I have seen many symbols,
+such as double-headed tigers, corresponding to the double-headed lions
+of the Egyptians, emblems of the sun. I have seen the representation of
+people kneeling in a peculiar manner, with their right hand resting on
+the left shoulder--sign of respect among the Mayas as among the
+inhabitants of Egypt--in the act of worshiping the mastodon head; but I
+doubt if this can be said to be idol worship. _Can_ and his family were
+probably monotheists. The masses of the people, however, may have placed
+the different natural phenomena under the direct supervision of special
+imaginary beings, prescribing to them the same duties that among the
+Catholics are prescribed, or rather attributed, to some of the saints;
+and may have tributed to them the sort of worship of _dulia_, tributed
+to the saints--even made images that they imagined to represent such or
+such deity, as they do to-day; but I have never found any. They
+worshiped the divine essence, and called it KU.
+
+In course of time this worship may have been replaced by idolatrous
+rites, introduced by the barbarous or half civilized tribes which
+invaded the country, and implanted among the inhabitants their religious
+belief, their idolatrous superstitions and form of worship with their
+symbols. The monuments of Uxmal afford ample evidence of that fact.
+
+My studies, however, have nothing to do with the history of the country
+posterior to the invasion of the Nahualts. These people appear to have
+destroyed the high form of civilization existing at the time of their
+advent; and tampered with the ornaments of the buildings in order to
+introduce the symbols of the reciprocal forces of nature.
+
+The language of the ancient Mayas, strange as it may appear, has
+survived all the vicissitudes of time, wars, and political and religious
+convulsions. It has, of course, somewhat degenerated by the mingling of
+so many races in such a limited space as the peninsula of Yucatan is;
+but it is yet the vernacular of the people. The Spaniards themselves,
+who strived so hard to wipe out all vestiges of the ancient customs of
+the aborigines, were unable to destroy it; nay, they were obliged to
+learn it; and now many of their descendants have forgotten the mother
+tongue of their sires, and speak Maya only.
+
+In some localities in Central America it is still spoken in its pristine
+purity, as, for example, by the _Chaacmules_, a tribe of bearded men, it
+is said, who live in the vicinity of the unexplored ruins of the ancient
+city of _Tekal_. It is a well-known fact that many tribes, as that of
+the Itzaes, retreating before the Nahualt invaders, after the surrender
+and destruction of their cities, sought refuge in the islands of the
+lake _Peten_ of to-day, and called it _Petenitza_, the _islands of the
+Itzaes_; or in the well nigh inaccessible valleys, defended by ranges of
+towering mountains. There they live to-day, preserving the customs,
+manners, language of their forefathers unaltered, in the tract of land
+known to us as _Tierra de Guerra_. No white man has ever penetrated
+their zealously guarded stronghold that lays between Guatemala, Tabasco,
+Chiapas and Yucatan, the river _Uzumasinta_ watering part of their
+territory.
+
+The Maya language seems to be one of the oldest tongues spoken by man,
+since it contains words and expressions of all, or nearly all, the known
+polished languages on earth. The name _Maya_, with the same
+signification everywhere it is met, is to be found scattered over the
+different countries of what we term the Old World, as in Central
+America.
+
+I beg to call your attention to the following facts. They may have no
+significance. They may be mere coincidences, the strange freaks of
+hazard, of no possible value in the opinion of some among the learned
+men of our days. Just as the finding of English words and English
+customs, as now exist among the most remote nations and heterogeneous
+people and tribes of all races and colors, who do not even suspect the
+existence of one another, may be regarded by the learned philologists
+and ethonologists[TN-6] of two or three thousand years hence. These
+will, perhaps, also pretend that _these coincidences_ are simply the
+curious workings of the human mind--the efforts of men endeavoring to
+express their thoughts in language, that being reduced to a certain
+number of sounds, must, of necessity produce, if not the same, at least
+very similar words to express the same idea--and that this similarity
+does not prove that those who invented them had, at any time,
+communication, unless, maybe, at the time of the building of the
+hypothetical Tower of Babel. Then all the inhabitants of earth are said
+to have bid each other a friendly good night, a certain evening, in a
+universal tongue, to find next morning that everybody had gone stark mad
+during the night: since each one, on meeting sixty-nine of his friends,
+was greeted by every one in a different and unknown manner, according to
+learned rabbins; and that he could no more understand what they said,
+than they what he said[TN-7]
+
+It is very difficult without the help of the books of the learned
+priests of _Mayab_ to know positively why they gave that name to the
+country known to-day as Yucatan. I can only surmise that they so called
+it from the great absorbant[TN-8] quality of its stony soil, which, in
+an incredibly short time, absorbs the water at the surface. This
+percolating through the pores of the stone is afterward found filtered
+clear and cool in the senotes and caves. _Mayab_, in the Maya language,
+means a tammy, a sieve. From the name of the country, no doubt, the
+Mayas took their name, as natural; and that name is found, as that of
+the English to-day, all over the ancient civilized world.
+
+When, on January 28, 1873, I had the honor of reading a paper before the
+New York American Geographical Society--on the coincidences that exist
+between the monuments, customs, religious rites, etc. of the prehistoric
+inhabitants of America and those of Asia and Egypt--I pointed to the
+fact that sun circles, dolmen and tumuli, similar to the megalithic
+monuments of America, had been found to exist scattered through the
+islands of the Pacific to Hindostan; over the plains of the peninsulas
+at the south of Asia, through the deserts of Arabia, to the northern
+parts of Africa; and that not only these rough monuments of a primitive
+age, but those of a far more advanced civilization were also to be seen
+in these same countries. Allow me to repeat now what I then said
+regarding these strange facts: If we start from the American continent
+and travel towards the setting sun we may be able to trace the route
+followed by the mound builders to the plains of Asia and the valley of
+the Nile. The mounds scattered through the valley of the Mississippi
+seem to be the rude specimens of that kind of architecture. Then come
+the more highly finished teocalis of Yucatan and Mexico and Peru; the
+pyramidal mounds of _Maui_, one of the Sandwich Islands; those existing
+in the Fejee and other islands of the Pacific; which, in China, we find
+converted into the high, porcelain, gradated towers; and these again
+converted into the more imposing temples of Cochin-China, Hindostan,
+Ceylon--so grand, so stupendous in their wealth of ornamentation that
+those of Chichen-Itza Uxmal, Palenque, admirable as they are, well nigh
+dwindle into insignificance, as far as labor and imagination are
+concerned, when compared with them. That they present the same
+fundamental conception in their architecture is evident--a platform
+rising over another platform, the one above being of lesser size than
+the one below; the American monuments serving, as it were, as models for
+the more elaborate and perfect, showing the advance of art and
+knowledge.
+
+The name Maya seems to have existed from the remotest times in the
+meridional parts of Hindostan. Valmiki, in his epic poem, the Ramayana,
+said to be written 1500 before the Christian era, in which he recounts
+the wars and prowesses of RAMA in the recovery of his lost wife, the
+beautiful SITA, speaking of the country inhabited by the Mayas,
+describes it as abounding in mines of silver and gold, with precious
+stones and lapiz lazuri:[TN-9] and bounded by the _Vindhya_ mountains on
+one side, the _Prastravana_ range on the other and the sea on the third.
+The emissaries of RAMA having entered by mistake within the Mayas
+territories, learned that all foreigners were forbidden to penetrate
+into them; and that those who were so imprudent as to violate this
+prohibition, even through ignorance, seldom escaped being put to death.
+(Strange[TN-10] to say, the same thing happens to-day to those who try
+to penetrate into the territories of the _Santa Cruz_ Indians, or in the
+valleys occupied by the _Lacandones_, _Itzaes_ and other tribes that
+inhabit _La Tierra de Guerra_. The Yucatecans themselves do not like
+foreigners to go, and less to settle, in their country--are consequently
+opposed to immigration.
+
+The emissaries of Rama, says the poet, met in the forest a woman who
+told them: That in very remote ages a prince of the Davanas, a learned
+magician, possessed of great power, whose name was _Maya_, established
+himself in the country, and that he was the architect of the principal
+of the Davanas: but having fallen in love with the nymph _Hema_, married
+her; whereby he roused the jealousy of the god _Pourandura_, who
+attacked and killed him with a thunderbolt. Now, it is worthy of notice,
+that the word _Hem_ signifies in the Maya language to _cross with
+ropes_; or according to Brasseur, _hidden mysteries_.
+
+By a most rare coincidence we have the same identical story recorded in
+the mural paintings of Chaacmol's funeral chamber, and in the sculptures
+of Chichsen[TN-11] and Uxmal. There we find that Chaacmol, the husband
+of Moo[TN-12] is killed by his brother Aac, who stabbed him three times
+in the back with his spear for jealousy. Aac was in love with his sister
+Moo, but she married his brother Chaacmol from choice, and because the
+law of the country prescribed that the younger brother should marry his
+sister, making it a crime for the older brothers to marry her.
+
+In another part of the _Ramayana_, MAYA is described as a powerful
+_Asoura_, always thirsting for battles and full of arrogance and
+pride--an enemy to B[=a]li, chief of one of the monkey tribes, by whom
+he was finally vanquished. The celebrated Indianist, Mr. H. T.
+Colebrooke, in a memoir on the sacred books of the Hindoos, published in
+Vol. VIII of the "Asiatic Researches," says: "The _Souryasiddkantu_ (the
+most ancient Indian treatise on astronomy), is not considered as written
+by MAYA; but this personage is represented as receiving his science from
+a partial incarnation of the sun."
+
+MAYA is also, according to the Rig-Veda, the goddess, by whom all things
+are created by her union with Brahma. She is the cosmic egg, the golden
+uterus, the _Hiramyagarbha_. We see an image of it, represented floating
+amidst the water, in the sculptures that adorn the panel over the door
+of the east facade of the monument, called by me palace and museum at
+Chichen-Itza. Emile Burnouf, in his Sanscrit Dictionary, at the word
+Maya, says: Maya, an architect of the _Datyas_; Maya (_mas._), magician,
+prestidigitator; (_fem._) illusion, prestige; Maya, the magic virtue of
+the gods, their power for producing all things; also the feminine or
+producing energy of Brahma.
