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COURT AND TOWER OF THE PALACE, PALENQUE. (After Waldeck.) 
 
THE 
 
 NOETH AMEEICANS 
 
 OF 
 
 ANTIQUITY 
 
 THEIR ORIGIN, MIGRATIONS, AND TYPE OF 
 CIVILIZATION CONSIDERED 
 
 BY JOHN T.- SHORT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE 
 
 1880 
 
 " 
 
Copyright, 1879, by JOHN T. SHORT. 
 
U18 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ryiHE growing interest in the origin, migrations and life of 
 ""- the races of American Antiquity has led me to believe that 
 the subjects considered in these pages would meet with the favor- 
 able attention of the public and of the specialist in this field. 
 With such a conviction I present this volume, realizing the 
 difficulties which attend any efforts to elucidate such dark 
 problems. Yet I cannot conceal my satisfaction that the age 
 of North American Antiquity is not all darkness, but on the 
 contrary is rapidly growing radiant with light, while a host of 
 patient searchers for its truths roll up the obscuring curtain. 
 The recent discoveries by Geo. Smith, Cesnola, and Schliemann 
 naturally cause us to turn with national pride to the rich anti- 
 quarian fields in our own land. Very satisfactory results have 
 been obtained within a few years m the exploration of Mound- 
 works and the Cliff-dwellings of the West. A just view of the 
 civilization of the builders of these remains, however, requires 
 that it be considered in connection with the traditional history 
 and civilization of the ancient races of Mexico and Central 
 America, so marked was the influence of the ancient peoples of 
 this continent upon each other. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 Kegarding this to be important, I have endeavored to present 
 a comprehensive view of the civilization of the Mound-builders, 
 Cliff-dwellers, and Pueblos, and to bring to the attention of the 
 reader the traditional history and architectural remains of the 
 Mayas of Yucatan and the Nahuas of Mexico. Only the proba- 
 ble origin and the most remote period of the growth of these 
 latter peoples could receive attention within the limits prescribed 
 for this work, since it is my design that this volume shall serve 
 as a manual of information relating to the earliest period of 
 North- American Antiquity, and as an introduction to Ancient 
 American History. My material relating to the Mound-builders 
 has been drawn almost entirely from the Smithsonian Keports, 
 the Proceedings of scientific societies, and private memoirs. Still 
 it is but justice to one honored co-laborer in the same field, 
 Col. J. W. Foster, to say that his excellent work, The Pre- 
 Historic Races of the U. #., has been of great service in our 
 investigation of this subject. Although his sources of informa- 
 tion have been, with few exceptions, before me, my appreciation 
 of his work is attested by my constant reference to it. Never- 
 theless, the wonderful advances which have been made in Mound- 
 exploration since the issue of the Pre-Historic Races, called for 
 a fresh treatment of the subject. 
 
 On the Mayas and Nahuas the following manuscript works 
 in the possession of the Congressional Library at Washington 
 were consulted, and yielded valuable material : 
 
 Las Casas : Historia Apologetica de las Indias occidental es, 
 
 4 vols. folio. 
 
 Las Casas : Historia de Indias, 4 vols. folio. 
 Panes (D. Diego): Fragmentos de Historia de Nueba Espana, 
 
 folio. 
 
PREFACE. j x 
 
 Echevarria y Veitia : Historia del origen de gentes que poblaron 
 la America Septentrional, 1755, 3 vols. folio (about one- 
 fourth of the work is published in Kingsborough's Mex. 
 Antiq., vol. viii). 
 
 Escalante in Teniente (Jose Cortes): Memoria sobre las Pro- 
 vincias del Norte de Nueva Espana 1799, folio. 
 
 Duran (Diego): Historia Antigua de la Nueva Espana 1585, 
 3 vols. folio (part of the work has been published in Mexico). 
 
 These, together with the large number of printed books re- 
 lating to America in the Congressional Library added to works 
 in my possession, afforded an ample field for research. 
 
 1 must express my appreciation of the courteous attentions 
 of the accomplished Librarian of Congress, the Hon. A. K. Spof- 
 ford, who together with his assistants did everything possible 
 to facilitate my investigations. To the uniform and friendly 
 interest which Mr. Spofford has manifested in my work, its suc- 
 cessful completion is largely due. The substantial assistance 
 which I received from the lamented Professor Joseph Henry 
 the record of whose kindly offices to his fellowmen can never be 
 written was invaluable to me. Besides placing the latest mate- 
 rial at my disposal, he generously furnished most of the engrav- 
 ings in this work relating to the Mound-builders. Dr. Charles 
 Bau, also of the Smithsonian Institution, has placed me under 
 obligations for valued services. To Professor F. V. Hayden and 
 to the painstaking offices of Mr. James Stevenson of the U. S. 
 Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, I am 
 indebted for the engravings as well as the sources of information 
 relating to the Cliff-dwellers. The Hon. J. K. Bartlett, of Provi- 
 dence, E. I., with equal generosity has conferred like favors. 
 Prof. F. W. Putnam, of the Peabody Museum of American 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, Mass., and his cour- 
 teous assistants, Mr. Carr and Miss Smith, have provided me 
 with valuable engravings and reports. Robert Clarke, Esq., and 
 Mr. E. Grest, of Cincinnati, have also sent me engravings, and 
 the former in particular has conferred frequent favors. Professor 
 Ph. Valentini, of Albion, N. Y., with rare liberality, contributed 
 interesting material relating to the Nahua Calendar. To Mr. 
 Stephen Salisbury, Jr., of Worcester, Mass., Dr. R. J. Farqu- 
 harson, of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, tRev. S. D. Peet, 
 editor of the American Antiquarian, Cleveland, 0., and to 
 A. J. Conant, Esq., of St. Louis, Mo., I am indebted for the 
 interest they have manifested, and for the material which they 
 have brought to my attention. 
 
 Senor Orozco y Berra, of the City of Mexico, the distin- 
 guished author of the Geografia de las lenguas Mexicanas, has 
 from time to time freely made important suggestions concerning 
 some of the problems under consideration. To my friend the 
 Rev. John W. Butler, of the city of Mexico, whose intelligent 
 efforts in my behalf have been unremitting, I have special reason 
 to be thankful. To all these generous friends I must be per- 
 mitted here to express my deep sense of gratitude for their favors. 
 
 However, this pleasant task would be but half performed 
 were I to omit the recognition of the unselfish friendship of the 
 justly eminent author of the Native Races of the Pacific States. 
 Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft, whose rare erudition and breadth 
 of thought are only surpassed by his magnanimity of nature and 
 manliness of spirit, with a liberality which has scarce a parallel 
 in authorship, sent me the majority of the engravings illustrative 
 of the Maya and Nahua architecture and sculpture, used in the 
 fourth volume of the Native Races. To this I may add the no 
 less valuable encouragement which he so heartily gave during 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 the progress of my work. Although some of my investigations 
 were prosecuted before the publication of the Native Races, and 
 though all of Mr. Bancroft's sources relating to subjects which 
 have received our mutual attention were before me and under- 
 went a critical examination at my hands, it is but fair to state 
 that the assistance which I derived from the Native Races has 
 been of incalculable service in the preparation of this volume. 
 If in any place I have omitted to render full credit to Mr. Ban- 
 croft, and to that imperishable monument of learning and indus- 
 try, his great work, the omission has been due to inadvertence 
 rather than intention. My obligations to Mr. Bancroft can 
 never be discharged, nor can the kind attentions of Mr. Henry L. 
 Oak, of the Bancroft Library, San Francisco, be forgotten. 
 
 Still my examination of the sources has not always led me 
 to the same conclusions as were reached by the author of the 
 Native Races. This may be owing to our different standpoints 
 of observation, or possibly to an inappreciable bias in my own 
 mind. It is, however, but justice to myself to say that this 
 work has been prosecuted to its completion with the spirit of 
 inquiry rather than of advocacy, and is the embodiment of an 
 honest search for the truth. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 COLUMBUS, O., November, 1879. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Aborigines Antiquity of the Red Indian The Mound-builders 
 Geographical Distribution of Mound- works Frontier Defences of the 
 Mound-builders Michigan Mounds Mounds in the North-west On 
 the Upper Missouri In Dakota Animal Mounds of Wisconsin Ele- 
 phant Mound Discoveries at Davenport, Iowa Davenport Tablet 
 Heart of the Mound-builder Country Cahokia Resemblances to 
 Mexico St. Louis and Cincinnati Works Cincinnati Tablet Works 
 in Ohio Fortified Places Fort Ancient Signal Systems Works 
 at Newark The Ohio Valley Explorations in Tennessee Burial 
 in Stone Coffins Mound Colonies in the South-east Mr. Anderson's 
 Calendar Stone Mounds of the Lower Mississippi Valley Seltzer- 
 town Mound Alabama and Georgia Mounds Pyramid of Kolee- 
 Mokee Explorations in Missouri San-dried Bricks Remains in the 
 South-west Direction of the Migration Architectural Progress 
 Altar Mounds Mounds of Sepulture Ancient Copper Mines Astro- 
 nomical Knowledge, 21 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF MAN ON THE WESTERN CONTINENT. 
 
 Antiquity of the Mounds No Tradition of the Mound-builders Vege- 
 tation Covering the Mounds Age of Mound Crania Probable Date of 
 the Abandonment of the Mounds Ancient Shell-heaps Man's Influ- 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ence on Nature Supposed Testimony of Geology Agassiz 011 the 
 Floridian Jaw-bone Remains on Santos River The Natchez Bone 
 Remains on Petit Anse Island Brazilian Bone-caves Dr. Koch's Pre- 
 tended Discoveries Ancient Hearths Age of the Mississippi Delta 
 Dr. Dowler's Discovery at New Orleans Dr. Abbott's Discoveries in 
 New Jersey Discoveries in California Inter-Glacial Relics in Ohio 
 Crania from Mounds in the North-west No Evidences as yet Dis- 
 covered Proving Man's Great Antiquity in America, .... 101 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 DlVEESITY OF OPINION AS TO THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT 
 
 AMERICANS. 
 
 Conflict of Discovery and Dogmatism Arabic Learning in the VIHth Cen- 
 tury Spirit of the Early Writers on America Common Opinion as to 
 the Origin of the Americans Father Duran Lost Tribes of Israel Gar- 
 cia Lascarbot Villagutierre Torquemada Pineda, etc. Abbe Do- 
 menech Modern Views Pre-Columbian Colonization Plato's Atlan- 
 tis Kingsborough The "Book of Mormon" Phoenicians George 
 Jones Greek and Egyptian Theories The Tartars Japanese and 
 Chinese Theories Fusang The Mongol Theory Traces of Buddhism 
 White-Man's Land The Northmen The Welsh Claim, . . .131 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 ORIGIN or THE AMERICANS AS VIEWED FROM THE STAND- 
 POINT OF SCIENCE. 
 
 Origin Theories Indigenous Origin Separate Creation Theory Dr. Mor- 
 ton's Theory Agassiz's Views Dr. Morton's Cranial Measurements 
 Dr. Morton's Theory of Ethnic Unity Groundless Ethnic Relation- 
 ships Typical Mound-skull Crania from the River Rouge Dr. Far- 
 quharson's Measurements Crania from Kentucky Researches in 
 Tennessee by Prof. Jones Measurements Prof. Putnam's Collection 
 of Crania from Tennessee Mounds Low Type Crania from the Mounds 
 Development Observable in Mound Crania Head-Flattening De- 
 rived from Asia Diseases of the Mound-builders Physiognomy of 
 the Ancient Americans Languages Evolution and its Bearing on the 
 
CONTENTS. xy 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Origin of the Americans Darwin and Haeckel on the Indigenous 
 American The Autochthonic Hypothesis Groundless Unity of the 
 Human Family Accepted Chronology Faulty, . . . .135 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE MAYA 
 NATIONS. 
 
 Ancient Civilization of Tabasco and Chiapas The Tradition of Votan The 
 First Immigrants to America The City of Nachan The Votanic Doc- 
 ument Ordonez Brasseur and Cabrera on the Tzendal Document 
 The Empire of the Chanes The Oldest Civilization The Earliest 
 Home of the Mayas The Quiches Their Origin Tradition The 
 Quiche Cosmogony The Creation of Man The Quiche Migration 
 Tulan Mt. Hacavitz Human Sacrifices Instituted Four Tulans 
 Association of the Mayas and Nahuas Heroic Period of the Quiches 
 Xibalba and its Downfall Exploits of the Quiche Chieftains War of 
 the Sects Xibalba and Palenque the Same Mayas of Yucatan and 
 their Traditions Culture-heroes Zamna and Cukulcan Christ Myth, 203 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE NAHUA 
 NATIONS. 
 
 The Early Inhabitants of Mexico Quinames Miztecs and Zapotecs Toto- 
 nacs and Huastecs Olmecs and Xicalancas The Nahuas The Cho- 
 lula Pyramid Its Origin Explained by Duran No Relation to a 
 Flood Ixtlilxochitl's Deluge Tradition The first Toltecs The Codex 
 Chimalpopoca Account The Discovery of Maize Sahagun's Origin of 
 the Nahuas They came from Florida Their Settlement in Tamoan- 
 chan Their Migrations Hue Hue Tlapalan Its Location, according 
 to the Sources Not Identical with Tlapallan de Cortes Not in Cen- 
 tral America Probably in the Mississippi Valley Beginning of the 
 Toltec Annals The Chichimecs not Nahuas The Nahuatlacas The 
 Aztecs Aztlan As Described by Early Writers Aztec Migration- 
 Aztec Maps Senor Ramirez on Migration Maps The Seven Caves- 
 Three Claims for the Location of Aztlan The Culture Hero, Quetzal- 
 coatl, . . . -232 
 
Xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK VII. 
 THE ANCIENT PUEBLOS AND CLIFF-DWELLERS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Casas Grandes of Chihuahua Ruins in the Casas Grandes and Janos 
 Valleys Casa Grande of the Rio Gila Ruins in.the Gila Valley Also 
 in the Valley of the Rio Salado Ruins in the Canon of the Colorado 
 In the Valley of the Colorado Chiquito Pueblos of the Zuni River 
 Zuni and the " Seven Cities of Cibola " " El Moro " Pueblos of the 
 Chaco Valley Cliff-dwellers Mr. Jackson's Discoveries in the Valley 
 of the Rio San Juan Cliff-houses of the Rio Mancos Cliff-dwellings 
 on the McElmo Traditional Origin and Fate of the Cliff-dwellers 
 Ancestors of the Moquis Remarkable Discoveries by Mr. Holmes 
 The Seven Moqui Towns The Montezuma Legend, .... 275 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ANCIENT AMERICAN CIVILIZATION AND SUPPOSED OLD 
 WORLD ANALOGIES. ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, AND 
 HIEROGLYPHICS. 
 
 Analogies, Real and Fancied MAYA ARCHITECTURE The American Pyra- 
 midThe Palace of Palenque The French Roof at Palenque The 
 Trefoil Arch Yucatanic Architecture Uxmal The Casa de Monjas 
 Kabah Casa Grande of Zayi QUICHE ARCHITECTURE Copan Cir- 
 cus of Copan Description by Fuentes Utatlan NAHUA ARCHITEC- 
 TURE Remains in Oajaca Mitla Grecques at Mitla Remains in the 
 State of Vera Cruz Cholula Pyramid of Xochicalco The Temple of 
 Mexico Teotihuacan Los Edificios of Quemada Maya and Nahua 
 Architecture Compared Old World Analogies SCULPTURE Of the 
 Mounds At Palenque At Uxmal Of the Nahuas Ancient Ameri- 
 can Art and its Old World Analogies Egyptian Tau at Palenque 
 Serpent Sculpture Nahua Symbolism probably Asiatic HIERO- 
 GLYPHICS Maya MSS. and Books Landa's Alphabet Attempts at 
 the Interpretation of Maya MSS. by Bollaert, Charencey, and Rosny 
 Rosny's Classification of the Hieroglyphics Hopes that a Key has been 
 Discovered The Mexican Picture-writing Aztec Migration Maps, 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY, CALENDAR SYSTEMS, AND RELIGIOUS 
 ANALOGIES. 
 