+
+I will complete the list of these remarkable coincidences with a few
+others regarding customs exactly similar in both countries. One of these
+consists in carrying children astride on the hip in Yucatan as in India.
+In Yucatan this custom is accompanied by a very interesting ceremony
+called _hetzmec_. It is as follows: When a child reaches the age of four
+months an invitation is sent to the friends and members of the family of
+the parents to assemble at their house. Then in presence of all
+assembled the legs of the child are opened, and he is placed astride
+the hip of the _nailah_ or _hetzmec_ godmother; she in turn encircling
+the little one with her arm, supports him in that position whilst she
+walks five times round the house. During the time she is occupied in
+that walk five eggs are placed in hot ashes, so that they may burst and
+the five senses of the child be opened. By the manner in which they
+burst and the time they require for bursting, they pretend to know if he
+will be intelligent or not. During the ceremony they place in his tiny
+hands the implement pertaining to the industry he is expected to
+practice. The _nailah_ is henceforth considered as a second mother to
+the child; who, when able to understand, is made to respect her: and she
+is expected, in case of the mother's death, to adopt and take care of
+the child as if he were her own.
+
+Now, I will call your attention to another strange and most remarkable
+custom that was common to the inhabitants of _Mayab_, some tribes of the
+aborigines of North America, and several of those that dwell in
+Hindostan, and practice it even to-day. I refer to the printing of the
+human hand, dipped in a red colored liquid, on the walls of certain
+sacred edifices. Could not this custom, existing amongst nations so far
+apart, unknown to each other, and for apparently the same purposes, be
+considered as a link in the chain of evidence tending to prove that very
+intimate relations and communications have existed anciently between
+their ancestors? Might it not help the ethnologists to follow the
+migrations of the human race from this western continent to the eastern
+and southern shores of Asia, across the wastes of the Pacific Ocean? I
+am told by unimpeachable witnesses that they have seen the red or bloody
+hand in more than one of the temples of the South Sea islanders; and his
+Excellency Fred. P. Barlee, Esq., the actual governor of British
+Honduras, has assured me that he has examined this seemingly indelible
+imprint of the red hand on some rocks in caves in Australia. There is
+scarcely a monument in Yucatan that does not preserve the imprint of
+the open upraised hand, dipped in red paint of some sort, perfectly
+visible on its walls. I lately took tracings of two of these imprints
+that exist in the back saloon of the main hall, in the governor's house
+at Uxmal, in order to calculate the height of the personage who thus
+attested to those of his race, as I learned from one of my Indian
+friends, who passes for a wizard, that the building was _in naa_, my
+house. I may well say that the archway of the palace of the priests,
+toward the court, was nearly covered with them. Yet I am not aware that
+such symbol was ever used by the inhabitants of the countries bordering
+on the shores of the Mediterranean or by the Assyrians, or that it ever
+was discovered among the ruined temples or palaces of Egypt.
+
+The meaning of the red hand used by the aborigines of some parts of
+America has been, it is well known, a subject of discussion for learned
+men and scientific societies. Its uses as a symbol remained for a long
+time a matter of conjecture. It seems that Mr. Schoolcraft had truly
+arrived at the knowledge of its veritable meaning. Effectively, in the
+2d column of the 5th page of the _New York Herald_ for April 12, 1879,
+in the account of the visit paid by Gen. Grant to Ram Singh, Maharajah
+of Jeypoor, we read the description of an excursion to the town of
+Amber. Speaking of the journey to the _home of an Indian king_, among
+other things the writer says:--"We passed small temples, some of them
+ruined, some others with offerings of grains, or fruits, or flowers,
+some with priests and people at worship. On the walls of some of the
+temples we saw the marks of the human hand as though it had been steeped
+in blood and pressed against the white wall. We were told that it was
+the custom, when seeking from the gods some benison to note the vow by
+putting the hand into a liquid and printing it on the wall. This was to
+remind the gods of the vow and prayer. And if it came to pass in the
+shape of rain, or food, or health, or children, the joyous devotee
+returned to the temple and made other offerings." In Yucatan it seems to
+have had the same meaning. That is to say: that the owners of the house
+if private, or the priests, in the temples and public buildings, called
+upon the edifices at the time of taking possession and using them for
+the first time, the blessing of the Deity; and placed the hand's
+imprints on the walls to recall the vows and prayer: and also, as the
+interpretation communicated to me by the Indians seems to suggest, as a
+signet or mark of property--_in naa_, my house.
+
+I need not speak of the similarity of many religious rites and beliefs
+existing in Hindostan and among the inhabitants of _Mayab_. The worship
+of the fire, of the phallus, of Deity under the symbol of the mastodon's
+head, recalling that of Ganeza, the god with an elephant's head, hence
+that of the elephant in Siam, Birmah[TN-13] and other places of the
+Asiatic peninsula even in our day; and various other coincidences so
+numerous and remarkable that many would not regard them as simple
+coincidences. What to think, effectively, of the types of the personages
+whose portraits are carved on the obelisks of Copan? Were they in Siam
+instead of Honduras, who would doubt but they are Siameeses.[TN-14] What
+to say of the figures of men and women sculptured on the walls of the
+stupendous temples hewn, from the live rock, at Elephanta, so American
+is their appearance and features? Who would not take them to be pure
+aborigines if they were seen in Yucatan instead of Madras, Elephanta and
+other places of India.
+
+If now we abandon that country and, crossing the Himalaya's range enter
+Afghanistan, there again we find ourselves in a country inhabited by
+Maya tribes; whose names, as those of many of their cities, are of pure
+American-Maya origin. In the fourth column of the sixth page of the
+London _Times_, weekly edition, of March 4, 1879, we read: "4,000 or
+5,000 assembled on the opposite bank of the river _Kabul_, and it
+appears that in that day or evening they attacked the Maya villages
+situated on the north side of the river."
+
+He, the correspondent of the _Times_, tells us that Maya tribes form
+still part of the population of Afghanistan. He also tells us that
+_Kabul_ is the name of the river, on the banks of which their villages
+are situated. But _Kabul_ is the name of an antique shrine in the city
+of Izamal. Cogolludo, in the lib. IV., cap. VIII. of his History of
+Yucatan, says: "They had another temple on another mound, on the west
+side of the square, also dedicated to the same idol. They had there the
+symbol of a hand, as souvenir. To that temple they carried their dead
+and the sick. They called it _Kabul_, the working hand, and made there
+great offerings." Father Lizana says the same: so we have two witnesses
+to the fact. _Kab_, in Maya means hand; and _Bul_ is to play at hazard.
+
+Many of the names of places and towns of Afghanistan have not only a
+meaning in the American-Maya language, but are actually the same as
+those of places and villages in Yucatan to-day, for example:
+
+The Valley of _Chenar_ would be the valley of the _well of the woman's
+children_--_chen_, well, and _al_, the woman's children. The fertile
+valley of _Kunar_ would be the valley of the _god of the ears of corn_;
+or, more probably, the _nest of the ears of corn_: as KU, pronounced
+short, means _God_, and _Kuu_, pronounced long, is nest. NAL, is the
+_ears of corn_.
+
+The correspondent of the London _Times_, in his letters, mentions the
+names of some of the principal tribes, such as the _Kuki-Khel_, the
+_Akakhel_, the _Khambhur Khel_, etc. The suffix Khel simply signifies
+tribe, or clan. So similar to the Maya vocable _Kaan_, a tie, a rope;
+hence a clan: a number of people held together by the tie of parentage.
+Now, Kuki would be Kukil, or Kukum maya[TN-15] for feather, hence the
+KUKI-KHEL would be the tribe of the feather.
+
+AKA-KHEL in the same manner would be the tribe of the reservoir, or
+pond. AKAL is the Maya name for the artificial reservoirs, or ponds in
+which the ancient inhabitants of Mayab collected rain water for the time
+of drought.
+
+Similarly the KHAMBHUR KHEL is the tribe of the _pleasant_: _Kambul_ in
+Maya. It is the name of several villages of Yucatan, as you may satisfy
+yourself by examining the map.
+
+We have also the ZAKA-KHEL, the tribe of the locust, ZAK. It is useless
+to quote more for the present: enough to say that if you read the names
+of the cities, valleys[TN-16] clans, roads even of Afghanistan to any of
+the aborigines of Yucatan, they will immediately give you their meaning
+in their own language. Before leaving the country of the Afghans, by the
+KHIBER Pass--that is to say, the _road of the hawk_; HI, _hawk_, and
+BEL, road--allow me to inform you that in examining their types, as
+published in the London illustrated papers, and in _Harper's Weekly_, I
+easily recognized the same cast of features as those of the bearded men,
+whose portraits we discovered in the bas-reliefs which adorn the antae
+and pillars of the castle, and queen's box in the Tennis Court at
+Chichen-Itza.
+
+On our way to the coast of Asia Minor, and hence to Egypt, we may, in
+following the Mayas' footsteps, notice that a tribe of them, the learned
+MAGI, with their Rabmag at their head, established themselves in
+Babylon, where they became, indeed, a powerful and influential body.
+Their chief they called _Rab-mag_--or LAB-MAC--the old person--LAB,
+_old_--MAC, person; and their name Magi, meant learned men, magicians,
+as that of Maya in India. I will directly speak more at length of
+vestiges of the Mayas in Babylon, when explaining by means of the
+_American Maya_, the meaning and probable etymology of the names of the
+Chaldaic divinities. At present I am trying to follow the footprints of
+the Mayas.
+
+On the coast of Asia Minor we find a people of a roving and piratical
+disposition, whose name was, from the remotest antiquity and for many
+centuries, the terror of the populations dwelling on the shores of the
+Mediterranean; whose origin was, and is yet unknown; who must have
+spoken Maya, or some Maya dialect, since we find words of that
+language, and with the same meaning inserted in that of the Greeks, who,
+Herodotus tells us, used to laugh at the manner the _Carians_, or
+_Caras_, or _Caribs_, spoke their tongue; whose women wore a white linen
+dress that required no fastening, just as the Indian and Mestiza women
+of Yucatan even to-day[TN-17]
+
+To tell you that the name of the CARAS is found over a vast extension of
+country in America, would be to repeat what the late and lamented
+Brasseur de Bourbourg has shown in his most learned introduction to the
+work of Landa, "Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan;" but this I may say,
+that the description of the customs and mode of life of the people of
+Yucatan, even at the time of the conquest, as written by Landa, seems to
+be a mere verbatim plagiarism of the description of the customs and mode
+of life of the Carians of Asia Minor by Herodotus.
+
+If identical customs and manners, and the worship of the same divinities
+under the same name, besides the traditions of a people pointing towards
+a certain point of the globe as being the birth-place of their
+ancestors, prove anything, then I must say that in Egypt also we meet
+with the tracks of the Mayas, of whose name we again have a reminiscence
+in that of the goddess Maia, the daughter of Atlantis, worshiped in
+Greece. Here, at this end of the voyage, we seem to find an intimation
+as to the place where the Mayas originated. We are told that Maya is
+born from Atlantis; in other words, that the Mayas came from beyond the
+Atlantic waters. Here, also, we find that Maia is called the mother of
+the gods _Kubeles_. _Ku_, Maya _God_, _Bel_ the road, the way. Ku-bel,
+the road, the origin of the gods as among the Hindostanees. These, we
+have seen in the Rig Veda, called Maya, the feminine energy--the
+productive virtue of Brahma.
+
+I do not pretend to present here anything but facts, resulting from my
+study of the ancient monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the Maya language, in which the ancient inscriptions, I have been able
+to decipher, are written. Let us see if those _facts_ are sustained by
+others of a different character.
+
+I will make a brief parallel between the architectural monuments of the
+primitive Chaldeans, their mode of writing, their burial places, and
+give you the etymology of the names of their divinities in the American
+Maya language.
+
+The origin of the primitive Chaldees is yet an unsettled matter among
+learned men. Some professing one opinion, others another. All agree,
+however, that they were strangers to the lower Mesopotamian valleys,
+where they settled in very remote ages, their capital being, in the time
+of Abraham, as we learn from Scriptures, _Ur_ or _Hur_. So named either
+because its inhabitants were worshipers of the moon, or from the moon
+itself--U in the Maya language--or perhaps also because the founders
+being strangers and guests, as it were, in the country, it was called
+the city of guests, HULA (Maya), _guest just arrived_.
+
+Recent researches in the plains of lower Mesopotamia have revealed to us
+their mode of building their sacred edifices, which is precisely
+identical to that of the Mayas.
+
+It consisted of mounds composed of superposed platforms, either square
+or oblong, forming cones or pyramids, their angles at times, their faces
+at others, facing exactly the cardinal points.
+
+Their manner of construction was also the same, with the exception of
+the materials employed--each people using those most at hand in their
+respective countries--clay and bricks in Chaldea, stones in Yucatan. The
+filling in of the buildings being of inferior materials, crude or
+sun-dried bricks at Warka and Mugheir; of unhewn stones of all shapes
+and sizes, in Uxmal and Chichen, faced with walls of hewn stones, many
+feet in thickness throughout. Grand exterior staircases lead to the
+summit, where was the shrine of the god, and temple.
+
+In Yucatan these mounds are generally composed of seven superposed
+platforms, the one above being smaller than that immediately below; the
+temple or sanctuary containing invariably two chambers, the inner one,
+the Sanctum Sanctorum, being the smallest.
+
+In Babylon, the supposed tower of Babel--the _Birs-i-nimrud_--the temple
+of the seven lights, was made of seven stages or platforms.
+
+The roofs of these buildings in both countries were flat; the walls of
+vast thickness; the chambers long and narrow, with outer doors opening
+into them directly; the rooms ordinarily let into one another: squared
+recesses were common in the rooms. Mr. Loftus is of opinion that the
+chambers of the Chaldean buildings were usually arched with bricks, in
+which opinion Mr. Taylor concurs. We know that the ceilings of the
+chambers in all the monuments of Yucatan, without exception, form
+triangular arches. To describe their construction I will quote from the
+description by Herodotus, of some ceilings in Egyptian buildings and
+Scythian tombs, that resemble that of the brick vaults found at Mugheir.
+"The side walls slope outward as they ascend, the arch is formed by each
+successive layer of brick from the point where the arch begins, a little
+overlapping the last, till the two sides of the roof are brought so near
+together, that the aperture may be closed by a single brick."
+
+Some of the sepulchers found in Yucatan are very similar to the jar
+tombs common at Mugheir. These consist of two large open-mouthed jars,
+united with bitumen after the body has been deposited in them, with the
+usual accompaniments of dishes, vases and ornaments, having an air hole
+bored at one extremity. Those found at Progreso were stone urns about
+three feet square, cemented in pairs, mouth to mouth, and having also an
+air hole bored in the bottom. Extensive mounds, made artificially of a
+vast number of coffins, arranged side by side, divided by thin walls of
+masonry crossing each other at right angles, to separate the coffins,
+have been found in the lower plains of Chaldea--such as exist along the
+coast of Peru, and in Yucatan. At Izamal many human remains, contained
+in urns, have been found in the mounds.
+
+"The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chaldeans," says
+Canon Rawlison, in his work, the Five Great Monarchies, "seems to have
+consisted of a single garment, a short tunic tied round the waist, and
+reaching thence to the knees. To this may sometimes have been added an
+_abba_, or cloak, thrown over the shoulders; the material of the former
+we may perhaps presume to have been linen." The mural paintings at
+Chichen show that the Mayas sometimes used the same costume; and that
+dress is used to-day by the aborigines of Yucatan, and the inhabitants
+of the _Tierra de Guerra_. They were also bare-footed, and wore on the
+head a band of cloth, highly ornamented with mother-of-pearl instead of
+camel's hair, as the Chaldee. This band is to be seen in bas-relief at
+Chichen-Itza, inthe[TN-18] mural paintings, and on the head of the statue
+of Chaacmol. The higher classes wore a long robe extending from the neck
+to the feet, sometimes adorned with a fringe; it appears not to have
+been fastened to the waist, but kept in place by passing over one
+shoulder, a slit or hole being made for the arm on one side of the dress
+only. In some cases the upper part of the dress seems to have been
+detached from the lower, and to form a sort of jacket which reached
+about to the hips. We again see this identical dress portrayed in the
+mural paintings. The same description of ornaments were affected by the
+Chaldees and the Mayas--bracelets, earrings, armlets, anklets, made of
+the materials they could procure.
+
+The Mayas at times, as can be seen from the slab discovered by
+Bresseur[TN-19] in Mayapan (an exact fac-simile of which cast, from a
+mould made by myself, is now in the rooms of the American Antiquarian
+Society at Worcester, Mass.), as the primitive Chaldee, in their
+writings, made use of characters composed of straight lines only,
+inclosed in square or oblong figures; as we see from the inscriptions in
+what has been called hieratic form of writing found at Warka and
+Mugheir and the slab from Mayapan and others.
+
+The Chaldees are said to have made use of three kinds of characters that
+Canon Rawlinson calls _letters proper_, _monograms_ and _determinative_.
+The Maya also, as we see from the monumental inscriptions, employed
+three kinds of characters--_letters proper_, _monograms_ and
+_pictorial_.
+
+It may be said of the religion of the Mayas, as I have had occasion to
+remark, what the learned author of the Five Great Monarchies says of
+that of the primitive Chaldees: "The religion of the Chaldeans, from the
+very earliest times to which the monuments carry us back, was, in its
+outward aspect, a polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite
+possible that there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the
+priests and the more learned; which, resolving the personages of the
+Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconcile the apparent multiplicity
+of Gods with monotheism." I will now consider the names of the Chaldean
+deities in their turn of rotation as given us by the author above
+mentioned, and show you that the language of the American Mayas gives us
+an etymology of the whole of them, quite in accordance with their
+particular attributes.
+
+
+RA.
+
+The learned author places '_Ra_' at the head of the Pantheon, stating
+that the meaning of the word is simply _God_, or the God emphatically.
+We know that _Ra_ was the Sun among the Egyptians, and that the
+hieroglyph, a circle, representation of that God was the same in Babylon
+as in Egypt. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon. Which
+was _ka-ra_.
+
+Now the Mayas called LA, that which has existed for ever, the truth _par
+excellence_. As to the native name of Babylon it would simply be the
+_city of the infinite truth_--_cah_, city; LA, eternal truth.
+
+
+ANA OR DIS.
+
+Ana, like Ra, is thought to have signified _God_ in the highest sense.
+Its etymology seems to be problematic. His epithets mark priority and
+antiquity; _the original chief_, the _father of the gods_, the _lord of
+darkness or death_. The Maya gives us A, _thy_; NA, _mother_. At times
+he was called DIS, and was the patron god of _Erech_, the great city of
+the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. TIX, Maya is a cavity
+formed in the earth. It seems to have given its name to the city of
+_Niffer_, called _Calneh_ in the translation of the Septuagint, from
+_kal-ana_, which is translated the "fort of Ana;" or according to the
+Maya, the _prison of Ana_, KAL being prison, or the prison of thy
+mother.
+
+
+ANATA
+
+the supposed wife of Ana, has no peculiar characteristics. Her name is
+only, says our author, the feminine form of the masculine, Ana. But the
+Maya designates her as the companion of Ana; TA, with; _Anata_ with
+_Ana_.
+
+
+BIL OR ENU
+
+seems to mean merely Lord. It is usually followed by a qualificative
+adjunct, possessing great interest, NIPRU. To that name, which recalls
+that of NEBROTH or _Nimrod_, the author gives a Syriac etymology; napar
+(make to flee). His epithets are the _supreme_, _the father of the
+gods_, the _procreator_.
+
+The Maya gives us BIL, or _Bel_; the way, the road; hence the _origin_,
+the father, the procreator. Also ENA, who is before; again the father,
+the procreator.