 No Mound-builder Chronology Known Maya Calendar Landa on the 
 Calendar Maya Days Maya Months The Katun The Ahau Katun 
 or Great Cycle The Maya System Adjusted to our Chronology The 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ' PAGE 
 
 Adjustment by Perez Intercalary Days The Nahua Calendar The 
 Sources Divisions of the Mexican Calendar The Aztec Year The 
 Nemontemi Aztec Months Aztec Days Nahua Ritual Calendar 
 Mexican Calendar Stone Sources of Interpretation History of the 
 Stone Its Interpretation Date of the Origin of the Calendar Stone 
 Date of the Nahua Migration Analogies with the Nahua Calendar 
 RELIGIOUS ANALOGIES Jewish Analogies Deluge Traditions Sup- 
 posed Parallels in Jewish and Mexican History Analogies of Doctrine 
 Analogies of Ceremonial Law Yucatanic Trinity Myth Mexican 
 and Asiatic Analogies Buddhism in the New World Scandinavian 
 Analogies Mexican and Greek Analogies Brasseur de Bourbourg's 
 Comparisons, 435 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LANGUAGE AND ITS RELATION TO NORTH AMERICAN 
 MIGRATIONS. 
 
 Diversity of Languages in America Causes of Diversity Richness of 
 American Languages Polysynthesis Grimm's Law The Maya- 
 Quiche Languages Stability of the Maya Oldest American Language 
 The Maya compared to the Greek, the Hebrew, the North European, 
 the Basque, West African, and the Quichua Languages Epitome of 
 Maya Grammar The Mizteco-Zapotec Languages The Nahua or 
 Aztec The Classic Tongue Ancient and Modern Nahua Epitome of 
 Aztec Grammar Geographical Extension of the Aztec In the South 
 In the North-west Buschmann's Researches The Sonora Family 
 Opata-Tarahumar-Pima Family Moqui and Aztec Elements Aztec 
 in the Shoshone and in the Languages of Oregon and the Columbian 
 Region Line of Aztec Elements The Nahua probably the Language 
 of the Mound-builders The Otomi Supposed Chinese Analogies Jap- 
 anese Analogies Geographical Names, 468 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 PROBABILITIES THAT AMERICA WAS PEOPLED FROM THE 
 OLD WORLD CONSIDERED GEOGRAPHICALLY AND 
 PHYSICALLY. 
 
 Legends of Atlantis Brasseur de Bourbourg's Theory The Subject Exam- 
 ined in the Light of Science Retzius' View Le Plongeon's Observa- 
 tions Identity of European and American Plant Types Revelations 
 
 2 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of the Dolphin and Challenger Expeditions The Atlantic Floor 
 Challenger and Dolphin Ridges " Challenger Plateau " probably once 
 Dry Land Identity of European and South American Fauna Eleva- 
 tion and Depression of Coast Level Of Greenland, the United States, 
 and South America The Gulf Stream Equatorial Current The 
 Trade- Winds Accidental Discovery of Brazil America Probably 
 Reached by Ancient Navigators The Caras Atolls of the Pacific 
 Ocean A Pacific Continent Contiguity of the Continents at the North 
 Aleutian Islands The Kuro-Suvo Behring's Straits Inviting Ap- 
 pearance of the American Shore Remoteness of the Migration Prof. 
 Grote's View Prof. Asa Gray's Observations Conditions Favorable 
 to a Migration Mr. John H. Becker's Observations, .... 498 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 CONCLUSION, 515 
 
 APPENDIX, .523 
 
 INDEX, 533 
 
THE 
 
 NORTH-AMERICANS 
 
 OF 
 
 ANTIQUITY. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Aborigines Antiquity of the Red Indian The Mound-builders Geo- 
 graphical Distribution of Mound-works Frontier Defences of the Mound- 
 builders Michigan Mounds Mounds in the North-west On the Upper 
 Missouri In Dakota Animal Mounds of Wisconsin Elephant Mound 
 Discoveries at Davenport, Iowa Davenport Tablet Heart of the Mound- 
 builder Country Cahokia Resemblances to Mexico St. Louis and Cin- 
 cinnati Works Cincinnati Tablet Works in Ohio Fortified Places 
 Fort Ancient Signal Systems Works at Newark The Ohio Valley 
 Explorations in Tennessee Burial in Stone Coffins Mound Colonies- in 
 the South-east Mr. Anderson's Calendar Stone Mounds of the Lower 
 Mississippi Valley Seltzertown Mound Alabama and Georgia Mounds 
 Pyramid of Kolee-Mokee Explorations in Missouri Sun-dried Bricks- 
 Remains in the South-west Direction of the Migration Architectural 
 Progress Altar Mounds Mounds of Sepulture Ancient Copper Mines 
 Astronomical Knowledge. 
 
 ON that eventful morning nearly four centuries ago, when 
 the spell of uncertainty and mystery which enshrouded the 
 Atlantic was broken, and the darkness of the deep vanished with 
 the darkness of the night, the illustrious admiral discovered a 
 world populated with beings like himself. They were male and 
 female, with all the physical characteristics common to the rest 
 of mankind, and differed from the Spaniards only in that their 
 skin was of a copper hue, and their cheek bones more prominent. 
 They were tattooed and wore their straight black hair, cut short 
 above the ears, with a few unshorn locks falling upon their 
 shoulders. 1 These naked uncivilized men and women were the 
 
 1 Las Casas : Historia de Indias, lib. I, cap. 40, torn. I, MS. Irving : Colum- 
 bus, vol. I, p. 158 (N. Y., 1851 ed.). Navarrete : Colecdon de los viajes, torn. I, 
 p. 176. Grynaeus : Novus Orbis, p. 66, Basil, 1555, fol. Herrera : Historia 
 General, Dec. I, lib. I, cap's ii et vi, Madrid, 1730. 
 
22 THE RED MAN AND HIS ANTIQUITY. 
 
 same in their physical type with those discovered subsequently 
 on the islands and the main land by Carter, Vespucius, Verre- 
 zano and the Cabots. To rehearse their descriptions of the 
 natives whom they first met would be but to repeat the expe- 
 rience and observations of Columbus. Nearly five centuries 
 earlier the Norse adventurer Thorwald Ericson (1002 A. D.) 
 encountered natives on the New England coast, corresponding 
 in appearance, habits, and condition to those who occupied the 
 country when colonized by the first settlers. To these natives 
 they gave the name of STcrellings] from slcraeltja, a name which 
 they had previously applied to the Eskimo, meaning to cry 
 out. 1 Thorfin Karlsefne, who also reached the New England 
 coast four years later than Thorwald, describes the natives as 
 sallow-colored and ill-looking, having ugly heads of hair, large 
 eyes and broad cheeks. They came in canoes to his ships for 
 the purposes of trade, and though peaceable at first, soon ex- 
 hibited hostility and treachery. 2 It is quite certain that these 
 Skrellings were the North American Indians, or savages known 
 as such at the present day. How long the red man's occupation 
 of the country antedated its discovery by the Scandinavians is 
 uncertain. His traditions are worthless on that subject. His 
 chronology of moons and cycles is an incoherent and contradic- 
 tory jumble. Nor does he know any more certainly from whence 
 he came. It would seem that his race came by installments, if 
 it came at all, and that he was just as far advanced in the arts 
 of hunting and war and domestic life on the day in which he 
 first possessed himself of the soil, as on that in which he was 
 driven from it by the European. An incapacity for progress is 
 characteristic of his entire career, and a mental inertia which no 
 known power in civilization can overcome, marks his history, with 
 but few exceptions as far as we are familiar with it. The Indian, 
 
 1 Rafn : Antiquitates Americana, p. 45, note. Rafn: Op. cit., pp. xxx- 
 xxxiii. 
 
 2 Rafn : Historic TJwrfinni Karlsefnii (in Ant. Am.), pp. 149, 181 ; also, 
 De Costa : Pre-Coluiritrian Discovery of America, pp. xxxii, xxxiii, 21, 41, 57, 
 58, 69, 70, 73, 74, 110 ; Gravier : Decouverte de I'Amerique par les Normands 
 au X e Siecle, p. 83. Paris, 1874, 4to. 
 
THE RED MAN AND HIS ANTIQUITY. 
 
 23 
 
 ARROW HEADS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM (WASHINGTON). 
 
 measured by his low condition in the scale of progress from the 
 extremest barbarism towards semi-civilization, belongs to what 
 is known as the flint age (old-stone or Palaeolithic) in Europe, 
 in which the rudest flint implements seem to have been the 
 only auxiliaries which he possessed with which to supplement 
 and assist his hands in securing a livelihood or to protect his 
 person and family from ferocious beasts. Perhaps we may more 
 properly place him in a position midway between the flint and 
 
24 THE INDIAN'S PLACE IN THE SCALE OF PROGRESS. 
 
 the stone ages (new-stone or Neolithic), for he no doubt was 
 possessed of polished stone implements of a limited number and 
 variety. Whether made by his own hands or by those of his 
 predecessors is uncertain. 1 In thus assigning the Indian his 
 
 METHODS EMPLOYED BY INDIANS OF HAFTING STONE WEAPONS. 
 
 place in the scale by which man's state of barbarism or degree 
 of civilization has been measured by scholars in Europe, we do 
 not pretend to claim for him the antiquity of the man of the 
 flint age in any other part of the globe. 2 
 
 1 Prof. Jos. Leidy, in Hayderis Cth Ann. Report of the V. 8. Geological 
 Survey of tJie Territories (1872), pp. 652-3, describes the stone implements 
 found in the Bridger basin in southern Wyoming. He remarks, " The ques- 
 tion arises, who made the stone implements and when, and why should they 
 occur in such great numbers in the particular localities indicated. My friend, 
 Dr. J. Van A. Carter, residing at Fort Bridger, and well acquainted with the 
 language, history, manners, and customs of the neighboring tribes of Indians, 
 informs me that they know nothing about them. He reports that the Shoshones 
 look upon them as the gift of God to their ancestors. They were no doubt 
 made long ago, some probably at a comparatively late date, that is to say, just 
 prior to communication of the Indians with the whites, but others probably 
 date centuries back." 
 
 - It would he foreign to the object of this work to enter upon a discussion 
 of the antiquity of man in Europe. Were we to follow the example of several 
 writers on the antiquities of America, we might present a resume of the splendid 
 
THE INDIAN'S PLACE IN THE SCALE OF PROGRESS. 25 
 
 INDIAN AND MOUND-BUILDER SPEAR-HEADS. 
 
26 THE INDIAN'S PLACE IN THE SCALE OF PROGRESS. 
 
 Dr. Abbott, of New Jersey, in an extended treatment of the 
 Stone Age in his own State, has shown many evidences of the 
 protracted occupancy of the Atlantic States by a people whose 
 weapons resemble those of ancient man in Europe. Col. Charles 
 Whittlesey has called attention to the discovery of Indian remains 
 in the " Shelter Cave," near Elyria, Ohio, and also in a cave near 
 Louisville, Kentucky, where the conditions seemed to point to 
 an interment as long ago as two thousand years, but the evi- 
 dences both as to the remains having been those of the red 
 man and the period of burial are too uncertain to be of any 
 service in the construction of a theory. 1 
 
 achievements of science in determining the approximate age of man, as an 
 inhabitant of different portions of the old world, but such condensed accounts 
 at best are unsatisfactory and often detrimental to science because of their 
 very slenderness. The evidences of man's antiquity being far more remote 
 than the generally accepted historic period, antedating its beginning by several 
 thousand years, no doubt exist. The discoveries in the Liege caverns, in the 
 caves of Languedoc and in the cave of Engihoul in Belgium ; in the Neander- 
 thal and Engis caves ; at Abbeville and Amians ; the valley of the Somme ; 
 the basin of the Seine ; of the Thames ; and of the lake dwellers of Switzer- 
 land, as well as the shell-heaps of Denmark, point to an antiquity which half 
 a century ago it would have been heresy to have dreamed of. We have but to 
 refer to the admirable work of Sir Charles Lyell : The Antiquity of Man (Phil., 
 1863), and to the well-known works of Lubbock, Taylor, Vogt and others. A 
 good treatment of the subject in brief will be found in Foster : Pre-Historic 
 Races of the II. 8. (1873), and a pointed and popular reference to it in Bryant's 
 History of the V. 8., vol. I. N. Y., 187G. 
 
 1 Evidences of the Antiquity of Man in ike U. 8., by Col. Charles Whittlesey. 
 A memoir of 20 pp. Perhaps the chief importance of the above-cited cave dis- 
 coveries is derived from the eminence of the antiquarian who cites them, 
 rather than in their real value to science. In the case of the Elyria cave 
 examined by Dr. E. W. Hubbard, Prof. J. Brainerd, and the author of the 
 memoir "the grindstone grit," resting on shale, formed a grotto of consider- 
 able size. Four feet of the floor of the cave, consisting of charcoal, ashes and 
 bones of the wolf, bear, deer, rabbit, squirrels, fishes, snakes and birds (" all 
 of which existed in this region when it became known to the whites "), was 
 removed and three human skeletons discovered. The author states that the 
 three had been crushed by a large slab of the over-hanging sandstone falling on 
 them, but fails to state how much of the overlying material consisted of this 
 sandstone slab. He remarks : " Judging from the appearance of the bones, 
 and the depth of the accumulations over them, two thousand years may have 
 elapsed since the human skeletons were laid on the floor of this cave." The 
 
THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 27 
 
 The eras or ages which have been observed to mark the dif- 
 ferent stages of the development of pre-historic man in Europe 
 (in the manufacture of implements and the construction of places 
 of abode), are apparently reversed in America. 
 
 The Neolithic and Bronze ages preceded the Palaeolithic at 
 least in the Mississippi Basin not that the last inhabitants 
 deteriorated and lost the higher arts which are well known to 
 have been cultivated upon the same soil occupied by them, but 
 that they were preceded by a race possessed of no inferior civili- 
 zation, who were not their ancestors, but a distinct people with 
 a capacity for progress, for the exercise of government, for the 
 erection of magnificent architectural monuments, and possessed 
 of a respectable knowledge of geometrical principles. The re- 
 mains of this mysterious people known as the mound-builders 
 are spread over thousands of square miles of the United States, 
 and it is a question whether the antiquarian is more surprised 
 at the greatness of their number than in many instances at the 
 immensity of their proportions. The entire valley region of the 
 Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio rivers with that of their affluents 
 was occupied by this remarkable people presenting us with a 
 parallel to the ancient civilization which flourished in the earliest 
 times on the watercourses of the old world. The geographical 
 distribution of these mounds may be described in general terms 
 with a view to the territory occupied by them in the United 
 States, as central, western, and southern. 
 
 The publication of the valuable works of Squier and Davis, 
 
 Louisville cave discovery is no more satisfactory than the above. It is scarcely 
 necessary to remark tliat all the evidences are of a comparatively recent inter- 
 ment, and much less than two thousand years would have been sufficient to 
 produce the conditions described. See also discoveries at High Rock Spring, 
 Saratoga, N. Y., cited by Col. Whittlesey, p. 10, and more fully treated by 
 Dr. McGuire in the " Proceedings of the Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist.," vol. xii, 
 p. 398, May, 1839, in which the latter claims to find traces of the Red man 54TO 
 years ago. It is not probable that Dr. McGuire's traces are those of the Indians, 
 nor is it certain that they were left by human beings at all, since the pine tree 
 (found at a considerable depth and worn as he supposes by the feet of Indians) 
 was as liable to have been worn by the feet of animals as of men. See also 
 Dr. Abbott, The Stone Age in New Jersey, Smithsonian Report, 1874, p. 246 
 et sen. 
 
28 NO MOUND REMAINS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 of Dr. Lapham and those of Mr. Squier alone, in which the 
 remains of these regions are described, was like a revelation 
 which brought to light the wonders of an entombed civilization. 1 
 In treating of the mounds geographically, we find no evidences 
 of this people having reached the Atlantic seaboard, unless we 
 except the great shell-heaps found in various localities on the 
 coast, and of which we will speak further on. It is true that in 
 South Carolina a few vestiges of their residence are found on the 
 Wateree Eiver near Camden, and in the mountainous regions of 
 North Carolina, 2 where they wrought mica mines for the mineral 
 which they prized as precious, and which so often accompanies 
 the remains of their dead. No authentic remains of the Mound- 
 Builders are found in the New England States, nor even in the 
 State of New York. In the former, we have an isolated mound 
 in the valley of the Kennebec in Maine, and dim outlines of 
 enclosures near Sanborn and Concord in New Hampshire, but 
 there is no certainty of their being the work of this people. 3 In 
 the latter, it was at first supposed that the remains found in the 
 western portion of the State were uniform in their plan of con- 
 struction with the works of the Ohio valley ; but Mr. Squier 
 pronounces them to be purely the work of Ked Indians. This 
 conclusion is probably untenable, since the Indian had no more 
 knowledge of who constructed the fort-like enclosures of Western 
 
 1 Squier and Dams : Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, Wash- 
 ington, 1848, 4to, 1st vol. of Smithsonian Contributions ; Dr. J. A. LapJiam : 
 Antiquities of Wisconsin, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1855. More 
 recently TJie Upper Mississippi, by George Gale, Chicago, 1868 ; The Missis- 
 sippi Valley, by Dr. J. TF, Foster, Chicago, 1869, 8vo, and his Pre-Historic 
 Races of the U. 8., Chicago, 1873, 8vo. We might add a list of names scarcely 
 less eminent, of authors who have written upon special fields and examined 
 particular works. A reliable bibliography of literature on the Mound-builders 
 is a desideratum which we trust some enterprising Americanist may soon 
 supply. 
 
 2 Described by Dr. Wm. Blanding in a letter to Dr. Morton, of Philadelphia. 
 Foster : Pre-Historic Races of the U. 8., p. 148, and Ancient Monuments of the 
 Mississippi Valley, p. 105. Foster : p. 151. 
 
 3 Squier : Antiquities of Western New York, vol. ii, Smithsonian Contribu- 
 tions, 1851. See an interesting account of the Antiquities of Orleans County, 
 New York, by F. H. Gushing, in Smithsonian Report for 1874, p. 375. 
 
MICHIGAN MOUNDS. 29 
 
 New York, and common upon the rivers discharging themselves 
 into Lakes Erie and Ontario from the South, than of the builders 
 of the mounds of the Ohio and Mississippi. Col. Whittlesey 
 would assign these fort-like structures, differing from the more 
 southern enclosures in that they were surrounded by trenches on 
 their outside, while the latter uniformly have the trench on the 
 inside of the enclosure, to a people anterior to the Eed Indian 
 and perhaps contemporaneous with the Mound-builders, but 
 distinct from either. 1 The more reasonable view is that of 
 Dr. Foster, that they are the frontier works of the Mound- 
 builders, adapted to the purposes of defence against the sudden 
 irruptions of hostile tribes. He remarks, " If our country were 
 to become a desolation, the future antiquary would find the sea- 
 coast studded with fortifications of a complex form, and as he 
 penetrated to the interior they would disappear altogether." 2 
 It is probable that these defences belong to the last period of 
 the Mound-builders' residence on the lakes, and were erected 
 when the more warlike peoples of the North who drove them 
 from their cities first made their appearance. Passing along the 
 boundary of the Mound-builders' territory towards the west, we 
 find the great lakes in all cases to have served as its limit on the 
 north. Mr. Henry Gillman has described in several publications 3 
 his exploration of mounds in Michigan and the lakes. One of 
 the richest mounds in relics and human remains is known as 
 " the Great Mound of the Kiver Rouge," situated on the stream 
 from which it takes its name, near the Detroit River and about 
 four and a half miles from the centre of the city of Detroit. The 
 mound now measures twenty feet in height, and must originally 
 have measured 300 feet in length by 200 in width, though the 
 removal of large quantities of sand from it has greatly reduced 
 its proportions and destroyed many valuable relics. Many other 
 
 1 Antiquity of Man in V. 8., p. 12 ; also, Ancient Earth Forts of the Cuya- 
 hoga Valley, Ohio, by Col. Charles Whittlesey, Cleveland, O., 1871, pp. 40 and 
 plates. 
 
 2 Pre-Historic Races of the U. 8., p. 145. 
 
 3 Smithsonian Report for 1873, p. 364 et seq., from which we draw the above. 
 The Proceedings of the National Ass. for the Adv. of Science for 1875. 
 
30 WORKS OF THE NORTH-WEST. 
 
 mounds surrounding it have also been removed. The most 
 remarkable result of the exploration was the discovery of tibiee 
 flattened to an extreme degree, such as is peculiar to platycnemic 
 man. A circular mound in the vicinity yielded even more 
 remarkable specimens of this singular flattening or compression. 
 Two specimens presented unprecedented proportions ; the trans- 
 verse diameter of one shaft being 0.42 and the other 0.40 of the 
 centero-posterior diameter. The circular mound yielded eleven 
 skeletons besides a large number of burial vases and stone im- 
 plements of all descriptions peculiar to the mounds. Of the 
 crania from this mound we shall speak in Chapter IV. In 1872, 
 Mr. Gillman examined a remarkable group of tumuli situated at 
 the head of St. Glair Kiver. These mostly stand on the shores 
 of Lake Huron. The relics, besides human remains, consisted of 
 pieces of mica, and necklaces of beads of the teeth of the moose 
 alternating with well- wrought beads of copper. The same pecu- 
 liarity of flattened tibia was markedly prominent in the remains. 1 
 The same investigator has examined mounds at Ottawa Point, 
 Michigan, near the mouth of the Oqueoc Kiver, at Point La 
 Barbe in the Straits of Mackinac, and at Beaver Harbor on 
 Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Excepting ancient copper 
 mines, no known works extend as far north as Lake Superior 
 anywhere in the central region. Farther to the North-west, 
 however, the works of the same people are comparatively numer- 
 ous. Dr. Foster quotes a British Columbia newspaper, without 
 giving either name or date, as authority for the discovery of a 
 large number of mounds, seemingly the works of the same 
 people who built farther east and south. 2 On the Butte Prairies 
 
 1 See Mr. Gillman's in Sixth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody 
 Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, p. 12 et seq., Cambridge, 1873, and Am. 
 Jour, of Arts and Sciences, 3d ser., vol. vii, pp. 1-9, Jan., 1874. 
 
 2 Foster's Pre-Historic Races, p. 151. " There is a large mound, three hun- 
 dred feet high and three hundred yards in diameter at the base, at the southern 
 end of the prairie, about twenty-five miles from Olympia ; and scattered over 
 the prairie for a distance of fifteen miles are many smaller mounds, not more 
 than four feet high and twenty or thirty in diameter. * * * A few days ago 
 one of the engineers of the Northern Pacific Railroad opened one of them and 
 found the remains of pottery ; and a more thorough examination of others 
 
LEWIS AND CLARKE'S DISCOVERIES. 31 
 
 of Oregon Wilkes and his exploring expedition discovered 
 thousands of similar mounds. 1 
 
 Lewis and Clarke, in the Journal of their expedition up the 
 Missouri River, describe the remains of fortifications on Bon- 
 homme Islands at as early a date as 1S04-5-6, but until recently 
 their statements have been received with a degree of doubt. 2 
 This doubt has, however, been fully set at rest by the members 
 of the United States Geological Surveying Expedition of 1872. 
 Not only has it been shown that works exist at Bonhomme's 
 Island, but all the way up through the Yellowstone region and 
 on the upper tributaries of the Missouri mounds are found in 
 profusion. 3 Dr. C. Thomas, of the above-named expedition, 
 
 revealed other curious relics, evidently the work of human hands ; in fact, in 
 every mound that has yet been opened there is some relic of a long- forgotten 
 race discovered." In quoting the above, Dr. Foster remarks that the great 
 mound was no doubt a natural eminence artificially rounded off. 
 
 1 Narrative of the If. 8. Exploring Expedition during the Tears 1838-42. 
 Phila., 1844. Tom. IV, p. 334. " We soon reached the Butte prairies (on 
 Columbia River) which were extensive, and covered with tumuli or small 
 mounds, at regular distances asunder. As far as I could learn there is no 
 tradition among the natives relative to them. They are conical mounds thirty 
 feet in diameter, about six to seven feet high above the level, and many 
 thousands in number. Being anxious to ascertain if they contained any relics, 
 I subsequently visited these prairies, and opened three of the mounds, but 
 found nothing in them but a pavement of round stones." 
 
 2 Baldwin (Ancient America, pp. 31-2) remarks: "Lewis and Clark re- 
 ported seeing them on the Missouri River a thousand miles above its junc- 
 tion with the Mississippi River ; but this report has not been satisfactorily 
 verified/* 
 
 3 See Mr. A. Barrandt in Smithsonian Report, 1870, for an account of dis- 
 coveries on Clark's Creek in Dakota; on the Bighorn River; on the Yellow- 
 stone ; on the Morean and the banks of the Great Cheyenne. See Foster's 
 Pre-Historic Races, pp. 153-4. The proof is conclusive that the head- waters 
 of the Missouri was one of their ancient seats. The same gentleman (Mr. Bar- 
 randt) describes a remarkable mound in Lincoln County, Dakota, situated 
 eighty-five miles north-west of Sioux City, on the west fork of the Little Sioux 
 of Dakota or Turkey Creek. The mound is known as the "Hay Stack." Its 
 dimensions are 327 feet in length at the base on the north-west side, and 290 
 on the south-east side, and 120 feet wide. It slopes at an angle of about 50, 
 is from thirty- four to forty feet in height, the north-east end being the higher. 
 To the summit, which is from twenty-eight to thirty-three feet wide, there is a 
 well-beaten path. The remarkable feature of the mound is the fact that part 
 
32 JAMES RIVER MOUNDS. 
 
 made interesting discoveries in Dakota Territory, near the North- 
 ern Pacific Kailroad crossing of the James River. Mounds were 
 examined giving evidence of perhaps greater antiquity than 
 those common in the interior of the country, if their contents be 
 depended upon as furnishing a means of test. 1 The Missouri 
 
 of the north-east side is walled up with soft sandstone and limestone, brought 
 a distance of at least three miles from an ancient quarry. The remainder of 
 the surface is pronounced to be of calcined clay. The mound contained a large 
 interior circular chamber, in which the bones of animals, thirty-six pieces of 
 pottery, and a mass of charcoal and ashes were found. Smithsonian Report 
 for 1872, pp. 413 et seq. 
 
 1 Since this is a contested point, both as to the presence of the works of the 
 Mound-builders in the North-west and as to their great antiquity, I subjoin a 
 portion of a report on these mounds made by Gen. H. W. Thomas, U. S. A., to 
 Dr. Thomas of the Surveying Expedition, in the Sixth Annual Report of the 
 U. 8. Geological Survey under Dr. Hayden in 1872, pp. 656-7 : 
 
 " ' Lewis and Clarke reported seeing Indian mounds 1000 miles above the 
 confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri, but this report is not verified.' So 
 says Mr. John D. Baldwin, A. M., in his work entitled ' Ancient America.' 
 
 " I now and here propose to contribute my mite toward the verification of 
 the statement of Lewis and Clarke. 
 
 "The few men whom duty or wild inclination have from time to time 
 brought into this, for the most part, uninhabited region of treeless prairie, have 
 all known of the existence of thousands of artificial mounds. What was in 
 them they knew not, and but two or three, to my knowledge, have ever been 
 opened. On August 16, 1872, I opened one on the high table-lands that spread 
 out on both sides of a little stream called the James. The point is about 47 
 north latitude, and 98 38' longitude west from Greenwich. It is within three 
 miles of the line of the North Pacific Railroad. The mound is circular in form, 
 30^ feet in its shorter, and 35 T % feet in its longer diameter, and five feet high. 
 I opened four trenches, three feet wide, from the outer edge, meeting in the 
 centre, forming a cross when finished. I then excavated the entire mound 
 from the centre outward, iintil there was nothing more to find. For results I 
 had several two-bushel bags full of bones, eight skulls, many pieces of skulls 
 too small to be of value (there must have been at least twenty-five bodies buried 
 there), a rough-hewn stone ten inches high and five and a half inches in diam- 
 eter, in shape resembling closely a conical shell, a cutting half an inch deep 
 around the centre. (This was evidently tied with thongs to a stout handle, 
 and used in pulverizing their maize.) A portion of a shell necklace, two flints, 
 two heads of beaver, and some bones of animals unknown, and a large quantity 
 of bivalves, much like the clam (Mya oUongata] of .our Atlantic coast, but 
 thicker, and the interior surface much more pearly. 
 
 " The mounds and their contents are apparently of great antiquity. They 
 are, in every case, on the very highest point in their immediate neighborhood, 
 
ANIMAL MOUNDS IN WISCONSIN. 33 
 
 valley seems to have been one of the most populous branches of 
 the wide-spread Mound-builder country. The valleys of its 
 affluents, the Platte and Kansas rivers, also furnish evidence that 
 these streams served as the channels into which flowed a part of 
 the tide of population which either descended or ascended the 
 Missouri. The Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, however, 
 formed the great central arteries of the Mound-builder domain. 
 In Wisconsin we find the northern central limit of their works ; 
 occasionally on the western shores of Lake Michigan, but in great 
 numbers in the southern counties of the State, and especially on 
 the lower Wisconsin River. The peculiar and fantastic forms 
 of most of these mounds have led some writers to suppose that 
 they belonged to a different race from that which occupied the 
 valleys to the south. Instead of the usual type of the pyramid 
 and circle, these remains mostly represent animals, or birds, or 
 men. Still Dr. Lapham, who has described them fully in his 
 admirable work 1 on the Antiquities of Wisconsin, concluded 
 that sufficient resemblances between these remains and those of 
 the south exist to ascribe to them a common origin. A few 
 instances of the circle and square are found in association with 
 the animal mounds, while in Ohio, on Brush Creek in Adams 
 
 and perfectly drained. The climate is excessively dry ; so dry that the James 
 River is entirely dry at a point about 500 feet above the contemplated railroad- 
 bridge across the river. Notwithstanding this, many of the bones crumbled into 
 white dust on being brought to the air, like those found in Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii, and it was absolutely impossible to get out a single one in anything 
 like perfection. Around and over these bodies stones and sticks were placed, 
 doubtless to preserve the remains from the coyote and the fox. The wood 
 could be rubbed into fine yellow-brown dust between the thumb and forefinger. 
 Any trace of excavation around the mound for dirt to heap it with had been 
 entirely obliterated. The upright position of the skulls also indicated that the 
 bodies were buried in a sitting posture. The leg-bones, however, lay lower 
 and horizontal. 
 
 " The number of mounds indicates a denser population than ever has been 
 known here, or than the natural resources of this region can now support by 
 the chase. At the same time the number of dry lakes scattered all over would 
 indicate that at some remote period the country may have been a better one 
 than now, and supported a larger population." 
 
 1 "Antiquities of Wisconsin" Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. vii, 
 1855. 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 THE "GREAT SERPENT" AND THE "ALLIGATOR. 3 
 
 GREAT SERPENT, ADAMS Co., O. 
 
 no effigy mounds were believed 
 
 County, the "Great Ser- 
 pent," and the "Alligator" 
 in Licking County furnish 
 proof that either the same 
 people built them or at least 
 the same impulses, religious 
 or otherwise, actuated the 
 people of both districts. The 
 former of the above figures 
 is well described by its name, 
 " with its head conforming 
 to the crest of a hill, and 
 its body Avinding back for 
 700 feet in graceful undu- 
 lations, terminating in a 
 triple coil at the tail." The 
 length of the latter "from 
 the point of the nose follow- 
 ing the curves of the tail to 
 the tip, is about 250 feet, 
 the breadth of the body 
 forty feet and the length of 
 the legs or paws each thirty- 
 six feet." 1 Until recently 
 to exist further south than 
 
 1 Squier and Davis : Ancient Monuments, pp. 97-99. Recent and possibly 
 more exact surveys of the Alligator give the figures as somewhat less than the 
 above. Isaac Smucker, a very reliable antiquarian of Licking Co., Ohio, in an 
 address before the Ohio State Archaeological Convention, held at Mansfield in 
 September, 1875, corrects the figures in the following statement : <; The Alliga- 
 tor mound is upon the summit of a hill or spur, which is nearly 200 feet high, 
 six miles west of Newark, and near the village of Granville. The outlines of 
 the Alligator (or Crocodile) are clearly defined. His entire length is 205 feet. 
 The breadth of the body at the widest part, twenty feet, and the length of the 
 body between the fore-legs and hind-legs is fifty feet. The legs are each about 
 twenty feet long. The head, fore-shoulders and rump have an elevation vary- 
 ing from three to six feet, while' the remainder of the body averages a foot or 
 two less." 
 