+
+As to the qualificative adjunct _nipru_. It would seem to be the Maya
+_niblu_; _nib_, to thank; LU, the _Bagre_, a _silurus fish_. _Niblu_
+would then be the _thanksgiving fish_. Strange to say, the high priest
+at Uxmal and Chichen, elder brother of Chaacmol, first son of _Can_, the
+founder of those cities, is CAY, the fish, whose effigy is my last
+discovery in June, among the ruins of Uxmal. The bust is contained
+within the jaws of a serpent, _Can_, and over it, is a beautiful
+mastodon head, with the trunk inscribed with Egyptian characters, which
+read TZAA, that which is necessary.
+
+
+BELTIS
+
+is the wife of _Bel-nipru_. But she is more than his mere female power.
+She is a separate and important deity. Her common title is the _Great
+Goddess_. In Chaldea her name was _Mulita_ or _Enuta_, both words
+signifying the lady. Her favorite title was the _mother of the gods_,
+the origin of the gods.
+
+In Maya BEL is the road, the way; and TE means _here_. BELTE or BELTIS
+would be I am the way, the origin.
+
+_Mulita_ would correspond to MUL-TE, many here, _many in me_. I am the
+mother of many. Her other name _Enuta_ seems to be (Maya) _Ena-te_,
+signifies ENA, the first, before anybody, and TE here. ENATE, _I am here
+before anybody_, I am the mother of the Gods.
+
+
+HEA OR HOA.
+
+The God Fish, the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from
+the Persian gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on
+the Euphrates and Tigris.
+
+According to Berosus the civilization was brought to Mesopotamia by
+_Oannes_ and six other beings, who, like himself, were half man, half
+fish, and that they came from the Indian Ocean. We have already seen
+that the Mayas of India were not only architects, but also astronomers;
+and the symbolic figure of a being half man and half fish seems to
+clearly indicate that those who brought civilization to the shores of
+the Euphrates and Tigris came in boats.
+
+Hoa-Ana, or Oannes, according to the Maya would mean, he who has his
+residence or house on the water. HA, being water; _a_, thy; _na_, house;
+literally, _water thy house_. Canon Rawlison remarks in that
+connection: "There are very strong grounds for connecting HEA or Hoa,
+with the serpent of the Scripture, and the paradisaical traditions of
+the tree of knowledge and the tree of life." As the title of the god of
+knowledge and science, _Oannes_, is the lord of the abyss, or of the
+great deep, the intelligent fish, one of his emblems being the serpent,
+CAN, which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods
+on the black stones recording benefactions.
+
+
+DAV-KINA
+
+Is the wife of _Hoa_, and her name is thought to signify the chief lady.
+But the Maya again gives us another meaning that seems to me more
+appropriate. TAB-KIN would be the _rays of the sun_: the rays of the
+light brought with civilization by her husband to benighted inhabitants
+of Mesopotamia.
+
+
+SIN OR HURKI
+
+is the name of the moon deity; the etymology of it is quite uncertain.
+Its titles, as Rawlison remarks, are somewhat vague. Yet it is
+particularly designated as "_the bright_, _the shining_" the lord of the
+month.
+
+Zin in Maya has also many significations. Zin is to stretch, to extend.
+_Zinil_ is the extension of the whole of the universe. _Hurki_ would be
+the Maya HULKIN--sun-stroked; he who receives directly the rays of the
+sun. Hurki is also the god presiding over buildings and architecture; in
+this connection he is called _Bel-Zuna_. The _lord of building_, the
+_supporting architect_, the _strengthener of fortifications_. _Bel-Zuna_
+would also signify the lord of the strong house. _Zuu_, Maya, close,
+thick. _Na_, house: and the city where he had his great temple was _Ur_;
+named after him. _U_, in Maya, signifies moon.
+
+
+SAN OR SANSI,
+
+the Sun God, the _lord of fire_, the _ruler of the day_. He _who
+illumines the expanse of heaven and earth_.
+
+_Zamal_ (Maya) is the morning, the dawn of the day, and his symbols are
+the same on the temples of Yucatan as on those of Chaldea, India and
+Egypt.
+
+
+VUL OR IVA,
+
+the prince of the powers of the air, the lord of the whirlwind and the
+tempest, the wielder of the thunderbolt, the lord of the air, he who
+makes the tempest to rage. Hiba in Maya is to rub, to scour, to chafe as
+does the tempest. As VUL he is represented with a flaming sword in his
+hand. _Hul_ (Maya) an arrow. He is then the god of the atmosphere, who
+gives rain.
+
+
+ISHTAR OR NANA,
+
+the Chaldean Venus, of the etymology of whose name no satisfactory
+account can be given, says the learned author, whose list I am following
+and description quoting.
+
+The Maya language, however, affords a very natural etymology. Her name
+seems composed of _ix_, the feminine article, _she_; and of _tac_, or
+_tal_, a verb that signifies to have a desire to satisfy a corporal want
+or inclination. IXTAL would, therefore, be she who desires to satisfy a
+corporal inclination. As to her other name, _Nana_, it simply means the
+great mother, the very mother. If from the names of god and goddesses,
+we pass to that of places, we will find that the Maya language also
+furnishes a perfect etymology for them.
+
+In the account of the creation of the world, according to the Chaldeans,
+we find that a woman whose name in Chaldee is _Thalatth_, was said to
+have ruled over the monstrous animals of strange forms, that were
+generated and existed in darkness and water. The Greek called her
+_Thalassa_ (the sea). But the Maya vocable _Thallac_, signifies a thing
+without steadiness, like the sea.
+
+
+URUKH.
+
+The first king of the Chaldees was a great architect. To him are
+ascribed the most archaic monuments of the plains of Lower Mesopotamia.
+He is said to have conceived the plans of the Babylonian Temple. He
+constructed his edifices of mud and bricks, with rectangular bases,
+their angles fronting the cardinal points; receding stages, exterior
+staircases, with shrines crowning the whole structure. In this
+description of the primitive constructions of the Chaldeans, no one can
+fail to recognize the Maya mode of building, and we see them not only in
+Yucatan, but throughout Central America, Peru, even Hindoostan. The very
+name _Urkuh_ seems composed of two Maya words HUK, to make everything,
+and LUK, mud; he who makes everything of mud; so significative of his
+building propensities and of the materials used by him.
+
+
+ASSYRIA.
+
+The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur,
+the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without
+adding "Asshur is my lord," is still an undecided matter amongst the
+learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was
+named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name
+from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the
+significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew
+languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the
+god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was
+named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much
+sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively
+the word _asshur_, sometimes written _ashur_, would be AXUL in Maya.
+
+_A_, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun,
+as the second person, thy or thine, and _xul_, means end, termination.
+It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. _Axul_
+would therefore be _thy end_. Among all the nations which have
+recognized the existence of a SUPREME BEING, Deity has been considered
+as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be
+united.
+
+A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out
+of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea
+are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the _Kiprat-arbat_,
+or FOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the
+universe, king of the giants, whose capital was _Tiahuanaco_, the
+magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the
+lake of Titicaca, reigned over _Ttahuatyn-suyu_, the FOUR PROVINCES. In
+the _Chou-King_ we read that in very remote times _China_ was called by
+its inhabitants _Sse-yo_, THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. The
+_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, the _Ramayana_, and other sacred books of
+Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their
+country as the FOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental
+inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place
+was called the land of the _canchi_, or FOUR MOUTHS, that recalls
+vividly the name of Chaldea _Arba-Lisun_, the FOUR TONGUES.
+
+That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but
+became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel.
+It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at
+the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek,
+Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the
+Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of
+Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it.
+
+In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of
+the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King
+Belshazzar was banqueting, the words "Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin,"
+which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the
+king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their
+interpretation: _Numbered_, _numbered_, _weighed_, _dividing_, perhaps
+with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be
+the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and
+Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of
+King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of
+the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus
+enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in
+the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, _mene_ or _mane_,
+_numbered_, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, MAN, to buy, to
+purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity--or MANEL,
+to pass, to exceed. _Tekel_, weighed, would correspond to TEC, light.
+To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity,
+nimbleness: and _Upharsin_, dividing, seem allied to the words PPA, to
+divide two things united; or _uppah_, to break, making a sharp sound; or
+_paah_, to break edifices; or, again, PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the
+inhabitants of a place.
+
+As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross,
+as reported by the Evangelists, _Eli, Eli_, according to St. Matthew,
+and _Eloi, Eloi_, according to St. Mark, _lama sabachthani_, they are
+pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed
+to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the
+mouth of the dying martyr these words: _My God, my God, why hast thou
+forsaken me?_ they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his
+last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to
+his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to
+the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than
+all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to
+his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him?
+He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned
+biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what
+he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: _This man
+calleth for Elias._
+
+His bosom friend, who never abandoned him--who stood to the last at the
+foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do
+not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He
+simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he
+complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with
+vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: IT IS FINISHED! and
+_he bowed his head and gave up the ghost_. (St. John, chap. xix., v.
+30.)
+
+Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words, HELO, HELO, LAMAH
+ZABAC TA NI, literally: HELO, HELO, now, now; LAMAH, sinking; ZABAC,
+black ink; TA, over; NI, nose; in our language: _Now, now I am sinking;
+darkness covers my face!_ No weakness, no despair--He merely tells his
+friends all is over. _It is finished!_ and expires.
+
+Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the
+Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who
+inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those
+of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised
+Land, for example--that part of the coast of Phoenicia so famous for
+the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during
+forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so
+many hard-fought battles--was known as _Canaan_. This is a Maya word
+that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled _Kanaan_,
+it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the
+country.
+
+TYRE, the great emporium of the Phoenicians, called _Tzur_, probably
+on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the
+Maya TZUC, a promontory, or a number of villages, _Tzucub_ being a
+province.
+
+Again, we have the people called _Khati_ by the Egyptians. They formed a
+great nation that inhabited the _Caele-Syria_ and the valley of the
+Orontes, where they have left very interesting proofs of their passage
+on earth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately
+discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved.
+They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and
+Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently
+mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the
+Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they
+placed well nigh insuperable _obstacles in the way_ of the conquests of
+these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful
+adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in
+all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their
+emporium _Carchemish_ had no less importance than Tyre or Carthage.
+There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither
+the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were
+wont to worship at the Sacred City, _Katish_ of the Khati. The etymology
+of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that
+they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we
+may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya
+language.
+
+All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by
+Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at Thebes, the
+_Memnonium_, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and
+opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of
+these facts, since KAT or KATAH is a verb that means to place
+impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage.
+
+_Carchemish_ was their great emporium, where merchants from afar
+congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. CAH means a city,
+and _Chemul_ is navigator. _Carchemish_ would then be _cah-chemul_, the
+city of navigators, of merchants.
+
+KATISH, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are
+offered. CAH, city, and TICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas,
+and still performed by their descendants all through Central America.
+This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to BALAM, the
+_Yumil-Kaax_, the "Lord of the fields," the _primitiae_ of all their
+fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or _cah-tich_ would then be
+the city of the sacrifices--the holy city.
+
+EGYPT is the country that in historical times has called, more than any
+other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on
+account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of
+its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in
+all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position
+at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be
+the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world:
+yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the
+first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not
+autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the
+regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and
+designated the country in which they lived, the East, as the _pure
+land_, the _land of the sun_, of _light_, in contradistinction of the
+country of the dead, of darkness--the Amenti, the West--where Osiris sat
+as King, reigning judge, over the souls.
+
+If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with
+vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere.
+Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile
+by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that
+came from the West called it CHEM: not on account of the black color of
+the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, "_De Iside et Osiride_," but
+more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably,
+because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants
+communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the
+country of boats--CHEM (maya).[TN-20] The hieroglyph representing the
+name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross
+circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a
+sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat.
+The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names of MISIR or MISUR,
+probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are
+uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all
+over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the
+soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the
+Maya verb MIZ--to _clean_, to _remove rubbish formed by the body of dead
+trees_; whilst the verb MUSUR means to _cut the trees by the roots_. It
+would seem that the name _Mizraim_ given to Egypt in the Scriptures also
+might come from these words.
+
+When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by
+the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of
+_Hapimu_. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists,
+who agree, however, that its meaning is the _abyss of water_. The Maya
+tells us that this name is composed of two words--HA, water, and PIMIL,
+the thickness of flat things. _Hapimu_, or HAPIMIL, would then be the
+thickness, the _abyss of water_.
+
+We find that the prophets _Jeremiah_ (xlvi., 25,) and _Nahum_ (iii., 8,
+10,) call THEBES, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty:
+NO or NA-AMUN, the mansion of Amun. _Na_ signifies in Maya, house,
+mansion, residence. But _Thebes_ is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs AP,
+or APE, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine
+article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings,
+it becomes TAPE; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson ("Manners and
+Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," _tom._ III., page 210, N. Y. Edition,
+1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians _Taba_; and in the Menphitic
+dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The
+Maya verb _Teppal_, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each
+side of the mastodons' heads, which form so prominent a feature in the
+ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts,
+the word _Dapas_; hence TABAS is written in ancient Egyptian characters,
+and read, I presume, in old Maya, _head_. To-day the word is pronounced
+THAB, and means _baldness_.
+
+The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their
+religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they
+inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners;
+the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used
+by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to
+infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their
+forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to
+nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the
+countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the
+Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate
+communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors.
+
+Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of
+these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious
+belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the
+characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any
+reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be
+altogether accidental.
+
+The SUN, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt;
+and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent
+Uraeus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA
+signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is--the
+truth.
+
+The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day
+preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the
+adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain epoch[TN-21]
+of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the
+west facade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that
+city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, _the land of
+the sun_. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written
+with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is
+the sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun.
+
+Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical
+meaning. The figure of _Amun_ was that of a man whose body was light
+blue, like the Indian god Wishnu,[TN-22] and that of the god Nilus; as if
+to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being
+that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the
+same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell
+us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those
+who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural
+paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this
+assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some
+marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs.
+After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded
+them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the
+funerals.
+
+The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards
+and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the
+souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls
+after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and
+inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why
+they took so much pains to embalm the body.
+
+The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have
+already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during
+a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having
+enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they
+were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as
+the body was corruptible, they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or
+wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a
+hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in
+stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to
+earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as
+body during their new existence.
+
+I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in
+transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I
+have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever,
+even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments.
+I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may
+have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but
+softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not
+kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile,
+as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited
+from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment
+inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego
+what they called the superstitions of their race--the idolatrous creed
+of their forefathers.
+
+I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as
+many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken,
+notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the
+hands of ignorant and barbaric _Christians_ (?)
+
+I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly
+manifested.
+
+The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and
+cables, made of withes and the bark of the _habin_ tree, were finished
+and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of
+trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers,
+already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the
+surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation;
+my men, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and
+their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other,
+unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where
+their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by
+letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the
+mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin
+trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be
+injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already
+overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and
+even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the
+withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation
+were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think,
+knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had
+made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they
+considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior
+and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome
+their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that,
+as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in
+reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great
+pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of
+the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta,
+every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of
+warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types
+recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans.
+
+On one of the antae, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait
+of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like
+that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in
+profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same
+position of my face as that of UXAN, and called the attention of my
+Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed
+every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the
+beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: "_Thou!_
+_here!_" and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone
+and my own.
+
+"_So, so,_" they said, "_thou too art one of our great men, who has been
+disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol.
+That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to
+disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived._"
+
+From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned
+to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon
+brought up the ponderous statue to the surface.
+
+A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and
+noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one.
+Colonel _Don_ Felipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the
+eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written
+notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile
+Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp
+look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in
+the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather
+difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there
+is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that
+danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued
+our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny.
+
+On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing
+that the visitors had no guns, but only their _machetes_, I gave orders
+not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray,
+his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at
+a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long
+time he broke out, speaking to his own people: "This, boys, is one of
+the great men we speak to you about." Then the young men came forward,
+with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their
+lips against them.
+
+Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the
+old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm
+to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face
+near that of my stone _Sosis_, and again the same scene was enacted as
+with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their
+knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a
+while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: "Rememberest thou
+what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?" It was quite a
+difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I
+did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. "Well,
+father," I asked him, "dreamest thou sometimes?" He nodded his head in
+an affirmative manner. "And when thou awakest, dost thou remember
+distinctly thy dreams?" "_Ma_," no! was the answer. "Well, father," I
+continued, "so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place
+during the time I was enchanted." This answer seemed to satisfy him. I
+again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the
+foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not
+to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people
+were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore;
+where they went, I don't know.
+
+Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote
+times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de
+Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied
+observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to
+have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It
+consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left
+hand on the right shoulder; or the right arm across the chest, the
+right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his
+work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr.
+Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases
+even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins
+with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in
+use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the
+figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon's head, on the
+west facade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and
+museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in
+Chaacmol's funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the
+representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that
+chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being
+common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their
+utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their
+veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in
+which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms
+spontaneously.
+
+_The sistrum_ was an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during
+the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have
+seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of
+the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and
+viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, called _canopas_, that were
+placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol's mausoleum
+I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head
+containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart
+and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom
+among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an
+empty vase--symbol that the deceased had been judged and found
+righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol,
+is also found held in the same manner by many other statues of
+different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in
+the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So
+also with the Mayas--if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his
+weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of his art,[TN-23]
+
+The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich--which generally consisted
+of one or two chambers--with sculptures and paintings reciting the names
+and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged.
+The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different
+superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled,
+polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with
+magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his
+wife--dying warriors--the whole being surrounded by the image of a
+feathered serpent--_Can_, his family name, whilst the walls of the two
+apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory,
+were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol's
+own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his
+contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were
+in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and
+other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his
+time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented
+life-size.
+
+In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or
+wood, with bright colors--yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In
+Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still
+easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very
+brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in
+the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to
+have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as
+pigments, and cinnabar--we having found such metallic colors in
+Chaacmol's mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still preserves some in her
+possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at
+present.
+
+The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it
+an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their
+principal duties being to play the sistrum.
+
+We find that in Yucatan, _Nicte_ (flower) the sister of _Chaacmol_,
+assisted her elder brother, _Cay_, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her
+name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn
+the western facade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister,
+_Mo_,[TN-24] is with Chaacmol's in some of the monuments at Chichen.
+
+Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses, _virgins of the sun_,
+mentions a tradition that seems to refer to _Nicte_, stating that the
+daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple,
+obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped
+under the name of _Zuhuy-Kak_ (the fire-virgin), and became the goddess
+of the maidens, who were recommended to her care.
+
+As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their
+death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo
+pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other
+abject animals, "even the devil himself, which appeared to them in
+horrible forms" ("Historia de Yucatan," book IV., chap. vii.)
+
+Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes in
+_Mayab_ wore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate
+character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the
+middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented
+with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of
+clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar
+to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was
+fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a
+large bow, the ends of which reached to the ankles. Their shoulders
+were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the
+chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept
+in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next,
+and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the
+ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore
+leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow;
+sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of
+different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to
+have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in
+the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen's
+chamber at Chichen. The king's coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to
+have served as model for the _pschent_, that symbol of domination over
+the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point
+formed the front, and in Egypt the back.
+
+The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by
+their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the
+loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs.
+Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped
+a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to
+the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on
+one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day
+the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight
+modifications. While the aborigines of the _Tierra de Guerra_, who still
+preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign
+admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see
+represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural
+paintings of _Mayab_ and Egypt.
+
+Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study
+of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of
+learning. The soothsayers formed a respected order of the priesthood.
+From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the
+chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of
+consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails
+of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a
+turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the
+_Hong-fan_ or "the great and sublime doctrine," one of the books of the
+_Chou-king_, the ceremonies of _Pou_ and _Chi_ are described at length).
+The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies,
+purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching
+of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in
+the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even
+at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the
+country, and congregated at the shrine of _Kinich-kakmo_, the deified
+daughter of CAN, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the
+mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the
+examination of the mural paintings, we know that _animal magnetism_ was
+understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have
+consulted clairvoyants.