ELEPHANT MOUND. 35 
 
 Ohio ; however, Mr. C. C. Jones, Jr., in the Smithsonian 
 Report for 1877 has shown this to be a mistake. Mr. Jones 
 describes an eagle-shaped stone mound north of Eatonton, in 
 Putnam Co., Georgia, of the following dimensions : Height of 
 tumulus at the breast of the bird, seven or eight feet ; length 
 from the top of the head to the extremity of the tail, 102 feet ; 
 distance from tip to tip of the wings, 120 feet ; greatest expanse 
 of tail, 38 feet. A careful regard to the proportions of the bird 
 are shown. A similar stone mound, of nearly the same propor- 
 tions, was found near Lawrence Ferry on the Oconee Kiver in 
 Putnam County. In this instance a circle of stones encloses the 
 effigy. At Trenton, Wisconsin, and in many other places ex- 
 amined by Dr. Lapham, cruciform works were found, some of 
 which were constructed with the arms extending toward the 
 cardinal points. 1 Instances of extinct or unknown animal forms 
 occur occasionally : one instance is that of an animal somewhat 
 resembling a monkey, having a body of about 1GO feet in length, 
 while the tail describes a semicircle and measures alone 320 feet. 2 
 The most remarkable instance of the kind, however, is that of 
 the big elephant mound found a few miles below the mouth of 
 the Wisconsin River, so perfect in its proportions and complete 
 in its representations of an elephant that its builders must have 
 been well acquainted with all the physical characteristics of the 
 animal which they delineated. 3 This fact suggests the inquiry 
 whether these people were Asiatic in origin and penetrated to 
 the interior of the country before their recollections of the ele- 
 phant were forgotten, or whether they were contemporaneous with 
 
 1 Lapham's Antiquities of Wisconstn, pp. 18, 20, 86, 37, 89, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 
 G2, 69. 
 
 2 W. H. Canfield's Sketches of Sauk County, Wisconsin ; Foster's Pre-His- 
 toric Races, p. 101. On the copper remains of the Mound-builders, see Pre- 
 Hisioric Wisconsin, by Prof. James D. Butler, LL.D., annual address before 
 the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Feb. 18, 1876. Wisconsin Hist. Col., 
 vol. vii. Privately printed. 
 
 3 Smithsonian Report for 1872, figured and described on p. 416 by Jared 
 Warner of Patch Grove, Wis. (Oct. 1872). A further description of mounds in 
 the same locality, by Moses Strong, M. E., will be found in Smithsonian Report 
 for 1876, p. 424. 
 
36 
 
 ELEPHANT MOUND. 
 
 051 20 30 40 50 CO 70 80 Feet 
 
 Scale 34 feet to the inch. . 
 
 ELEPHANT MOUND, WISCONSIN. 
 
 the mastodon of North America ? In the remarkable works at 
 Aztalan, Dr. Lapham finds not only resemblances to the Ohio 
 antiquities, but striking analogies with those of Mexico. 1 
 
 1 Antiquities of Wisconsin, pp. 43-5 : " The main features of these remains is 
 tlie enclosure or ridge of earth (not brick, a? lias been erroneously stated), ex- 
 tending around three sides of an irregular parallelogram ; the west branch of 
 Rock River forming the fourth side on the east. The space thus enclosed is 
 seventeen acres and two-thirds. The corners are not rectangular, and the em- 
 bankment or ridge is not straight. The earth of which the ridge is made was 
 evidently taken from the nearest ground, where there are numerous excava- 
 tions of very irregular form and depth ; precisely such as may be seen along 
 our modern railroad and canal embankments. These excavations are not to be 
 confounded with the hiding-places (caches) of the Indians, being larger and more 
 irregular in outline. Much of the material of the embankment was doubtless 
 taken from the surface without penetrating a sufficient depth to leave a traco 
 at the present time. If we allow for difference of exposure of earth thrown up 
 into a ridge and that lying on the original flat surface, we can perceive no differ- 
 ence between the soil composing the ridge and that found along its sides. Both 
 consist of a light yellowish sandy loam. The ridge forming the enclosure is 
 631 feet long at the north end, 1419 feet long on the west side, and 700 feet on 
 the south side ; making a total length of wall 2750 feet. The ridge or wall is 
 about twenty-two feet wide, and from one foot to five in height." * * * After 
 
DISCOVERIES AT DAVENPORT, IOWA. 37 
 
 Across the Mississippi in Minnesota and Iowa, the predomi- 
 nant type of circular tumuli prevail, extending throughout the 
 latter State to the Missouri. There are evidences that the 
 Upper Missouri region was connected with that of the Upper 
 Mississippi by settlements occupying the intervening country. 
 Mounds are found even in the valley of the Ked Kiver of the 
 North. 1 
 
 Eastern Iowa, especially in the neighborhood of Davenport, 
 has furnished some of the most interesting mounds that have 
 yet been examined. Several gentlemen especially Kev. Mr. 
 Gass of the Davenport Academy of Sciences have within a 
 couple of years recovered a number of fine specimens of copper 
 axes, nearly all wrapped in Mound-builder's cloth. This cloth 
 had been " preserved by the antiseptic action of the salts of 
 copper, in all probability of the carbonates. In all specimens 
 one thread of the warp is double or twisted, and there are about 
 four to the one-fourth of an inch." 2 Stone pipes of excellent 
 workmanship carved to represent various animals were found. 
 Pottery, copper beads in considerable numbers, mica and sea- 
 shells (Pyrula and Cassis), one which had an internal capacity 
 of 152 cubic inches, or five and one-half pints, were among the 
 relics recovered. Most of the human remains were much de- 
 cayed ; although some, among them a skull, were preserved. The 
 character of the Altar mound in this group is rather unusual. 
 Within the mound hewn rectangular stones were laid upon one 
 another with perfect regularity, so as to break joints, forming 
 something resembling the exterior appearance of a chimney. 
 
 describing one of the mounds of tins enclosure, he remarks : " The analogy 
 between these elevations and the ' temple mounds ' of Ohio and the Southern 
 States, will at once strike the reader who has seen the plans and descriptions. 
 They have the same square or regular form, sloping or graded ascent, the 
 terraced or step-like structure, and the same position in the interior of the 
 enclosure. This kind of formation is known to increase in numbers and im- 
 portance as we proceed to the south and south-west, until they are represented 
 by the great structures of the same general character on the plains of Mexico." 
 
 1 D. Gunn in Smithsonian Report for 1867. 
 
 2 Dr. Farquharson in Proceedings of Am. Ass. for the Adv. of Science, 
 vol. xxiv, p. 305. 
 
38 THE DAVENPORT TABLET. 
 
 We are not aware of any similarly shaped altar ever having' been 
 discovered in the mounds. The most remarkable discovery of 
 all, however, was made January 10, 1877^ by Kev. Mr. Grass 
 and his assistants in one of the mounds which previously had 
 been examined in part. Two tablets of coal slate covered 
 with a variety of figures and hieroglyphics were found. 1 One 
 
 1 Through the courtesy of Dr. R. J. Farquharson I am enabled to append 
 the original report made by Mr. Gass to the Davenport Academy, Jan. 23, 1877. 
 It is as follows : 
 
 " We broke the surface on the north-east slope of the mound about ten or 
 twelve feet from the opening on the west side made in 1874. The earth was 
 frozen to a depth of about three and a half feet. Five or six inches below the 
 surface we came upon a layer of shells one or two inches in thickness, which 
 sloped downward toward the south-east, reaching a depth of two feet or rather 
 more below the surface, and extending for a distance of ten or twelve feet. 
 Between the surface and this first layer of shells a number of small fragments 
 of human bones were found scattered through the soil. Under this shell layer 
 was a stratum of earth of from t\velve to fifteen inches in thickness, resting on 
 a second layer of shells, from three to four inches in thickness. Both shell 
 layers sloped downward nearly parallel with each other. 
 
 " Below the second shell layer the earth was of the nature of a light mould, 
 darker in color than the earth above and thickly interspersed with fragments 
 of human bones. These circumstances arrested my attention and caused me to 
 proceed from this time on with the greatest caution. At a depth of about 
 fifteen inches under the lowest part of the shell layer exposed in this excava- 
 tion the shell stratum at this point being five or six inches thick the inscribed 
 slates were found. The slate is the same as that usually found overlying coal 
 beds in this vicinity, and is such as is frequently soen cropping out from the 
 hill-sides or in isolated slabs in the beds of streams. Both plates lay close 
 together on the hard undisturbed clay bottom of the mound. 
 
 " The engraved side of the smaller tablet was upward, and also that side of 
 the larger one presenting the heavenly bodies, hieroglyphics, etc. The larger 
 plats being partially divided by natural cleavage, its upper layer was unfor- 
 tunately broken in two by a slight stroke of the spade. The two plates were 
 closely encircled by a single row of weathered limestones. These stones are 
 irregular in shape, but almost of the same size, their dimensions being about three 
 by three by seven or eight inches, and the diameter of the circle about two feet. 
 
 "In the immediate vicinity were found a number of fragments of human 
 bones, one being a portion of a skull saturated with carbonate of copper. A 
 small piece of copper was found ; also many fragments of slate and a piece of 
 bone artificially wrought. " 
 
 Also see Proceedings of the Davsnpyrt Academy of Natural Sciences for 
 Account of the Discovery of Inscribed Tablets, by Rev. J. Gass, with A Descrip- 
 tion by Dr. R. J. Farquharsou. Davenport, Iowa, July, 1877. Cut3 an.i views. 
 
THE DAVENPORT TABLET. 
 
 39 
 
 of these, the larger, is of a most interesting character. On 
 one side, as will be seen in the accompanying cut, a number of 
 persons with hands joined have formed a semicircle around a 
 mound, upon which a fire has been kindled, probably for the 
 purpose of sacrifice, or for converting into a hardened and water- 
 
 THE DAVENPORT TABLET. 
 
 proof covering the layer of clay which may have been spread 
 over the remains of some distinguished personage beneath. The 
 presence of a layer of baked clay above human remains in so 
 many Ohio mounds leads to this conjecture. The three pros- 
 trate human figures may be those of wives or servants of the 
 deceased, to be sacrificed upon his grave, as has been the custom 
 from the remotest times in India and among many savage tribes. 
 The conspicuousness of the sun, moon, and stars, suggest even 
 
40 CAHOKIA MOUND. 
 
 a sadder thought, that perhaps it may be purely a religious 
 ceremony in which human victims are being offered to the 
 heavenly bodies. Sabine worship, which spread throughout the 
 entire length of the continent, is known to have been accompanied 
 with the most horrid rites. Above the arch of the firmament 
 are hieroglyphics which if deciphered no doubt would tell of the 
 nature of this and other similar scenes. On the reverse side of 
 the tablet is a rude representation of a hunting scene in which 
 various animals, such as the buffalo cow, deer, bear, etc., etc., are 
 figured. It has been conjectured that a large animal in the upper 
 left-hand corner may be a mammoth, but there is little ground 
 for the supposition. The scene is probably a representation of 
 the exploits of the person buried in the mound. The smaller 
 tablet is evidently a calendar stone with signs of the zodiac 
 regularly marked upon it ; of this calendar we shall speak in a 
 future chapter. The above conjectures as to the significance of 
 the representations on these tablets are based upon the suppo- 
 sition that they are genuine and not the work of an impostor, of 
 which we cannot refrain from expressing a slight suspicion. That 
 ,Kev. Mr. Gass has given a true account of his discovery there 
 cannot be the slightest doubt that he and his co-laborers in the 
 work of excavation believe them to be genuine is equally certain. 
 Descending to the interior, we find the heart of the Mound- 
 builder country in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. It is uncertain 
 whether its vital centre was in Southern Illinois or in Ohio 
 probably the former because of its geographical situation with 
 reference to the mouths of the Missouri and Ohio Elvers. To 
 enter upon a detailed description of the antiquities of this remark- 
 able region would alone more than occupy the entire limits which 
 we have prescribed for this work. This undertaking has already 
 been well performed by Atwater, Squier and Davis, Foster, 
 Baldwin, and many others. We shall therefore confine our 
 remarks to notices of the most conspicuous remains and the 
 general peculiarities of Mound-builder architecture. This people 
 possessed a due appreciation of the physical advantages of certain 
 localities for their cities. The site of St. Louis was formerly 
 covered with mounds, one of which was thirty-five feet high, 
 
ANALOGIES WITH MEXICO. 
 
 41 
 
 DRILLED CEREMONIAL WEAPONS. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 while in the American bottom on the Illinois side of the river 
 their number approximates two hundred. In a group of sixty 
 or more, lying between Alton and East St. Louis, stands the 
 most magnificent of all the Mound-builders' works, the great 
 Mound of Cahokia, which once rose to a height of ninety feet 
 and extended its huge mass in the form of a parallelogram, with 
 sides measuring 700 and 500 feet respectively. On the south- 
 
42 RECENT EXPLORATIONS IN THE AMERICAN BOTTOM. 
 
 west there was a terrace 160 by 300 feet, reached by means of a 
 graded way. The summit of the pyramid is truncated, afford- 
 ing a platform of 200 by 450 feet. Upon this platform stands a 
 conical mound ten feet high. Dr. Foster remarks : " It is prob- 
 able that upon this platform was reared a capacious temple, 
 within whose walls the high-priests gathered from different 
 quarters at stated seasons, celebrating their mystic rites, whilst 
 the swarming multitude below looked up with mute adoration." 1 
 When we consider the analogy between the general features of 
 this pyramid and that on which the temple of Mexico was 
 situated, it is not unnatural to reflect that Cahokia may have 
 served as the prototype of the more magnificent structure which 
 was so often deluged with the blood of its thousands of human 
 victims. The temple of Mexico and many others of its type may 
 have been the embodiment of the same principles of architecture 
 employed at Cahokia, but carried to greater perfection under the 
 more favorable conditions afforded in the valley of Anahuac, or 
 precisely the reverse may be true. Such speculations are, how- 
 ever, more easily set forth than sustained. Dr. Foster, through 
 a mistake, states that the monster mound has been removed. 
 This, we are happy to say, is not the case. 2 
 
 Numerous interesting explorations have been conducted re- 
 
 1 Pre-Historic Races of the U. S., p. 107. 
 
 2 In a paper, A Deposit of Agricultural Flint Implements Found in Southern 
 Illinois, Smithsonian Report, 1888, Dr. Chas. Rau treats the subject of Aboriginal 
 Agriculture at considerable length. In the Smithsonian Report for 1873, p. 413 
 et seq., Dr. A. Patton describes the exploration of several remarkable mounds in 
 Lawrence Co., Illinois. In the Smithsonian Report for 1874, p. 351, Taylor 
 McWhorter describes a number of mounds in Mercer Co., Illinois. He estimates 
 the number in the county at one thousand, mostly on the Mississippi River bank. 
 The Antiquities of Whiteside County, 111., by W. H. Pratt, of Davenport, Iowa, 
 printed in the same Report, p. 854 ct seq., is a most valuable contribution to our 
 knowledge of the mounds. The first mound examined yielded eight skulls, two 
 of which were preserved. The third mound opened yielded the skeletons of 
 four adults and several articles of interest, such as pieces of mica, a lump of 
 galena and a dove-colored arrow-head. From the fifth mound opened, a remark- 
 ably well-pres2rved skeleton was recovered. Dr. Farquharson, of the Daven- 
 port Academy of Sciences, has contributed one of the most valuable tables of 
 mound-cranial measurements ever published. 
 