+
+The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress
+in astronomical sciences.
+
+The _gnomon_, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined
+city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were
+not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good
+mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not
+inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the
+construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of
+calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the
+solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest
+angle of declination of the sun, 23 deg. 27', occurred when that
+luminary reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle
+of declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the _sun_
+had arrived at his resting place.
+
+The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by
+lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen
+months, of twenty days, that they called U--moon--to which they added
+five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so
+ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the
+Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of
+thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, called
+_Mesore_, five days, named _Epact_.
+
+By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas,
+considered these additive five days _unlucky_.
+
+Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of
+365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas[TN-25]
+sacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6
+hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that
+joins the centers of the stela that forms it.
+
+The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system of _fives_
+and _tens_; the Mayas by a system of _fives_ and _twenties_, to four
+hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest
+antiquity, but SEVEN seems to have been a _mystic number_ among them as
+among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations.
+
+The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the
+grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall
+is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above
+overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to
+all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the
+height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen
+and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to
+assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the
+_Pleiades_ or _Seven stars_. _Alcyone_, the central star of the group,
+being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was
+constructed, and _Alpha_ of Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower
+culmination.
+
+But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific
+attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument
+surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity,
+believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its
+designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people,
+possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try
+to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the
+great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty.
+
+Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a
+predilection for number SEVEN. Since we find that their artificial
+mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of
+Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace
+of King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents,
+his totem, which adorn the east facade of the west wing of this
+building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens
+were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number SEVEN
+prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has
+predominated.
+
+It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance,
+that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of
+the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being
+used as symbol[TN-26] by several of the secret societies existing among
+us.
+
+If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life
+in the countries known as the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN
+among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in
+Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_
+stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_,
+or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans
+and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the
+sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni,
+the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the
+_seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of
+Zacharias's vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the
+_seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon,
+the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the
+Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at
+their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the
+book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast
+that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God, the
+_seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the
+_seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.
+
+The origin of the prevalence of that number SEVEN amongst all the
+nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been
+satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different
+interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their
+religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have
+found that it originated with the _seven_ members of CAN'S family, who
+were the founders of the principal cities of _Mayab_, and to each of
+whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their
+names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by
+them at Uxmal and Chichen, were--CAN (serpent) and [C]OZ (bat), his
+wife, from whom were born CAY (fish), the pontiff; AAK (turtle), who
+became the governor of Uxmal; CHAACMOL (leopard), the warrior, who
+became the husband of his sister MOO (macaw), the Queen of _Chichen_,
+worshiped after her death at Izamal; and NICTE (flower), the priestess
+who, under the name of _Zuhuy-Kuk_, became the goddess of the maidens.
+
+The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three
+different kinds of characters--phonetic, ideographic and
+symbolic--placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to
+be read from right to left, from left to right, as indicated by the
+position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their
+writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining
+these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a
+manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the facade
+of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the
+monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the
+ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No
+truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except
+those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and
+learned men of MAYAB hid them from the _Nahualt_ or _Toltec_ invaders.
+
+As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines,
+to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay
+does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a
+work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present
+purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the
+Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly
+all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning,
+in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs
+used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by
+us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in
+discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions,
+written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as
+models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck,
+seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters,
+together with others that seem to be purely Mayab.
+
+Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions,
+giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in
+which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines
+of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Of course, the
+original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence
+of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other
+nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect
+man's speech.
+
+The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical;
+possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations.
+Among the symbolical, I may cite a few: _water_, _country or region_,
+_king_, _Lord_, _offerings_, _splendor_, the _various emblems of the
+sun_ and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the
+so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription
+of the _Akab[c]ib_ at Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient
+Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have
+been able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own.
+
+A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the
+same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of
+the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the
+Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP
+identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of
+the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other
+things, the names of the founders of the city of UXMAL; as that of the
+city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst,
+in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs,
+notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the
+founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also
+in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the
+totems of the personages: e. g[TN-27] for AAK, which means turtle, is the
+image of a turtle; for CAY (fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol
+(leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility
+of misinterpretation.
+
+Having found that the language of the inscriptions was Maya, of course
+I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value,
+since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the
+people.
+
+I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present
+to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the
+mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not
+merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people
+must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the
+questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only
+solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority.
+
+I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son of _Seb and
+Nut_, the brother of _Aroeris_, the elder _Horus_, of _Typho_, of
+_Isis_, and of _Nephthis_, named also NIKE. The authors have given
+numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of
+that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of
+the inundations of the NILE; ISIS, his wife and sister, that of the
+irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister, _Nephthis_, that
+of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters
+of the Nile; his brother and murderer _Tipho_, that of the sea which
+swallows up the _Nile_.
+
+Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times
+and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious
+people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the
+mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris
+on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I
+am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert,
+that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture
+hero of the Mayas.
+
+It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere
+coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What
+conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many
+strange similes?
+
+In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir
+Gardner Wilkinson's work, chap. xiii:
+
+     "_Osiris_, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards
+     civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former
+     barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and
+     improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good
+     disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world,
+     inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the
+     mildest persuasion."
+
+The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his
+brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his
+wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by _Typho_,
+who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final
+defeat of Typho by Osiris's son, Horus.
+
+Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to
+civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions
+of the deeds of the culture heroes _Kukulean_[TN-28] and Quetzalcoatl of
+the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo,
+where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures
+of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the
+temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral
+chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the
+queen's chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen.
+
+     "The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less
+     mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that
+     the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the
+     latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the
+     candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain
+     it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations
+     were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher
+     mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It
+     was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed."
+     Wilkinson, chap. xiii.
+
+In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered
+in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called the
+_Dwarf's House_, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pass
+through different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to
+judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the
+disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this
+discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols
+were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used
+among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published in
+_Harper's Weekly_, a full description of the building, with plans of the
+same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret
+societies exist still among the _Zunis_ and other Pueblo Indians of New
+Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman
+sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and
+history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr.
+Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zunis, whose
+language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other
+remarkable things he has discovered is "the existence of twelve sacred
+orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded
+as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have
+a strange resemblance." (From the New York _Times_.)
+
+If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of
+the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of
+the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr.
+DuChaillu[TN-29] in the relation of his voyage to the "Land of Ashango,"
+so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest
+that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between
+their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible
+still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not
+place that _fact_ without the peradventure of a doubt. We also see
+figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African
+features.
+
+We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the
+priestess found by me at the foot of the altar in front of the shrine
+of _Ix-cuina_, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of _Isla
+Mugeres_, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth
+in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion
+still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and
+little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue
+among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly
+those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians.
+
+Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the
+Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of
+beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans
+as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol's
+mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen
+enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the
+hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the
+people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these
+last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by
+the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the
+mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such
+barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies' hearts.
+
+The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in
+witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of
+X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of
+Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating
+that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die
+unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from
+malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of
+tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my
+advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out,
+probably, if I was a stronger wizard than the _H-Men_ who had bewitched
+him. He must have failed to discover on my face the proverbial
+distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an
+incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he
+simply replied: "No use--I am bewitched--there is no remedy for me."
+
+Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of
+Equatorial Africa, says: "The greatest curse of the whole country is the
+belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with
+the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He
+becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and
+really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per
+cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery."
+In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards
+because of their supposed supernatural powers.
+
+From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the
+chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious
+libations with _Balche_. To-day the aborigines still use it in the
+celebrations of their ancient rites. _Balche_ is a liquor made from the
+bark of a tree called Balche, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left
+to ferment. It is their beverage _par excellence_. The nectar drank by
+the God of Greek Mythology.
+
+Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of _Mayo_lo,
+a city in which he resided for some time, says: "Next day he was so much
+elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a
+fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen
+ill, and which he made by _mixing honey and water, and adding to it
+pieces of bark of a certain tree_." (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.)
+
+I will remark here that, by a strange _coincidence_, we not only find
+that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with
+the MAYAS, but that the name of one of their cities MAYO_lo_, seems to
+be a corruption of MAYAB.
+
+The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends,
+where they deposit furniture, dress and food--and sometimes slay slaves,
+men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief
+that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been
+sacrificed.
+
+I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the
+tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade
+or profession; and that the great quantity of blood found scattered
+round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend
+to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral.
+
+The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died.
+Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for
+they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it.
+
+The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their
+villages when death frequently occur;[TN-30] for, say they, the place is
+no longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased.
+
+Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of
+drums--the _Tunkul_ and the _Zacatan_. They are still used by the
+aborigines in their religious festivals and dances.
+
+The _Tunkul_ is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to
+leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about
+four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave
+between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches
+from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to
+form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two
+balls of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the
+instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it
+can be heard, is[TN-31] is said, at a distance of six miles in calm
+weather. The _Zacatan_ is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the
+trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end a piece of
+skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand,
+the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a
+slanting position, that it is played.
+
+Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case
+of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten,
+and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu asserts having seen one of
+these _Ngoma_, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and
+describes a _Fan_ drum which corresponds to the _Zacatan_ of the Mayas
+as follows: "The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in
+diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed
+out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the
+drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks
+beats[TN-32] furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the
+cylinder."
+
+We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of
+the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African
+towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages
+in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at
+times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause
+the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry
+with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had
+better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the
+cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently
+dedicated to the god of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an
+infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the
+villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts.
+
+Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the
+native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of
+more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: "The pure bred
+native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly
+tail; the hair is short and the color yellowish; the pure breed being
+known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept
+very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears;
+I don't think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs."
+
+I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already
+mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close
+it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu asserts exists
+among the African warriors: "_The charmed leopard's skin worn about the
+warrior's middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof._"
+
+Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the FACTS mentioned in
+the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to
+be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the _Mayas_ were a great and
+powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization.
+That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their
+attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have
+reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere.