THE ROCKFORD TABLET. 43 
 
 cently in Illinois with rich results. Among the most notable of 
 these are the discoveries of Mr. Henry B. Howland, reported in 
 a paper read before the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, 
 March, 1877 (Bulletin of the Buffalo Soc. of Nat. Sc., vol. iii., 
 p. 204 ct scq.). In January, 1876, Mr. Howland witnessed the 
 removal of a mound near Mitchell Station in the American 
 Bottom. In a stratum four or five feet from the base, composed 
 chiefly of human bones, a large quantity of matting and a num- 
 ber of copper relics were disclosed to view. The matting was a 
 coarse vegetable cane-like fibre simply woven, without twisting. 
 Among the articles wrapped in the matting were several minia- 
 ture tortoise shells formed of copper. They were of beaten copper 
 of one sixty-fourth of an inch in thickness, the largest being but 
 two and one-eighth inches in length. " A narrow flange or rim, 
 about five thirty-seeondths of an inch in width, is neatly turned at 
 the base, and over the entire outer surface the curious markings 
 peculiar to the tortoise shell are carefully produced by indenta- 
 tion the entire workmanship evincing a delicate skill of which 
 we have never before found traces in any discovered remains of 
 the arts of the Mound-builders." These shells were covered 
 with several wrappings, the first and nearest to the shell proving 
 to be of vegetable fibre, the second of a dark-brown color ; when 
 placed under the microscope and examined by Dr. G. J. Engle- 
 man and Sir Joseph Hooker, proved to be a very fine cloth woven 
 from animal hair of the rabbit and possibly of the deer. The 
 third envelope was made from the intestine of some animal. The 
 lower jaws of deer were discovered in which the forward part 
 containing the teeth were encased in thin copper and wrapped 
 in the fine hair-cloth just described. From holes bored in the 
 back of each jaw, it is inferred that the articles were suspended 
 from the neck as totems or badges of authority. Three wooden 
 spool-like objects were found in the same place, partially plated 
 with thin copper. Copper rods or needles from fourteen to 
 eighteen inches in length, a beautiful shell necklace, and a spear 
 head of chert a foot long, were also discovered. Among the rest 
 were several sea-shells (Busy con Perversum), evidently brought 
 from the Gulf a thousand miles distant. In the summer of 1874, 
 
44 CINCINNATI TABLET. 
 
 Mr. H. K. Enoch, of Eockford, 111., discovered a tablet in a 
 mound situated on the bank of Eock River, five miles south of 
 Eockford. The "Eockford Tablet" created quite a sensation 
 at first because it was thought to bear upon its face several sym- 
 bols found upon the Mexican Calendar stone. However, a 
 thorough investigation of its claims prove it to be a fraud, no 
 doubt placed in the mound where discovered for the purpose of 
 deception. Mr. J. Moody of Mendota, 111., in referring to the 
 twelve symbols of the tablet said to be Mexican, remarks : " Six 
 are nearly exact counterparts of that number of Lybian charac- 
 ters which I find represented in Priest's American Antiquities. 
 * * * From a comparison of the Eockford Tablet with the 
 plates in the work referred to above, the inference is almost 
 irresistible that the engraver had a copy of Priest's American 
 Antiquities before him while doing his work." (See Congres 
 International des Amiricanistcs, Luxembourg, 1877. Tome ii, 
 p. 160.) 
 
 The same sagacity which chose the neighborhood of St. Louis 
 for these works, covered the site of Cincinnati with an extensive 
 system of circumvallations and mounds. Almost the entire 
 space now occupied by the city was utilized by the mysterious 
 builders in the construction of embankments and tumuli built 
 upon the most accurate geometrical principles, and evincing 
 keen military foresight. 1 Dr. Daniel Drake described these 
 works in 1815, and many others subsequently. 2 The most im- 
 portant discovery made among these remains was that of the 
 "Cincinnati Tablet" in 1841. This singular relic was taken 
 from a large mound formerly thirty-five feet high, removed at 
 the above date from the extension of Mound Street across Fifth 
 
 1 The best and most exhaustive treatment of the above is by Mr. Robert 
 Clarke : The Pre- Historic Remains which were Pound on the Site of Cincinnati, 
 Ohio, with a Vindication of the Cincinnati Tablet. Cincinnati, 1876. 8vo, 34 pp. 
 It is to be regretted that this valuable discussion of the genuineness of one of 
 the most important Mound-builder relics is only "privately circulated." Mr. 
 Clarke has fully accomplished the design for which he wrote. 
 
 2 Dr. Daniel Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, 1815. Squier and 
 Davis in Ancient Monuments. Gen. Harrison : Ohio Hist, and Phil. Society 
 Trans., vol. i, and others. 
 
THE CINCINNATI TABLET. 
 
 45 
 
 CINCINNATI TABLET. (Front.) 
 
 Street. When found, it was lying on a level with the original 
 surface under the skull of a much decayed skeleton, with two 
 polished, pointed bones about seven inches long, and a bed of 
 charcoal and ashes. This stone in all probability served the 
 double purpose of a record of the calendar and a scale for 
 
46 
 
 THE CINCINNATI TABLET. 
 
 CINCINNATI TABLET. (Back.) 
 measurement. 1 Mr. E. Gest ? the courteous owner of the tablet, 
 
 1 Dr. Daniel Wilson's P re-Historic Man, 3d ed., 1876, vol. i, pp. 274^5. The 
 following description is given in Squier and Davis's Ancient Monuments of the 
 Mississippi Valley : " The material is fine-grained, compact sandstone of a light- 
 brown color. It measures five inches in length, three in breadth at the ends, 
 
MOUND-WORKS IN OHIO. 47 
 
 provided the accompanying cuts expressly for this work, regarding 
 them as the first correct representations of the stone. 
 
 The vast number as well as the magnitude of the works found 
 
 DAGGER y 2 SIZE. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 in the State of Ohio, have surprised the most careless and indif- 
 ferent observers. It is estimated by the most conservative, and 
 Messrs. Squicr and Davis among them, that the number of tumuli 
 
 and two and six-tenths at the middle, and is about half an inch in thickness. 
 The sculptured face varies very slightly from a perfect plane. The figures are 
 cut in low relief (the lines being not more than one-twentieth of an inch in 
 depth), and occupy a rectangular space four inches and two-tenths long by two 
 and one-tenth wide. The sides of the stone, it will be observed, are slightly 
 concave. Right lines are drawn across the face near the ends, at right angles, 
 and exterior to these are notches, twenty-five at one end and twenty-four at the 
 other. The back of the stone has three deep longitudinal grooves, and several 
 depressions, evidently caused by rubbing probably produced by sharpening 
 the instrument used in the sculpture." [Mr. Gest, however, does not regard 
 these as tool marks, but thinks they are of peculiar significance.] " Without 
 discussing the singular resemblance which the relic bears to the Egyptian 
 Cartoucli, it, will be sufficient to direct attention to the reduplication of the 
 figures, those upon one side corresponding with those upon the other, and tlie 
 two central ones being also alike. It will be observed that there are but three 
 scrolls or figures four of one and two of each of the others. Probably no 
 serious discussion of the question whether or not these figures are hierogiyphical 
 is needed. They more resemble the stalk and flowers of a plant than anything 
 else in nature. What significance, if any, may attach to the peculiar markings 
 or graduations at the end, it is not undertaken to say. The sum of the pro- 
 ducts of the longer and shorter lines (24 x 7+ 25 x 8) is 368, three more than the 
 number of days in the year ; from which circumstance the suggestion has been 
 advanced that the tablet had an astronomical origin, and constituted some sort 
 of a calendar." We may here add that Col. Chas. Whittlesey published at 
 Cleveland, Ohio, in Historical and Archaeological Tract No. 9 (Feb. 1872) of the 
 Western Reserve Historical Society, a statement that the " Cincinnati Tablet " 
 was a fraud. But we are informed that he is since convinced of its genuineness. 
 
48 
 
 WORKS NEAR LIBERTY, OHIO. 
 
 WORKS NEAR LIBERTY, OHIO. 
 
 in Ohio equals 10,000, and tho number cf enclosures 1000 or 
 1500. In Koss County alone, 100 enclosures and upwards of 
 500 mounds have been examined. Some of the works exhibit 
 fine engineering skill ; such, for instance, are those near Liberty, 
 Ohio, where two embankments, each forming a perfect circle, are 
 found in conjunction with a perfect square. The larger circle 
 measures 1700 feet in diameter and contains forty acres, while 
 the smaller has a diameter of 800 feet. The square contains 
 twenty-seven acres and measures 1080 feet on each side. One 
 
GEOMETRICAL EXACTNESS DISPLAYED. 49 
 
 set of works in Pike County consists of a circle enclosing a square, 
 the four corners of which each touch the circular embankment. 
 The opening or doorway through the circle is opposite the open- 
 ing in the square. Prof. E. B. Andrews found a conical mound 
 enclosed by a circle, the base of the mound reaching to the edge 
 of the ditch outside of which is the circular wall. The mound 
 was located on the Hocking Kiver, nine miles northward of 
 Lancaster, Ohio (see Tenth Ann. Rep. of Peabody Mus. of Arch. 
 
 CELTS FROM MOUNDS. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 and Eth., p. 51). The works at Hopetown, near Chillicothe, 
 present several combinations of the square and circle. The 
 two principal figures of these works are a square and circle 
 each containing exactly twenty acres. The discovery of these 
 geometrical combinations executed with such precision in 
 many parts of the country, lead to the belief that the Mound- 
 builders were one people spread over a large territory, possessed 
 of the same institutions, religion, and perhaps one government. 
 These facts are highly important as shedding light upon the 
 4 
 
50 
 
 FORTIFIED PLACES. 
 
 degree of their civilization. The evidence is ample that they 
 were possessed of regular scales of measurement, of the means 
 of determining angles and of computing the area to be enclosed 
 by a square and circle, so that the space enclosed by these 
 figures standing side by side might exactly correspond. In a 
 word, their scientific and mathematical knowledge was of a 
 veiy respectable order. 
 
 CHISELS, GOUGES AND ADZES. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 The military works of the Mound -builders, other than those 
 previously mentioned as existing on the Lakes and in Western 
 New York State, are of a twofold character, consisting first of 
 fortified eminences, of which an instance is found in Butler 
 County, Ohio, where 16^ acres are walled in on the summit of 
 a hill, and the entrance to the enclosure guarded by a compli- 
 cated system of covered ways. On Paint Creek, Boss County, 
 a remarkable stone work encloses 140 acres, in the centre of 
 which was an artificial lake, probably to supply water in case of 
 a siege. Perhaps the most remarkable fortification left by the 
 
FORT ANCIENT, OHIO. 51 
 
 Mound-builders is that known as Fort Ancient, Ohio, on the 
 Little Miami River, forty-two miles north-east of Cincinnati. 
 The specialist is already familiar with the oft-quoted description 
 of the Survey by Prof. Locke, made in 1843. We will therefore 
 only refer to a few of the measurements contained in that 
 description. " The work occupies a terrace on the left bank of 
 the river, two hundred and thirty feet above its waters. The 
 place is naturally a strong one, being a peninsula defended by 
 two ravines, which, originating on the east side, near to each 
 other, diverging and sweeping around, enter the Miami, the one 
 above, the other below the work. The Miami itself, with its 
 precipitous bank of two hundred feet, defends the western side." 
 -x- -x- -K c( The w hole circuit of this work is between four and 
 five miles. The number of cubic yards of excavation may be 
 approximately estimated at 628,800. The embankment stands 
 in many places twenty feet in perpendicular height. The most 
 interesting and valuable paper on this work is that by Mr. L. M. 
 Hosea, of Cincinnati, in the Quarterly Journal of Science (Cin- 
 cinnati), October, 1874, p. 289 et seq. This writer observes that 
 it has often been remarked that the form of Fort Ancient resem- 
 bles a rude outline of the continent of North and South America. 
 None of the mounds contained in the enclosure have yielded any 
 relics of special interest. The greatest possible diversity of 
 opinion exists concerning the antiquity of the abandonment of 
 the works. Judges Dunlevy and Force, the latter in his memoir 
 on the Mound-builders, 1 estimate the period as a thousand 
 
 1 Judge M. F. Force : Mound-Builders. Cincinnati, 1872. Rev. S. D. Peet 
 in the American Antiquarian for April, 1878, refers to the visit of the Ohio 
 Archaeological and the National Anthropological Conventions to Fort Ancient 
 in September, 1877, and states that during the visit the significance of the walls 
 of the lower enclosure was discovered. " They bear a resemblance," he remarks, 
 " to the form of two massive serpents, which are apparently contending with 
 one another. Their heads are the mounds, which are separated from the bodies 
 by the opening which resembles a ring around the neck. They bend in and 
 out and rise and fall, and appear like two massive green serpents rolling along 
 the summit of this high hill. Their appearance under the overhanging forest 
 trees is very impressive" p. 50- See also Mr. Feet's memoir on a Double- 
 walled Earthwork in Ashtabula County, Ohio, in Smithsonian Report for 1876, 
 pp. 443-4. 
 
52 SIGNAL SYSTEMS MIAMISBURG MOUND. 
 
 years, while Mr. Hosea thinks several thousand years would be 
 required to produce the numerous little hillocks and depressions 
 which mark the spot where trees have grown, fallen and decayed. 
 Reasoning from other data, we are inclined to the more conser- 
 vative opinion of Judge Force as altogether the safer. Fort 
 Ancient, which could have held a garrison of 60,000 men with 
 their families and provisions, was one of a line of fortifications* 
 which extend across the State and served to check the incursion 
 of the savages of the North in their descent upon the Mound- 
 builder country. 
 
 The second class of military works, which are exceedingly 
 numerous on all the watercourses existing not only on the Ohio 
 and Mississippi, but on all their tributaries, especially on the 
 Muskingum, Scioto, Miami, Wabash, Illinois, Kentucky, and 
 minor streams are mounds which served as outlooks. These were 
 always placed in positions to command extended views, and from 
 which signals could be given to still others of the same character, 
 or probably to settlements remote from the watercourses. 
 
 A system of these works no doubt formerly existed on the 
 Great Miami Eiver extending north of Dayton, Ohio, southward 
 to the Ohio River, and connected with the great settlement on 
 the site of Cincinnati and with the high bluffs on the Kentucky 
 shore. The great Mound at Miamisburgh, ten miles south of 
 Dayton, formed a part of this chain. This monster mound is 
 sixty-eight feet high and 852 feet in circumference, and may 
 have served the double purpose of a signal station and the base 
 of a small edifice devoted to astronomical or religious purposes. 
 There is little doubt that the Mound-builders in the latter 
 period of their occupancy of this region, when apprehensive of 
 danger from their enemies, employed a system of signal telegraph 
 by which communication was had, through means of the watch- 
 fire or the torch, between localities as distant as those now 
 occupied by Cincinnati and Dayton. Only a few minutes were 
 necessary by means of such a perfected system in which to trans- 
 mit a signal fifty or one hundred miles. Squier and Davis 
 remark on this subject : " There seems to have existed a system 
 of defences extending from the sources of the Alleghany and 
 
WORKS AT NEWARK. 53 
 
 Susquehanna in New York, diagonally across the country, through 
 Central and Northern Ohio to the Wabash. Within this range 
 the works which are regarded as defensive are largest and most 
 numerous." The signal system we have reason to believe was 
 employed throughout the entire extent of this range of works. 
 The majority of the enclosures found in the Ohio and Mississippi 
 valleys are presumed not to have been designed for military pur- 
 poses, since the trench is usually inside of the embankment. 
 However, instances of the trench being outside of the parapet 
 occur in Southern Ohio. 1 The most magnificent Mound-builder 
 remains in Ohio are the extensive and intricate works near 
 Newark in Licking County. The survey made by Col. Whit- 
 tlesey and published in the Ancient Monuments of tlie Missis- 
 sippi Valley, is the most reliable as well as the fullest source of 
 our information concerning their magnitude, though the plan 
 has been corrected considerably by more recent surveys. These 
 works occupy an area of two miles square, and formerly consisted 
 of twelve miles of embankment. The spacious gateways one 
 of which has embankments on both sides measuring thirty-five 
 feet in height from the bottom of the interior trench the 
 labyrinthine system of avenues, the strangely-shaped mounds, 
 one of which resembles a huge bird- track with a middle toe 
 155 feet in length and the remaining two each 110 feet in length 
 together with the solitude of the ancient forest which entombed 
 this buried city, we confess impressed us with a sense of wonder- 
 ment and that strange perplexity which an insoluble mystery 
 exercises over the mind. We can appreciate the remark of 
 Mr. Squier in his description : " Here covered with the gigantic 
 
 1 Dr. Foster, Pre-Historic Races, p. 145, cites a letter from Prof. E. B. 
 Andrews, of the Ohio Geological Survey, describing an earthwork discovered 
 by him in Vinton County with the ditch outside the parapet. In his Report of 
 Explorations of Mounds in Southern Ohio, published in Tenth Ann. Report of 
 the Peabody Museum of Am. Arch, and Eth., p. 53 (Camb., 1877), the professor 
 remarks : " On a spur of a ridge about two miles east of Lancaster is an earth 
 wall, evidently for defence. The ditch is on the outside of the wall, where it 
 should be according to modern ideas of defence. In this particular the earth- 
 work differs from all the circles and so-called ' forts,' either circular or square, 
 which I have seen, these having the ditch on the inside." 
 
54 
 
 MARIETTA WORKS. 
 
 trees of a primitive forest, the work truly presents a grand and 
 impressive appearance ; and in entering the ancient avenue for 
 the first time, the visitor does not fail to experience a sensation 
 of awe, such as he might feel in passing the portals of an Egyp- 
 tian temple, or in gazing upon the ruins of Petra of the Desert." 
 It is estimated that a force 'of thousands of men assisted by 
 
 modern appliances and 
 implements as well as 
 horse-power, which the 
 Mound-builder did not 
 possess, would require 
 several months in which 
 to construct these works. 1 
 At Marietta a most inter- 
 esting system of works 
 exist, covering an area 
 three-fourths of a mile 
 long and half a mile broad. 
 These occupy the river 
 terrace or second bottom 
 at the confluence of the 
 
 Muskinguin Kiver with the Ohio, and present analogies with the 
 works further south and with those of Mexico. 2 Two irregular 
 squares inclose fifty and twenty-seven acres respectively. The 
 walls of the larger are between five and six feet high and from 
 
 SQUARE MOUND, MARIETTA. 
 