+That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth;
+for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their
+language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants
+they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they
+gave names to their gods, to their tribes, to their cities.
+
+We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions
+of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their
+nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have
+established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their
+birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured,
+wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored
+imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to
+hide the truth from the ignorant mass of the people, fostering their
+superstitions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over
+them, as in Egypt.
+
+In Hindostan, for example, we find the Maya custom of carrying the
+children astride on the hips of the nurses. That of recording the vow of
+the devotees, or of imploring the blessings of deity by the imprint of
+the hand, dipped in red liquid, stamped on the walls of the shrines and
+palaces. The worship of the mastodon, still extant in India, Siam,
+Burmah, as in the worship of _Ganeza_, the god of knowledge, with an
+elephant head, degenerated in that of the elephant itself.
+
+Still extant we find likewise the innate propensity of the Mayas to
+exclude all foreigners from their country; even to put to death those
+who enter their territories (as do, even to-day, those of Santa Cruz and
+the inhabitants of the Tierra de Guerra) as the emissaries of Rama were
+informed by the friend of the owner of the country, the widow of the
+_great architect_, MAYA, whose name HEMA means in the Maya language "she
+who places ropes across the roads to impede the passage." Even the
+history of the death of her husband MAYA, killed with a thunderbolt, by
+the god _Pourandara_, whose jealousy was aroused by his love for her and
+their marriage, recalls that of _Chaacmol_, the husband of _Moo_, killed
+by their brother Aac, by being stabbed by him three times in the back
+with a spear, through jealousy--for he also loved _Moo_.
+
+Some Maya tribes, after a time, probably left their home at the South of
+Hindostan and emigrated to Afghanistan, where their descendants still
+live and have villages on the North banks of the river _Kabul_. They
+left behind old traditions, that they may have considered as mere
+fantasies of their poets, and other customs of their forefathers. Yet we
+know so little about the ancient Afghans, or the Maya tribes living
+among them, that it is impossible at present to say how much, if any,
+they have preserved of the traditions of their race. All we know for a
+certainty is that many of the names of their villages and tribes are
+pure American-Maya words: that their types are very similar to the
+features of the bearded men carved on the pillars of the castle, and on
+the walls of other edifices at Chichen-Itza: while their warlike habits
+recall those of the Mayas, who fought so bravely and tenaciously the
+Spanish invaders.
+
+Some of the Maya tribes, traveling towards the west and northwest,
+reached probably the shores of Ethiopia; while others, entering the
+Persian Gulf, landed near the embouchure of the Euphrates, and founded
+their primitive capital at a short distance from it. They called it _Hur
+(Hula) city of guests just arrived_--and according to Berosus gave
+themselves the name of _Khaldi_; probably because they intrenched their
+city: _Kal_ meaning intrenchment in the American-Maya language. We have
+seen that the names of all the principal deities of the primitive
+Chaldeans had a natural etymology in that tongue. Such strange
+coincidences cannot be said to be altogether accidental. Particularly
+when we consider that their learned men were designated as MAGI, (Mayas)
+and their Chief _Rab-Mag_, meaning, in Maya, the _old man_; and were
+great architects, mathematicians and astronomers. As again we know of
+them but imperfectly, we cannot tell what traditions they had preserved
+of the birthplace of their forefathers. But by the inscriptions on the
+tablets or bricks, found at Mugheir and Warka, we know for a certainty
+that, in the archaic writings, they formed their characters of straight
+lines of uniform thickness; and inclosed their sentences in squares or
+parallelograms, as did the founders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. And
+from the signet cylinder of King Urukh, that their mode of dressing was
+identical with that of many personages represented in the mural
+paintings at Chichen-Itza.
+
+We have traced the MAYAS again on the shores of Asia Minor, where the
+CARIANS at last established themselves, after having spread terror among
+the populations bordering on the Mediterranean. Their origin is unknown:
+but their customs were so similar to those of the inhabitants of Yucatan
+at the time even of the Spanish conquest--and their names CAR, _Carib_
+or _Carians_, so extensively spread over the western continent, that we
+might well surmise, that, navigators as they were, they came from those
+parts of the world; particularly when we are told by the Greek poets and
+historians, that the goddess MAIA was the daughter of _Atlantis_. We
+have seen that the names of the khati, those of their cities, that of
+Tyre, and finally that of Egypt, have their etymology in the Maya.
+
+Considering the numerous coincidences already pointed out, and many more
+I could bring forth, between the attainments and customs of the Mayas
+and the Egyptians; in view also of the fact that the priests and learned
+men of Egypt constantly pointed toward the WEST as the birthplace of
+their ancestors, it would seem as if a colony, starting from Mayab, had
+emigrated Eastward, and settled on the banks of the Nile; just as the
+Chinese to-day, quitting their native land and traveling toward the
+rising sun, establish themselves in America.
+
+In Egypt again, as in Hindostan, we find the history of the children of
+CAN, preserved among the secret traditions treasured up by the priests
+in the dark recesses of their temples: the same story, even with all its
+details. It is TYPHO who kills his brother OSIRIS, the husband of their
+sister ISIS. Some of the names only have been changed when the members
+of the royal family of CAN, the founder of the cities of Mayab, reaching
+apotheosis, were presented to the people as gods, to be worshiped.
+
+That the story of _Isis_ and _Osiris_ is a mythical account of CHAACMOL
+and MOO, from all the circumstances connected with it, according to the
+relations of the priests of Egypt that tally so closely with what we
+learn in Chichen-Itza from the bas-reliefs, it seems impossible to
+doubt.
+
+Effectively, _Osiris_ and _Isis_ are considered as king and queen of the
+Amenti--the region of the West--the mansion of the dead, of the
+ancestors. Whatever may be the etymology of the name of Osiris, it is a
+_fact_, that in the sculptures he is often represented with a spotted
+skin suspended near him, and Diodorus Siculus says: "That the skin is
+usually represented without the head; but some instances where this is
+introduced show it to be the _leopard's_ or _panther's_." Again, the
+name of Osiris as king of the West, of the Amenti, is always written, in
+hieroglyphic characters, representing a crouching _leopard_ with an eye
+above it. It is also well known that the priests of Osiris wore a
+_leopard_ skin as their ceremonial dress.
+
+Now, Chaacmol reigned with his sister Moo, at Chichen-Itza, in Mayab, in
+the land of the West for Egypt. The name _Chaacmol_ means, in Maya, a
+_Spotted_ tiger, a _leopard_; and he is represented as such in all his
+totems in the sculptures on the monuments; his shield being made of the
+skin of leopard, as seen in the mural paintings.
+
+Osiris, in Egypt, is a myth. Chaacmol, in Mayab, a reality. A warrior
+whose mausoleum I have opened; whose weapons and ornaments of jade are
+in Mrs. Le Plongeon's possession; whose heart I have found, and sent a
+piece of it to be analysed by professor Thompson of Worcester, Mass.;
+whose effigy, with his name inscribed on the tablets occupying the place
+of the ears, forms now one of the most precious relics in the National
+Museum of Mexico.
+
+ISIS was the wife and sister of Osiris. As to the etymology of her name
+the Maya affords it in I[C]IN--_the younger sister_. As Queen of the
+Amenti, of the West, she also is represented in hieroglyphs by the same
+characters as her husband--a _leopard, with an eye above_, and the sign
+of the feminine gender an oval or egg. But as a goddess she is always
+portrayed with wings; the vulture being dedicated to her; and, as it
+were, her totem.
+
+MOO the wife and sister of _Chaacmol_ was the Queen of Chichen. She is
+represented on the Mausoleum of Chaacmol as a _Macaw_ (Moo in the Maya
+language); also on the monuments at Uxmal: and the chroniclers tell us
+that she was worshiped in Izamal under the name of _Kinich-Kakmo_;
+reading from right to left the _fiery macaw with eyes like the sun_.
+
+Their protecting spirit is a _Serpent_, the totem of their father CAN.
+Another Egyptian divinity, _Apap_ or _Apop_, is represented under the
+form of a gigantic serpent covered with wounds. Plutarch in his
+treatise, _De Iside et Osiride_, tells us that he was enemy to the sun.
+
+TYPHO was the brother of Osiris and Isis; for jealousy, and to usurp the
+throne, he formed a conspiration and killed his brother. He is said to
+represent in the Egyptian mythology, the sea, by some; by others, _the
+sun_.
+
+AAK (turtle) was also the brother of Chaacmol and _Moo_. For jealousy,
+and to usurp the throne, he killed his brother at treason with three
+thrusts of his _spear_ in the back. Around the belt of his statue at
+Uxmal used to be seen hanging the heads of his brothers CAY and
+CHAACMOL, together with that of MOO; whilst his feet rested on their
+flayed bodies. In the sculpture he is pictured surrounded by the _Sun_
+as his protecting spirit. The escutcheon of Uxmal shows that he called
+the place he governed the land of the Sun. In the bas-reliefs of the
+Queen's chamber at Chichen his followers are seen to render homage to
+the _Sun_; others, the friends of MOO, to the _Serpent_. So, in Mayab as
+in Egypt, the _Sun_ and _Serpent_ were inimical. In Egypt again this
+enmity was a myth, in Mayab a reality.
+
+AROERIS was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Typho. His business seems to
+have been that of a peace-maker.
+
+CAY was also the brother of _Chaacmol_, _Moo_ and _Aac_. He was the high
+pontiff, and sided with Chaacmol and Moo in their troubles, as we learn
+from the mural paintings, from his head and flayed body serving as
+trophy to Aac as I have just said.
+
+In June last, among the ruins of _Uxmal_, I discovered a magnificent
+bust of this personage; and I believe I know the place where his remains
+are concealed.
+
+NEPHTHIS was the sister of Isis, Osiris, Typho, and Aroeris, and the
+wife of Typho; but being in love with Osiris she managed to be taken to
+his embraces, and she became pregnant. That intrigue having been
+discovered by Isis, she adopted the child that Nephthis, fearing the
+anger of her husband, had hidden, brought him up as her own under the
+name of Anubis. Nephthis was also called NIKE by some.
+
+NIC or NICTE was the sister of _Chaacmol_, _Moo_, _Aac_, and _Cay_, with
+whose name I find always her name associated in the sculptures on the
+monuments. Here the analogy between these personages would seem to
+differ, still further study of the inscriptions may yet prove the
+Egyptian version to contain some truth. _Nic_ or _Nicte_[TN-33] means
+flower; a cast of her face, with a flower sculptured on one cheek,
+exists among my collections.
+
+We are told that three children were born to Isis and Osiris: Horus,
+Macedo, and Harpocrates. Well, in the scene painted on the walls of
+Chaacmol's funeral chamber, in which the body of this warrior is
+represented stretched on the ground, cut open under the ribs for the
+extraction of the heart and visceras, he is seen surrounded by his wife,
+his sister NIC, his mother _Zo[c]_, and four children.
+
+I will close these similes by mentioning that _Thoth_ was reputed the
+preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of
+reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs
+under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient
+divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the
+lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the
+dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of
+writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters,
+reads _Nukta_; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes,
+since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand,
+to perceive, _Nuctah_: while his name Thoth, maya[TN-34] _thot_ means to
+scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at
+the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of
+which I found a sacrificial altar, there were six cynocephali in a
+sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were
+placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a
+platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the
+cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the yard[TN-35] of the
+principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the
+kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient
+city was in its glory.
+
+In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon
+(Cynocephalus) warning Moo of impending danger. She is pictured in her
+home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen
+the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is
+symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before
+her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness
+of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral
+qualities, (the[TN-36] proving that the learned men of Mayab understood
+phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to
+seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her
+extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest
+read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the
+man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and
+threatening position. A serpent (_can_), her protecting spirit, is seen
+at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is
+another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded
+about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue
+protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing
+from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the
+myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the
+woman, the tempter.
+
+As to the charmed _leopard_ skin worn by the African warriors to render
+them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which
+Chaacmol met his death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known
+to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had
+imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being
+wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not
+laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still
+prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed
+during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of
+paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic
+words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be
+possessed of the power of making him invulnerable.
+
+I am acquainted with many people--and not ignorant--who believe that by
+wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the
+Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and
+other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir.
+
+That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did
+not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational
+conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing FACTS. If we had nothing
+but their _name_ to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its
+etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language.
+
+They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told
+that, in very remote ages, _Maya_, a prince of the Davanas, established
+himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book
+where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise
+magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura
+(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the
+Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist--gods and men.
+
+Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call
+themselves _Mayas_, and that the names of their tribes and cities are
+words belonging to the American Maya language.
+
+Who can give the etymology of the name _Magi_, the learned men amongst
+the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as _Maya_ in
+Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece,
+where we find again the name _Maia_, it is mentioned as that of a
+goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that
+she was the daughter of Atlantis--born of Atlantis. But if we come to
+the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a
+country called MAYAB, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a
+sieve (_Mayab_), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its
+inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called
+themselves _Mayas_. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their
+hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a
+_Lord_, a _Master_, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to
+indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants
+of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land,
+were people from MAYAB; particularly if we consider that the usual
+character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with
+the sign of land?
+
+We know that the _Mayas_ deified and paid divine honors to their eminent
+men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they
+undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they
+emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their
+inhabitants, who came to forget that MAYAB was a locality, converted it
+in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was
+considered as the _Mother of the Gods_, as we see in Hindostan and
+Greece.
+
+It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization
+from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores
+and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion.
+They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them
+at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and
+beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This
+appears to be the true side of the question; for in the figures
+sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly
+discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the
+celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American.
+
+The FACTS gathered from the monuments do not sustain the theory advanced
+by many, that the inhabitants of tropical America received their
+civilization from Egypt and Asia Minor. On the contrary. It is true that
+I have shown that many of the customs and attainments of the Egyptians
+were identical to those of the Mayas; but these had many religious rites
+and habits unknown to the Egyptians; who, as we know, always pointed
+towards the West as the birthplaces of their ancestors, and worshiped as
+gods and goddesses personages who had lived, and whose remains are still
+in MAYAB. Besides, the monuments themselves prove the respective
+antiquity of the two nations.
+
+According to the best authorities the most ancient monuments raised by
+the Egyptians do not date further back than about 2,500 years B. C.
+Well, in Ake, a city about twenty-five miles from Merida, there exists
+still a monument sustaining thirty-six columns of _katuns_. Each of
+these columns indicate a lapse of one hundred and sixty years in the
+life of the nation. They then would show that 5,760 years has intervened
+between the time when the first stone was placed on the east corner of
+the uppermost of the three immense superposed platforms that compose the
+structure, and the placing of the last capping stone on the top of the
+thirty-sixth column. How long did that event occur before the Spanish
+conquest it is impossible to surmise. Supposing, however, it did take
+place at that time; this would give us a lapse of at least 6,100 years
+since, among the rejoicings of the people this sacred monument being
+finished, the first stone that was to serve as record of the age of the
+nation, was laid by the high priest, where we see it to-day. I will
+remark that the name AKE is one of the Egyptians' divinities, the third
+person of the triad of Esneh; always represented as a child, holding his
+finger to his mouth. AKE also means a _reed_. To-day the meaning of the
+word is lost in Yucatan.
+
+Cogolludo, in his history of Yucatan, speaking of the manner in which
+they computed time, says:
+
+"They counted their ages and eras, which they inscribed in their books
+every twenty years, in lustrums of four years. * * * When five of these
+lustrums were completed, they called the lapse of twenty years _katun_,
+which means to place a stone down upon another. * * * In certain sacred
+buildings and in the houses of the priests every twenty years they place
+a hewn stone upon those already there. When seven of these stones have
+thus been piled one over the other began the _Ahau katun_. Then after
+the first lustrum of four years they placed a small stone on the top of
+the big one, commencing at the east corner; then after four years more
+they placed another small stone on the west corner; then the next at the
+north; and the fourth at the south. At the end of the twenty years they
+put a big stone on the top of the small ones: and the column, thus
+finished, indicated a lapse of one hundred and sixty years."
+
+There are other methods for determining the approximate age of the
+monuments of Mayab:
+
+1st. By means of their actual orientation; starting from the _fact_ that
+their builders always placed either the faces or angles of the edifices
+fronting the cardinal points.
+
+2d. By determining the epoch when the mastodon became extinct. For,
+since _Can_ or his ancestors adopted the head of that animal as symbol
+of deity, it is evident they must have known it; hence, must have been
+contemporary with it.
+
+3d. By determining when, through some great cataclysm, the lands became
+separated, and all communications between the inhabitants of _Mayab_ and
+their colonies were consequently interrupted. If we are to credit what
+Psenophis and Sonchis, priests of Heliopolis and Sais, said to Solon
+"that nine thousand years before, the visit to them of the Athenian
+legislator, in consequence of great earthquakes and inundations, the
+lands of the West disappeared in one day and a fatal night," then we may
+be able to form an idea of the antiquity of the ruined cities of America
+and their builders.
+
+Reader, I have brought before you, without comments, some of the FACTS,
+that after ten years of research, the paintings on the walls of
+_Chaacmol's_ funeral chamber, the sculptured inscriptions carved on the
+stones of the crumbling monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of
+the vernacular of the aborigines of that country, have revealed to us. I
+have no theory to offer. Many years of further patient investigations,
+the full interpretation of the monumental inscriptions, and, above all,
+the possession of the libraries of the learned men of _Mayab_, are the
+_sine qua non_ to form an uncontrovertible one, free from the
+speculations which invalidate all books published on the subject
+heretofore.
+
+If by reading these pages you have learned something new, your time has
+not been lost; nor mine in writing them.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+
+The following typographical errors have been maintained:
+
+     Page Error
+  TN-1   7  precipituous should read precipitous
+  TN-2  17  maya should read Maya
+  TN-3  20  Egpptian should read Egyptian
+  TN-4  23  _Moo_ should read _Moo_
+  TN-5  23  Guetzalcoalt should read Quetzalcoatl
+  TN-6  26  ethonologists should read ethnologists
+  TN-7  26  what he said should read what he said.
+  TN-8  26  absorbant should read absorbent
+  TN-9  28  lazuri: should read lazuli:
+  TN-10 28  (Strange should read Strange
+  TN-11 28  Chichsen should read Chichen
+  TN-12 28  Moo should read Moo,
+  TN-13 32  Birmah should read Burmah
+  TN-14 32  Siameeses. should read Siameses.
+  TN-15 33  maya should read Maya
+  TN-16 34  valleys should read valleys,
+  TN-17 35  even to-day should read even to-day.
+  TN-18 38  inthe should read in the
+  TN-19 38  Bresseur should read Brasseur
+  TN-20 49  (maya) should read (Maya)
+  TN-21 51  epoch should read epochs
+  TN-22 52  Wishnu, should read Vishnu,
+  TN-23 58  his art, should read his art.
+  TN-24 59  _Mo_, should read _Moo_,
+  TN-25 62  Mayas should read Mayas'
+  TN-26 63  as symbol should read as a symbol
+  TN-27 66  e. g should read e. g.
+  TN-28 68  _Kukulean_ should read _Kukulcan_
+  TN-29 69  DuChaillu should read Du Chaillu
+  TN-30 72  death frequently occur; should read death frequently occurs;
+            or deaths frequently occur;
+  TN-31 72  is is should read it is
+  TN-32 73  beats should read beat
+  TN-33 80  _Nicte_ should read _Nicte_
+  TN-34 80  maya should read Maya
+  TN-35 81  yard should read yards
+  TN-36 81  qualities, (the should read qualities (thus
+
+The following words are inconsistently spelled and hyphenated:
+
+  Aac / Aak
+  Ake / Ake
+  birth-place / birthplace
+  facade / facade
+  Ha / Ha
+  Hapimu / Hapimu
+  Hema / Hema
+  Kinich-Kakmo / Kinich-kakmo
+  Na / Na
+  Rab-mag / Rabmag
+  _senotes_ / senotes
+  Tipho / Typho
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Vestiges of the Mayas, by Augustus Le Plongeon
+
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