 1 Foster's Pre-Historic Races, p. 128 : " No one, I think, can view the com- 
 plicated system of works here displayed and stretching away for miles without 
 arriving at the conclusion that they are the result of an infinite amount of toil 
 expended under the direction of a governing mind, and having in view a definite 
 aim. At this day, with our iron instruments, with our labor-saving machines, 
 and the aid of horse-power, to accomplish such a task would require the labor of 
 many thousand 1 men continued for many months. These are the work of a peo- 
 ple who had fixed habitations, and who, deriving their support in part at least 
 from the soil, could devote their surplus labor to the rearing of such structures. 
 A migratory people dependent upon the uncertainties of the chase for a living, 
 would not have the time, nor would there be the motive, to engage in such 
 a stupendous undertaking." 
 
 2 Foster's Pre-Historic Races, p. 129. 
 
GRADED WAY NEAR PIKETON, OHIO. 
 
 twenty to thirty feet wide at the base. Within an enclosure are 
 four truncated pyramids or platforms, one of which, the largest, 
 is 188 feet long, 132 feet wide, and only 10 feet high, with 
 a graded way reaching to its summit, as have also two of the 
 other pyramids. No one can look at these structures without 
 seeing the force of Lewis H. Morgan's Pueblo theory, 1 which 
 
 GRADED WAY NEAR PIKETON, OHIO. 
 
 makes these mounds or fattened pyramidal elevations the foun- 
 dation for edifices of a perishable nature ; constructed perhaps 
 of hewn wood, but not of a combination of the adobe and wood 
 as he supposes, since no material for such a combination is found 
 in the Ohio valley. 2 The most elevated of the Marietta works is 
 an elliptical mound thirty feet high, enclosed by an embankment. 
 The most recent and satisfactory exploration of mounds in 
 Ohio, was that conducted by Prof. E. B. Andrews, for the Pea- 
 
 1 North American Eevisw, July, 1S7Q. 
 
 2 Robert Clarke's Pre-Historic Remains at Cincinnati, p. 18 : "I believe I 
 am correct in saying that there is no clay in Ohio which could be applied in 
 this way and resist for any length of time the washing rains and sudden winter 
 changes of temperature of our climate," et seq. 
 
56 ANDREWS' EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTHERN OHIO. 
 
 body Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, and 
 published in the Tenth Annual Report of the Trustees (Cam- 
 bridge, 1877). The mounds examined are in Fairfield, Perry, 
 Athens, and Hocking Counties. In Fairfield County they were 
 all located upon hills and commanded extensive views. Their 
 contents indicated great age, being much decayed. At New 
 Lexington in Perry County, ancient flint diggings, unquestion- 
 ably worked by the Mound-builders, were examined, many of the 
 pits being six to eight feet deep. In Athens County, on Wolf 
 Plain, situated in Athens and Dover Townships, several circles 
 and nineteen conical mounds are found. One of the latter 
 measures forty feet high, with a diameter of 170 feet, and con- 
 tains 437.742 cubic feet. Another, known as the Beard Mound, 
 was excavated, and the interesting fact discovered that in its 
 construction the dirt had been " thrown down in small quan- 
 tities averaging about a peck as if from a basket." Prof. 
 Andrews is of the opinion that the mound was a long time in 
 building, "for we find," he remarks, "at. many different levels, 
 the proof that grasses and other vegetation grew rankly upon 
 the earth heap and were buried by the dirt." In a neighboring 
 mound known as the George Connett Mound, under a bed of 
 charcoal five feet below the summit, a skeleton was found in a 
 box or coffin, enclosed by timbers. The upper part of the coffin 
 and middle of the body had been destroyed by fire. A circle of 
 five hundred copper beads was found around the body. A cop- 
 per instrument resembling a calker's chisel, measuring 141 mm. 
 in length, width at flattened end, 52 mm., diameter of cylin- 
 drical part, 20 mm. The instrument was formed from sheet 
 copper, beaten with such care that no traces of the hammer are 
 visible. "The edges are brought together and united very 
 closely by a slight overlap." Professor Andrews describes and 
 figures a piece of leather ornamented with oval copper beads 
 taken from a point eight feet below the surface of a mound 
 designated as the "school-house mound." The original piece 
 measured eight or ten inches square, but unfortunately fell into 
 the hands of bystanders, who tore it in pieces for relics. The 
 Professor regards the curiosity as of Mound-builder origin, and 
 
GRAVE CREEK MOUND. 57 
 
 thinks it belonged to an ornamented dress. We cannot detail 
 these interesting explorations here, and must dismiss them with 
 the deduction that in certain cases the cremation of the bodies 
 found in mounds was accidental, caused by the heat penetrating 
 through a layer of earth on which a fire had been kindled. In 
 other instances, the body seems to have been burned intention- 
 ally, and the ashes and charred bones heaped together in the 
 centre of the mound. Some clay and stone tubes of fine work- 
 manship were obtained. The same document above cited con- 
 tains a valuable paper by Mr. Lucian Carr on his interesting 
 exploration of a mound in Lee County, Virginia. 
 
 Grave Creek Mound, situated twelve miles below Wheeling 
 in West Virginia, is the Monster work of the Ohio Valley. It 
 measures seventy feet in height and nine hundred feet in circum- 
 ference. Its form is that of a truncated cone, the flattened area 
 on the top being fifty feet in diameter. 1 The States of Indiana 2 
 and Illinois formed with Ohio a portion of the great centre of 
 the Mound-builder country, as the remains found on the water- 
 
 1 See A. B. Tomlinson's Grave Creek Mound (1838). Schoolcraft in American 
 Ethnological Soc. Transactions, vol. i. Especially Squier and Davis. 
 
 2 Dr. Patton lias described some interesting mounds near Vincennes, Indiana. 
 A giant mound, which towers above many others of considerable proportions, 
 is called the Sugar-loaf Mound, and stands on a promontory which over- 
 looks the rich valley of the Wabash. The height of the Sugar-loaf is seventy 
 feet, with a circumference at the base of one thousand feet. Dr. Patton in 
 June, 1873, sank a shaft in this mound to the depth of forty-six feet. The 
 composition of the mound was of siliceous sand, nowhere found in the region 
 except in other mounds. At ten feet below the summit bones were found, but 
 much decayed. Immediately below them was a layer of charcoal and ashes. 
 Thirty feet deeper the same conditions were repeated, and the bones again were 
 so brittle as to render it impossible to save them. A bed of calcined clay was 
 next entered which could not be penetrated with the instruments at command. 
 One mile south of the Sugar-loaf is a pyramidal mound forty-three feet high, 
 with a circumference of 714 feet at the base and a platform on top fifteen feet 
 wide and fifty feet in length. Others of as great proportions are described. 
 Smithsonian Report, 1873, pp. 411 et seq. See also Antiquities of La Porte 
 County, Indiana, by R. S. Robertson in Smithsonian Report for 1874, pp. 377 
 et seq. A very low type of cranium was exhumed from one of the mounds in 
 this county. Also see Mounds at Merom and Hutsonmlle on the Wabash, by 
 F. W. Putnam Proceedings of the Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist. , vol. xv, 1872. 
 Fifty-nine mounds were examined, and three stone graves discovered. 
 
58 
 
 EXPLORATIONS IN TENNESSEE. 
 
 courses of both States testify. 
 Kankakee, Illinois and Saline 
 dwelling-places of a thrifty and 
 thousands of structures behind 
 tains, the natural limit of the 
 to have served as the eastern 
 
 The valleys of the Wabash, 
 Rivers were the once populous 
 industrious people who have left 
 them. 1 The Alleghany Moun- 
 great Mississippi basin, appears 
 and south-eastern boundary of 
 
 PENDANTS AND SINKERS. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 the Mound-builder country. In Western New York, Western 
 Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and in all of Kentucky and 
 Tennessee, their remains are numerous and in some instances 
 imposing. In Tennessee especially, the works of the Mound- 
 builders are of the most interesting character. Prof. Joseph 
 Jones, of the University of New Orleans, has by his thorough 
 
 1 For an excellent treatment of this part of the subject, see Foster's Pre- 
 Historic Races, pp. 130-144 inclusive. 
 
STONE FORT NEAR MANCHESTER. 
 
 59 
 
 and recent explorations under the patronage of the Smithsonian 
 Institution, brought to light very interesting materials for the 
 study of the history of this people. The works of defence in the 
 shape of stone forts, by some thought to be peculiar to New York 
 and the lake boundaries, with occasional exceptions in the Ohio 
 Valley, have been found to abound in Coffee and other counties. 
 
 Scale* eeOf.io inch,. 
 
 ten- 
 
 very perfect example of this kind of fortification, but very 
 imperfectly described and figured by Haywood, 1 is that known 
 as the stone fort near Manchester, Tenn. This enclosure, con- 
 taining over fifty-four acres, has been minutely described by 
 Prof. Jones. 2 In the accompanying cut the reader will obtain a 
 
 1 In Ancient Monuments of Mississippi Valley. 
 
 2 Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, 
 tribution No. 259. Oct. 1876, p. 100. 
 
 Smithsonian Con- 
 
6Q RUDE STONE COFFINS. 
 
 pretty clear idea of the form of this fort. The wall, which varies 
 from four to ten feet in height, is composed of loose rocks 
 gathered apparently from the bed of the streams below, and the 
 vicinity. The ditch shown in the cut at the rear of the works 
 was probably designed to convey water from one creek to the 
 other. The entrance is quite complicated and constitutes the 
 most remarkable feature of the fortification. 
 
 One peculiarity of burial noticeable in this locality, and one 
 which evidently indicates progression when we come to compare 
 these people with those farther north, is the fact that the ancient 
 race of Tennessee buried their dead in rude stone coffins or cists, 
 constructed of flat pieces of limestone or slaty sandstone which 
 abound in the central portions of the State. In most of the 
 mounds this mode of burial prevailed, but was not confined to 
 them, for outside of the mounds in many enclosures a large 
 number of stone graves occur. Of the class of " Stone-grave 
 Burial Mounds," one situated twelve miles from Nashville, near 
 Brentwood, is worthy of mention. This mound was about forty- 
 five feet in diameter by twelve feet high, and contained one hun- 
 dred skeletons. These were mostly in stone graves, which were 
 constructed in ranges one above another, three or four deep. 
 The lower graves were short and square, containing bones that 
 had apparently been deposited after the flesh had been removed. 
 The upper graves were full length and contained remains in 
 which the bones occupied their natural relation to each other. 
 The workmanship both of the mound and stone cists was of 
 the most perfect character. The lids of the upper stone cists 
 were so arranged as to present a perfectly rounded, sloping 
 rock surface. The mound was situated on the eastern slope 
 of a beautiful hill, covered with a heavy growth of the native 
 forest. In a large and carefully constructed stone tomb, Prof. 
 Jones discovered the skeleton of an aged individual of immense 
 length, having toothless jaw bones. In a grave occupied by a 
 skeleton of a female, a small compartment or stone box was 
 found near the head, separated from the main coffin by stone 
 slabs, in which was the skeleton of an infant. It should be 
 added that in the square or short graves so often met with, the 
 
RUDE STONE COFFINS. 
 
 61 
 
 skull was placed in the centre and the other 
 bones arranged around it. 1 Numerous stone 
 graves not covered by mounds were found on 
 the Cumberland Eiver opposite the mouth 
 of Lick Branch, surrounding a chain of four 
 mounds. A similar graveyard was found on 
 the same bank of the Cumberland, a mile 
 and a half farther down. Others were met 
 with on White Creek, nine miles from Nash- 
 ville, at Sycamore in Cheatham County; at 
 
 CLAY IMAGE FROM A STONE GRAVE IN BURIAL 
 MOUND NEAR BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE. 
 
 Brentwood, in White County near Sparta, 
 and along the tributaries of the Cumberland 
 and Tennessee Rivers at short intervals. At 
 Oldtown on the Big Harpeth, is an extensive 
 and remarkable collection of stone graves. 
 All these burial grounds seem to be those of 
 the people who constructed the mounds, for 
 most of the mounds examined contained stone 
 
 1 Antiquities of Tennessee, p. 39, and other places. 
 
62 
 
 TEMPLE BASE NEAR NASHVILLE. 
 
 graves, not in their upper strata, but on the level of the sur- 
 rounding land. A mound opposite Nashville, on the east bank 
 of the Cumberland River, of great interest, was examined. Prof. 
 Jones is convinced that it formerly served as the site or base of 
 a temple. Its dimensions were one hundred feet in diameter by 
 only ten feet high. In the centre of the mound and only three 
 feet from its surface the Professor uncovered a large sacrificial 
 vase or altar, forty-three inches in diameter, composed of a mix- 
 ture of clay and river-shells. The rim of this flat earthen vessel 
 or sacrificial altar was three inches in height and appeared 
 
 SHELL ORNAMENT FROM THE BREAST OF A SKELETON FOUND IN A CAREFULLY 
 CONSTRUCTED STONE COFFIN IN A MOUND NEAR NASHVILLE, TENN. 
 
 mathematically circular. The surface of the "altar" was cov- 
 ered by a layer of ashes about one inch in thickness. The 
 antlers and jawbone of a deer were found resting on the surface 
 of the altar, and it is probable that part of the animal had been 
 consumed as a sacrifice. The whole had been carefully covered 
 with three feet of earth and the ashes preserved. In this mound 
 rude sarcophagi were ranged around this sacred centre with the 
 heads toward the altar and the feet toward the circumference of 
 the circle, while the directions of the bodies were those of radii. 
 Those bodies near the altar were ornamented with numerous 
 beads of sea-shell and bone. In a carefully constructed stone 
 
OLDTOWN, TENNESSEE. 
 
 63 
 
 sarcophagus, in which the face of the skeleton was turned 
 toward the setting sun, the beautiful shell ornament shown in 
 the cut, measuring 4.4 inches in diameter, was found lying on the 
 breast-bone of the skeleton. It was made from some large shell 
 derived from the sea-coast. Of the numerous interesting places 
 examined by Prof. Jones, the site of Oldtown, on the Big Har- 
 peth Kiver, about six miles south-west of Franklyn, Tennessee, 
 is worthy of special attention. The plan of the works and their 
 general dimensions will be seen in the cut. At present, the 
 
 Scale 330/tJoiiich 
 
 PLAN OF OLDTOWN WORKS. 
 
 crescent-shaped wall of 2470 feet in extent is but from two to 
 six feet in height, having been reduced to its present condition 
 by the plowshare. Thirty years ago it is said to have been so 
 steep that it was impossible to ride a horse over it. Within the 
 enclosure are two pyramidal mounds ; the larger is one hundred 
 and twelve by sixty-five feet and eleven feet high, and the 
 smaller, seventy by sixty feet by nine feet high ; also a small 
 burial mound measuring thirty by twenty feet and 2.5 feet high. 
 Another burial mound is covered by the residence of the owner, 
 Mr. Thomas Brown. Many curiously-shaped clay vessels were 
 obtained at these works by the explorers. Some of the vases 
 were fashioned into effigies of frogs and various animals, and one 
 
64 
 
 OLDTOWN ART. 
 
 vase obtained by Mr. Brown in excavating for the foundation 
 for bis residence, had a neck terminating in two human heads. 
 Some of the vessels from Oldtown are figured in the cut. 
 
 STONE PIPE, MURFREESBORO, TENN. % NATURAL SIZE. 
 
 POTTERY FROM OLDTOWN, TENN. 
 
 The art of painting seems to have been extensively practised 
 by the mound people of Tennessee, not only in the decoration 
 of pottery, but in representing ideal conceptions, which they 
 spread out in extensive pictures upon the smooth faces of rocky 
 
PROFESSOR PUTNAM'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 65 
 
 walls overhanging the rivers. The material generally used was 
 red ochre. Prof. Jones says : "The painting representing the 
 sun on the rocks overhanging the Big Harpeth River, about 
 three miles below the road which crosses this stream and con- 
 nects Nashville and Charlotte, can 
 be seen for a distance of four miles, 
 and it is probable that the worship- 
 pers of the sun assembled before this 
 high place for the performance of 
 their sacred rites." * The Professor's 
 vast collection of relics in stone and 
 clay, including several images, we 
 cannot here describe. We refer the 
 reader to the Memoir itself. The 
 Professor has clearly shown that the 
 Mound- builder people and the Indians 
 were distinct, and has set at rest a 
 question upon which some few doubts 
 were still entertained by a certain 
 
 school of Archgeologists, which has really never been very strong. 
 The connection with or identity of the Mound-builders arid the 
 Toltics or the same family of people is also shown satisfactorily. 
 We will add that the Professor is disposed to consider the 
 Natchez as the connecting link between the Mound-builders and 
 the Nahuas. We regard the Memoir one of the most impor- 
 tant which has ever appeared on the subject of mound explora- 
 tion. The rich collection of crania will be referred to in a future 
 chapter. 
 
 In September, 1877, Prof. F. W. Putnam and Mr. Edwin 
 Curtiss, also a party under Major Powell excavated a large num- 
 ber of mounds and stone graves, mostly in the neighborhood of 
 Nashville, Tennessee. The results were substantially the same 
 as those obtained by Prof. Jones. Prof. Putnam found within 
 an earthwork near Lebanon, in Wilson County, sixty miles east 
 of Nashville, what he considers to be the remains of dwell- 
 
 BLACK VASE FROM AN ABO- 
 RIGINAL CEMETERY, NINE 
 MILES FROM NASHVILLE. 
 
 Antiquities of Tennessee, p. 138. 
 
66 
 
 PROFESSOR PUTNAM'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 PAINTED JAR FROM CHILD'S GRAVE (TENNESSEE). 
 (Prof. Putnam's Exploration.) 
 
 ings of the Mound-builders. There were circular ridges of earth 
 varying from a few inches to a little over three feet in height, 
 with diameters ranging from ten to fifty feet. Within these 
 enclosures, a few inches below the surface, hard floors, upon 
 which fires had been made, were discovered. Under these floors, 
 in many instances, infants and children had been buried, while 
 the adults had been interred in a neighboring mound. Accom- 
 panying the skeletons of the children, many beautiful vessels of 
 strange and artistic forms were found (cuts of three of these were 
 
PROFESSOR PUTNAM'S EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 67 
 
 kindly furnished by Prof. Putnam for this work), all evincing 
 the tenderness with which the offspring of this people were 
 regarded. Prof. Putnam examined nineteen of the earth-circles, 
 which he adds, " proved to my satisfaction that the ridges were 
 
 DISH FROM CHILD'S GRAVE (TENNESSEE). 
 (Prof. Putnam's Exploration.) 
 
 formed by the decay of the walls of a circular dwelling. * * * 
 These houses had probably consisted of a frail circular structure, 
 the decay of which would only leave a slight elevation, the 
 formation of the ridge being assisted by the refuse from the 
 house." l 
 
 Colonies of Mound-builders seem to have passed the great 
 natural barrier into North Carolina and left remains in Marion 
 County, while still others penetrated into South Carolina and 
 built on the Wateree Kiver. In March, 1873, Mr. Jas. R. Page 
 examined several mounds in Washington and Issaquena Coun- 
 ties in the State of Mississippi. One mound explored in Wash- 
 
 1 Eleventh Annual Report ofPeahody Museum, pp. 348-360. Cambridge, 1878. 
 See also Antiquities of Jackson County, Tenn., by Rev. Joshua Hale, in Smithso- 
 nian Reports for 1874, p. 384. Very interesting and valuable explorations have 
 been conducted in Tennessee by Mr. E. 0. Dunning for the Peabody Museum 
 of Am. Arch, and Eth. See Reports, 3d, p. 7 ; 4th, p. 7 ; 5th, p. 11. 
 
68 
 
 MOUND COLONIES. 
 
 JAR FROM CHILD'S GRAVE (TENNESSEE). 
 (Prof. Putnam's Exploration.) 
 
 ington County on the old bank of the Mississippi River, was a 
 truncated cone eighty feet in diameter by forty feet high. A 
 mound in the neighborhood, only eleven feet high, yielded rich 
 returns for the labors of excavation. A white oak on its summit 
 measured thirty-six inches in diameter. . This mound yielded 
 twelve skeletons with their crania. The group was in a sitting 
 
MISSISSIPPI MOUNDS. 
 
 69 
 
 posture around a circle, with their faces looking toward its 
 centre. Directly in front of the mouth of each skeleton were 
 placed two or three vessels of pottery, beautifully ornamented 
 with etchings and graceful lines. The object of the vessels, placed 
 in such near proximity to the mouths of the buried remains, 
 
 WORKS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, Miss. 
 
 can only be conjectured. We regret that no measurements of 
 the crania are given, and what is more, we deplore the loss of 
 most of the crania in the course of their transportation. 1 Mr. 
 W. Marshall Anderson, of Circleville, Ohio, examined Mounds in 
 Issaquena County, Miss., with interesting results ; in one mound 
 
 1 Mr. Jas. It. Page's Results of Investigations of Indian Mounds, in Transac- 
 tions of St.. Louis Acad. df Science, vol. iii, p. 226, and copied in Cincinnati 
 Quar. Journal of Science, Oct. 1875, vol. ii, No. 4, pp. 371 et seq. 
 
70 THE SERPENT SYMBOL. 
 
 opened, not far from its outer edge, three skeletons were found 
 buried in a standing position, as though they had acted as the 
 guards of a more distinguished person deposited in the centre. 
 Penetrating the mound still farther by means of a trench, Mr. 
 Anderson reached a large deposit of ashes and burnt earth. 
 Near the centre of the mound and five feet above the level of 
 the earth, upwards of twenty-five unbroken specimens of fine 
 pottery were discovered. At the very centre three individuals 
 had been buried apparently in great state, with all the insignia 
 of their important positions in life. These were ornaments, 
 urns, vases, beads, and arrow-points ; while adjoining the heads 
 of each were food and drinking vessels. Not far removed from 
 these, two skeletons were found with bowls placed upon their 
 heads like helmets. Mr. Anderson is the possessor of a very 
 remarkable stone disk obtained for him by Dr. Robinson from a 
 Issaquena mound near Lake Washington, Miss. The disk is 
 nearly eight and a half inches in diameter and three-quarters of 
 an inch thick, of fine-grained sandstone. The device which it 
 bears upon its face is composed of two entwined rattlesnakes. 
 A trifling ornamental border is graven on the reverse side of the 
 disk. When found it was broken in two pieces. Mr. Anderson, 
 in comparing its strange device to the Aztec Calendar Stone, 
 remarks : " Here are the eighteen pipes of the border corres- 
 ponding to the eighteen months of the year, but the twenty 
 days of the month and the five intercalaries are not to be found. 
 The thirteen hieroglyph ical figures, and the four zodiacal signs, 
 which as multiples give the fifty- two years of the Aztec cycle, 
 are also absent on the Mississippi stone." l The serpent-symbol 
 appears to have played its part among the Mound-builders, as 
 well as in Mexico and Central America. The great serpent of 
 Adams County, Ohio, is the most extensive delineation of the 
 all-important symbol on the continent. Out of eighteen engraved 
 circular plates made of the shell of the Pyrula and taken from 
 Brakebifl and Lick Creek Mounds in East Tennessee (and now 
 deposited in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology) thirteen bear 
 
 1 In Cincinnati Quar. Journal of Science, Oct. 1875, p. 378. Also see Wil- 
 son's Pre-Historic Man, vol. i, p. 318. 
 
MOUNDS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
 
 71 
 
 the device of a rattlesnake. In one of the mounds of " Mound 
 City/' Boss County, Ohio, several small tablets representing the 
 rattlesnake were unearthed, while other mounds in the same 
 locality yielded pipes bearing the same representation. 1 
 
 On the Southern Mississippi, in the area embraced between 
 the termination of the Cumberland Mountains near Florence and 
 Tuscumbia in Alabama and the mouth of Big Black River, this 
 people left numerous works, many of which were of a remarkable 
 character. 2 The whole region bordering on the tributaries of the 
 Tombigbee, the country through which the Wolf River flows 
 
 SHUTTLE-LIKE TABLETS FROM THE MOUNDS. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 and that watered by the Yazoo River and its affluents, was 
 densely populated by the same people who built mounds in the 
 Ohio Valley. Mr. Fontaine describes the mounds of this region 
 and of the Tennessee River Valley as being most frequently of 
 the truncated pyramidal type, and refers to one (seen by him 
 in 1847) seventy feet high, covering an acre of ground. It is 
 remarkable that the entire valley of the great river from Cairo 
 to the mouth of Pointe a la Hache, fifty miles below New 
 Orleans, is thickly studded with mounds. 3 As at Cahokia the 
 
 1 See Wilson's Pre-Historic, Nan, vol. i, p. 317. 
 
 2 Fontaine's How tlie World was Peopled, p. 278, and Foster's Pre-Historic 
 Races, pp. Ill et seq. 
 
 3 How the World was Peopled, p. 278. 
 
72 ALABAMA AND GEORGIA MOUNDS. 
 
 Monarch Mound occupied a space equal to six acres, so at 
 Seltzertown, Mississippi, we have another immense mound cover- 
 ing nearly the same area. Its dimensions are : length, about six 
 hundred feet ; breadth, four hundred feet at the base ; height, 
 forty feet, with a summit nearly four acres in area, reached by 
 means of a graded way. The structure lies with its greatest 
 length nearly due east and west. Upon the platform summit 
 are three conical mounds, one at each end and the third in the 
 centre. The mound at the western extremity of the summit 
 rises to a height of nearly forty feet, while the one at the oppo- 
 site extreme does not fall far short of the same altitude. This 
 would give a total height of eighty feet above the level of the 
 base. Both of these mounds are truncated. Eight other mounds 
 of minor proportions are observable. The most remarkable 
 feature connected with this mound is a wall of sun-dried bricks, 
 built two feet thick, as its support on the northern side. These 
 were filled with grass rushes and leaves, while some of the bricks 
 of great size used in angular tumuli which mark the corners of 
 the mound, retain the impressions of human hands. 1 The Mound- 
 builders were certainly numerous in the Gulf States east of the 
 Mississippi. On the Etowah Kiver in Alabarna a mound seventy- 
 five feet high and twelve hundred feet in diameter at the base, 
 has a graded avenue leading to its flattened summit. It has 
 close affinities to the Mexican and Yucatan mounds. 2 M. F. 
 Stephenson describes a group of ten mounds near Cartersville, 
 Georgia, on the Etowah Kiver, the principal one of which is 
 eighty feet high and one hundred and fifty feet square on the 
 top. A stone idol, gold beads, mica mirrors, translucent quartz 
 beautifully wrought, and. many relics of interest were here dis- 
 covered. He also describes three chambers hewn out of the 
 solid rock at the falls of Little Kiver, near the Alabama line ; 
 while at Nacooche the crest of a conical hill was cut off at 
 fifty feet from its base, leaving a platform top with an area 
 
 1 Squier and Dams' s Ancient Monuments, pp. 117 et seq. Foster's Pro Historic 
 Races, p. 112. 
 
 2 E. Cornelius in Sillimaris Journal, vol. i, p. 223, and Foster's Pre-Historic 
 Races, p. 122. 
 
PYRAMID OF KOLEE MOKEE. 73 
 
 of an acre and a half. Two sides are quite precipitous, but the 
 others are protected by a ditch and wall. Two other instances 
 of the stone wall are mentioned. First at Yond Mountain, four 
 thousand feet high of solid granite, and perpendicular on all sides 
 except a small space which is protected by a stone wall of arti- 
 ficial construction. The second instance is quite similar, occur- 
 ring at Stone Mountain, which reaches a height of 2360 feet. 1 
 These natural eminences no doubt were utilized for the purposes 
 of worship or observation, just as many natural hills in Mexico 
 were graded and shaped symmetrically to serve similar uses. 
 
 Wm. McKinley, Esq.,. has described and surveyed additional 
 works in Georgia of quite a remarkable character, on Sapelio 
 Island in Mclntosh County and on Dry Creek in Sacred Grove, 
 Early County. But the most lofty work of all, the giant of the 
 mounds, is the pyramid of Kolee Mokee in the same county, 
 reaching a height of ninety-five feet and having a circumference 
 at its base of 1128 feet. Its form is that of a parallelogram, 
 350 feet long and 214 wide. The plane on the summit measures 
 181 feet in length by 82J feet in width. 2 In Florida the works 
 of the Mound-builders have been extensively examined by Prof. 
 Jeffries Wyman, to whose labors we shall refer in the next chap- 
 ter. Dr. A. Mitchell made some interesting explorations in 1848 
 on Amelia Island, and was rewarded by the recovery of some 
 well-marked mound crania. 3 
 
 Returning to the confluence of the Missouri with the Missis- 
 sippi, the point at which we left the western boundary of the 
 Mound-builder country in order to treat the characteristics of its 
 central region, we find mounds, as we previously stated, in great 
 numbers in the neighborhood of St. Louis. In the valley of the 
 St. Francis Eiver, mounds that have been explored have yielded 
 
 1 Smithsonian Report, 1870, and Foster's Pre-ffistoric Paces, p. 123. A 
 further description of works on Etowah River in Bartow Co., Ga., by Mr. 
 Stephenson in Smithsonian Report for 1872, p. 421. A full and elaborate treat- 
 ment is also that by Charles C. Jones, Jr., entitled Monumental Remains of 
 Georgia. Savannah, 1861. 12mo, pp. 118. 
 
 2 Smithsonian Report, 1872. 
 
 3 Smithsonian Report, 1874, pp. 390 et seq. 
 
74 GREAT MOUND, WASHINGTON COUNTY, MISSOURI. 
 
 many rich relics, artistic water vessels, vases and statuettes. 
 In Green County, Missouri, N. Lat. 37 20' and 16 Long, 
 west of Washington City, is a very remarkable truncated conical 
 mound which has only been externally surveyed. This mound 
 is 60 feet high, 350 feet in diameter at the base, and 130 feet in 
 diameter on the top. It is surrounded by a trench (except about 
 twenty feet at the north) about two hundred feet wide and four 
 feet deep. On the north the excavation is seven or eight feet 
 deep. 1 These trenches served a double purpose that of furnish- 
 ing material for the construction of the mound, and when com- 
 pleted, of providing an impassable moat filled with water, that 
 neither enemies nor the rabble might approach the sacred mount. 2 
 
 1 These measurements were carefully made by Dr. S. H. Headlee, of St. 
 James, Missouri, and communicated to the editors of the Cincinnati Quar. 
 Jour, of Science, published in January number, 1875, pp. 94-5. 
 
 - A sensational description of this mound which appeared in the St. Louis 
 Times is used by Mr. S. M. Hosea as the basis of an article on Sacrificial Mounds 
 in the above number of the Cincinnati Quarterly Jour, of Science, p. 62. The 
 account contains some wonderful statements, which are evidently made by some 
 unscientific person, and hence are utterly worthless. Although, judging from 
 internal evidence, we have little faith in the reliableness of the correspondent, 
 we give a paragraph for what it is worth : " The approach or causeway which 
 leads across the trench from the north is ten feet in width. Ascending from 
 this causeway to the summit of the mound are the remains of a rude flight of 
 stairs, constructed originally of roughly-hewn stones. Most of these steps are 
 now displaced, and quite a number have rolled down into the trench below, but 
 there is unmistakable evidence that they were at one time arranged in regular 
 order of ascent, and could doubtless be again replaced in position by an intelli- 
 gent architect." "By a series of investigations, I found that about a foot 
 beneath the surface there was a regular solid platform of stone covering the 
 entire top of the mound. This platform, though constructed by rude and 
 unmechanical hands, is placed in position with a precision and firmness that 
 might well defy the ravages of the elements in all coming ages. About twelve 
 feet from the northern edge of the mound, and directly on a line with the 
 approach and stairway, I noticed a very perceptible elevation of the earth, 
 covering an area of about twenty by fifteen feet ; and driving a pick into the 
 elevated ground, the point struck upon solid rock a few inches below the surface. 
 * * * Pushing our work, we soon unearthed a piece of workmanship that an 
 antiquarian would have worked a week to bring to light. The newly-discovered 
 curiosity consisted of a flat rock twelve feet long, ten feet wide, and eleven 
 inches thick. The centre of the stone was hollowed to a depth of six inches, 
 with a margin of about one foot around the edge." "At the south end of the 
 
MOUNDS AT NEW MADRID, MISSOURI. 75 
 
 In Phillips County, Prof. Cox discovered an ancient fortification 
 near Helena, built like a part of the Seltzertown mound, of sun- 
 dried bricks ; stems and leaves of the cane were used instead of 
 straw in making the bricks. 1 
 
 Professor Swallow, in company with a number of scientific 
 gentlemen, opened a large mound in Lewis' Prairie, west of New 
 Madrid, Missouri (in December, 1856), in which he found a 
 great collection of earthen dishes and vases. The mound was 
 elliptical in form, measuring 900 feet in periphery at the base, 
 570 feet at the top and twenty feet in height. The remarkable 
 feature of the mound was that it contained a room formed of 
 poles, lathed with split cane and plastered with clay both inside 
 and out, forming a solid mass. " Over this room was built the 
 earthwork of the mound, so that when it was completed the 
 room was in its centre. The earthwork was then coated with 
 the plaster, and over all nature formed a soil. This mud plaster- 
 ing was left rough on the outside of the room, but smooth on 
 the inside, which was painted with red ochre." Some of the 
 plastering was burned as red and hard as brick, while other parts 
 were only sun-dried. Professor Swallow believes the mounds 
 of the region to be very ancient. On mounds and neighbor- 
 ing embankments a sycamore tree twenty-eight feet in circum- 
 ference, three feet above the ground, a black-walnut twenty-six 
 feet in circumference, a white ash twelve feet and a chestnut 
 oak eleven feet in circumference were observed. In addition to 
 these evidences of age, the Professor states that six feet of strati- 
 fied sands and clays have formed around the mounds since they 
 were deserted. (See Eighth A nnual Report of Peabody Museum, 
 pp. 16 et seq. Cambridge, 1875.) 
 
 stone, a round hole five inches deep and four in diameter was drilled. Amongst 
 the dirt taken out of this place hewn in the stone, was a large fossil tooth and a 
 piece of small broken stone column, and several bits of pottery ware." This 
 description is very suggestive of the Mexican Temple or Trocalli, but unfor- 
 tunately for the facts, Dr. Headlee, who made the measurements given in the text 
 a short time subsequently, failed to find any certain evidences that either a 
 stairway or temple had existed on the mound. Such reports as the above 
 correspond with what we hope to find in some of the mounds, but as yet those 
 hopes have not been satisfactorily realized. 
 
 1 Report on the Gfcoloyy of Arkansas, vol. ii, p. 414 cited by Foster. 
 
76 MB. CONANT'S INVESTIGATIONS. 
 
 Mr. A. J. Conant, in a very able paper published in the 
 Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences for April 5, 
 1876, has more fully described the mound works near New 
 Madrid. On the western bank of the Bayou St. John, partly in 
 a cypress swamp covered with heavy timber and partly on adja- 
 cent prairie land, an earthwork encloses an area of about fifty 
 acres. In this enclosure are three large mounds, one of which 
 is pyramidal in form and still has traces of a graded way. An 
 ancient well is discernible near it. A circular mound at the 
 opposite end of the enclosure is estimated by Mr. Conant to 
 have afforded a place of burial for a thousand individuals. The 
 bodies were buried with their heads pointing toward the centre 
 of the mound. A gourd-shaped vase, a small jug or drinking 
 vessel, and an earthen pan or platter was found with each 
 skeleton. The mouths of the vases were fashioned into the 
 form of the head of some bird or the figure of some animal 
 or of a human female. In depressions about three feet deep, 
 within the enclosure, remains of burnt clay ovens were found. 
 Fire-places were disclosed, as well as fragments of earthen 
 vessels capable of holding ten or twelve gallons. The veritable 
 kitchens of the Mound-builders, with their furniture, seem to 
 have been brought to light. In front of the enclosure and pro- 
 jecting out into the bayou, are tongues of land about thirty feet 
 long by ten or fifteen feet in width, and about the same distance 
 apart, " resembling upon a small scale the wharves of a seaport 
 town/' Mr. Conant pronounces them artificial, and that when 
 employed by these builders, the present cypress swamp was the 
 channel of a river. The. multitude of mound works which are 
 scattered over the entire south-eastern portion of Missouri indi- 
 cate that the region " was once inhabited by a population so 
 numerous, that in comparison its present occupants are only as 
 the scattered pioneers of a newly-settled country." 1 
 
 1 " Within the State, from Pulaski County to Arkansas, in all the little 
 valleys which wind in and out among the flint-crowned hills of the Ozarks, are 
 seen what may be termed garden mounds. These are elevated about two or 
 three feet above the natural surface of the land, and are from fifteen to fifty 
 feet in diameter, varying thus in size according to the amount of richer soil 
 
REMAINS IN THE SOUTH-WEST. 
 
 77 
 
 Prof. C. G. Forshey in Foster's Pre-Historic Races, presents 
 most valuable information relative to the mounds in the south- 
 west. His observations convince us that the State of Louisiana 
 and the valleys of the Arkansas and Red Rivers were not only the 
 most thickly populated wing of the Mound-builder domain, but 
 
 DISCOIDAL STONES FROM MOUNDS. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 also furnish us with remains presenting affinities with the great 
 works of Mexico so striking that no doubt can longer exist that 
 the same people were the architects of both. He describes works, 
 some of them of immense proportions, on the Mississippi fifty 
 
 which could be scraped together. Their presence may always be detected in 
 fields of growing grain by its more luxuriant growth and deeper green." A. J. 
 Conant in the Transactions cited above, p. 354. The same writer has treated 
 the subject more fully in a recent work published at St. Louis, entitled, "Thf 
 
 Commonwealth of Missouri." 
 
78 LOUISIANA MOUNDS. 
 
 miles above Vicksburg ; on Walnut Bayou ; the south-west 
 bend of Lake St. Joseph, and at Trinity in the parish of Cata- 
 hoola, Louisiana. On the east bank of the Little River, a couple 
 of miles above its mouth, where it empties into Lake Ocalohoola, 
 stands a bluff walled with roughly hewn stone. The same writer 
 observed a mound near Natchez twenty-five feet high, standing 
 isolated in a swamp. This mound is one among many in dif- 
 ferent parts of the lower Mississippi region surmounted by com- 
 paratively younger trees than are found on the remains farther 
 north. Works occur in the Atchafalaya basin, in the rear of 
 Baton Rouge, on the uplands of Lake Pontchartrain and on the 
 banks of Bayou Gros Tete. A remarkable group of truncated 
 pyramids, peculiarly Mexican in their style of architecture, exist 
 in Madison Parish, Louisiana, and are figured in Squier and 
 Davis and copied by Foster. 1 It is needless to discuss the fact 
 that the works of the Mound-builders exist in considerable num- 
 bers in Texas, extending across the Rio Grande into Mexico, 
 establishing an unmistakable relationship as well as actual union 
 between the truncated pyramids of the Mississippi Valley and 
 the Tocalli of Mexico and the countries further south. 2 There 
 can be no doubt as to the unity of the origin of the works in 
 both countries. There are evidences also that the most recent 
 works of Louisiana and Texas do not compare in antiquity with 
 any found in the Ohio Valley, showing it to be altogether proba- 
 ble that the Mound-builders occupied the Lower Mississippi 
 Valley and Gulf coast for a considerable period after they were 
 driven from the northern and central region by their enemies. 3 
 
 1 Ancient Monuments, p. 115, and Pre-Historic Races, p. 120. * 
 
 2 Baldwin's Ancient America, p. 72. 
 
 3 Prof. Forshey, in Footer's Pre-Historic Maces, pp. 121, 122, remarks : 
 " There is a class of mounds west of the Mississippi Delta and extending- from 
 the Gulf to the Arkansas and above, and westward to the Colorado in Texas, 
 that are to me, after thirty years' familiarity with them, entirely inexplicable. 
 In my Geological Reconnoissance of Louisiana in 1841-2, 1 made a pretty thorough 
 report upon them. I afterwards gave a verbal description of their extent and 
 character before the New Orleans Academy of Sciences. These mounds lack 
 every evidence of artificial construction based on implements or other human 
 vestigia. They are nearly all round, none angular, and have an elevation 
 
ARCHITECTURAL PROGRESS. 79 
 
 Several recent writers, with no more proof than that obsidian 
 from Mexico has been found in the mounds, have confidently 
 expressed the belief that the Mound-builders entered the Missis- 
 sippi Valley and the Central Region from the South. This was 
 based also on the assumption that no remains were found in the 
 North-west. It, however, is proper to note here the marks of 
 architectural progression observable in the geographical distri- 
 bution of ancient works. Men all around the world have been 
 mound or pyramid builders. To attempt to demonstrate this 
 well-known fact to an intelligent reader by citing the customs 
 of antiquity and the works of the present great Asiatic nations, 
 would seem little less than pedantry rather than the work 
 of serious investigation. The religious idea in man, whether 
 observed in the darkest heathenism or partially enlightened 
 civilization, has always associated a place of sanctuary with the 
 conditions of elevation and separateness. It matters not whether 
 you apply the rule to the practices of the most obscure antiquity, 
 where a hill or natural eminence was the sanctuary of an idol, 
 the residence of a god, or examine the motives which prompt 
 
 hemispheroidal of one foot to five feet, and a diameter from thirty feet to one 
 hundred and forty feet. They are numbered by millions, In many places, in 
 pine forests and upon the prairies, they are to be seen nearly tangent to each 
 other as far as the eye can reach, thousands being visible from an elevation of 
 a few feet. On the gulf-marsh margin, from the Vermillion to the Colorado, 
 they appear barely visible, often flowing into one another, and only elevated a 
 few inches above the common land. A few miles interior they rise to two and 
 even four feet in height. The largest I ever saw were perhaps one hundred 
 and forty feet in diameter and five feet high. These were in Western Louisiana. 
 Some of them had abrupt sides, though they are nearly all of gentle slopes. 
 There is ample testimony that the pine trees of the present forests antedate 
 these mounds. The material for their construction is like that of the vicinity 
 everywhere, and often there is a depression in close proximity to the elevation." 
 We can make no conjecture concerning the use of those mounds described by 
 Prof. Forshey, except to suggest that they in all probability served as founda- 
 tions for dwellings in a low country, which at that time may have been moister 
 and more marshy than at present. If such was the case, the whole region must 
 have presented the appearance of a continuous community instead of the proper 
 proportion of country and village. This crowded state of affairs could have 
 been produced by the pressure from enemies in the north, and the lack of agri- 
 cultural lands evidentlv was sufficient alone to cause a migration to the south. 
 
80 OBSERVATIONS OF PLACES OF SANCTUARY. 
 
 the erection of the dome of a St. Paul or a St. Peter's, or coming 
 nearer home, analyze the reasons for the construction of the 
 ordinary church spire, the same inexplicable intuition is found 
 at the bottom of them all. The simple mound so common in 
 the northern and central region of the United States, represents 
 probably the first attempts at the imitation of nature in pro- 
 viding a place of worship. In the absence of hills and natural 
 eminences on great plains like the prairies of the North-west 
 (for instance in such cases as are cited on pages 28 and 29), 
 nothing would be more natural than the construction of an arti- 
 ficial hillock, especially if the elements and nature were the 
 objects of worship. The next step might have been again a 
 copy or an imitation, but instead of choosing a subject from 
 inanimate nature, an advance is made in the artistic scale, and 
 the animal kingdom furnishes not only one but varied models 
 for reproduction. The custom among savage tribes of personi- 
 fying the deity, of dressing him up in some form, tangible and 
 visible, was especially characteristic of the mythology of the 
 Nahua nations of Mexico. It is not necessary to go to Egypt, 
 or India, or China to find animals of various kinds dedicated to 
 and associated with the national gods, for in the Maya and 
 Nahua mythologies, as well as in the traditions of some of the 
 wild tribes of the Pacific coast, the serpent, the coyote, the 
 beaver and the buzzard play an active part. The erection of 
 religious structures representing animals no doubt sacred to the 
 Mound-builders, was carried on to a remarkable extent in Wis- 
 consin. These strange works probably indicate the second step 
 in their scale of architectural progression. In the Ohio Valley, 
 while the ordinary mound is found in great numbers, and a few 
 instances of animal mounds occur, three new architectural fea- 
 tures present themselves in marked prominence, all of which are 
 artistically in advance of those existing in the North and North- 
 west. These are the enclosures, the truncated mounds, and 
 principally the truncated pyramids, all of which are a departure 
 from the strict imitation of nature, and exhibit the gradual 
 growth of the architectural idea and the outcropping of the 
 notion of utility. South of the Ohio Valley the animal mounds 
 
CLASSIFICATION OF MOUNDS. 
 
 81 
 
 disappear altogether and the truncated mounds grow less com- 
 mon, while the truncated pyramid, the highest artistic form 
 with its complicated system of graded ways and its nice geomet- 
 rical proportions, becomes the all predominant type of structure. 
 In the Lower Mississippi Valley, in some cases, as we have 
 observed, dried brick were used in the walls and angles of 
 
 STONE PLATES. |- NATURAL SIZE. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 pyramids of the most perfect type. Stone was also employed in 
 a few instances. Here we find the transition to Southern Mexico 
 complete. No break exists in the architectural chain. 
 
 Squier and Davis (and Foster as well as most other writers 
 have followed their example) classified the works of the Mound- 
 builders as follows : 
 
 f For Defence. 
 I. ENCLOSURES ^j Sacred. 
 
 ^ Miscellaneous. 
 
 r Of Sacrifice. 
 
 II. MOUNDS . F r Temple-Sites. 
 1 Of Sepulture. 
 I Of Observation. 
 To this some have added mounds for residence. 
 
 It does not fall within the scope of this work to treat of the 
 specific character and uses of the works of the Mound-builders, 
 6 
 
82 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF MOUNDS. 
 
 i 5 
 
 PESTLES AND MULLERS. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 but rather to note their extent and indications of age with rela- 
 tion to their bearing on the antiquity of man in this country. 
 The arts and manufactures of the Mound-builders are set forth 
 in the illustrations interspersed throughout the chapter. 1 With 
 
 1 The majority of the cuts in this chapter illustrative of the Arts of the 
 Mound-builders, are copies of those used by Dr. Charles Rau in his Cata- 
 logue of the Archaeological Collection of the National Museum, Washington, 
 Smithsonian Contribution No. 287 (1876), granted me through the courtesy of 
 Professor Henry. A few also are from the memoir by Prof. Jos. Jones on the 
 Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee. Smithsonian Contribution No. 259 (1876). 
 For an able classification of these Mound Relics (a work which I could not 
 undertake in a volume not devoted exclusively to the Mound-builders), I refer 
 the reader to Rau's Memoir above cited, as being altogether the most satisfac- 
 tory attempt of the kind of which I have any knowledge. For a classification 
 of works in Ohio, see Antiquities of Ohio : Report of the Committee of the State 
 Archaeological Society to the Centennial Commission of Ohio (Columbus, Ohio, 
 1877, 8vo). The incompleteness of the work is to be regretted. Ohio, out of 
 its vast fund of material, certainly ought to furnish a more satisfactory contri- 
 bution to the subject of archaeology. The work comprises seven chapters, of 
 which the last is the least satisfactory of all, for while bearing the title " Loca- 
 tion of Ancient Earthworks in Ohio," it enumerates only one hundred and 
 sixteen out of the ten thousand mound-works in the State. Still the memoir 
 is not without value. Its chapters on Stone Ralics, Copper Relics, and Insignia 
 and Ornaments are comparatively thorough. 
 
ALTAR MOUNDS. 
 
 83 
 
 the exception of a few observations on the altar and sepulchral 
 mounds, we refrain from a further treatment of the works above 
 classified, as having no particular bearing on the question in 
 hand, and refer the reader to the works of Squier and Davis, and 
 also to that of Dr. Foster, already often quoted. Of the Altar or 
 Sacrificial Mounds, the first-named authors remark : The general 
 
 
 PESTLES AND MULLERS. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 characteristics of this class of mounds are : 1. That they occur 
 ' only within the vicinity of the enclosures or sacred places ; 
 2. That they are stratified ; 3. That they contain symmetrical 
 altars of burned clay or stone, on which were deposited various 
 remains which in all cases have been more or less subjected to 
 the action of fire. 1 The same authors present the following 
 
 1 Ancient Monuments, p. 143. Prof. E. B. Andrews has shown that the 
 supposed uniformity of stratification in altar mounds is a fallacy. In many 
 instances the earth has been dumped together indiscriminately. 
 
84 ALTAR MOUNDS. 
 
 section of a mound examined by them at Mound City, near 
 Chillicothe, Ohio, which is a fair sample of the usual stratifica- 
 tion observed in altar mounds. 1 The altar which this mound 
 contained was a parallelogram measuring 8 x 10 feet at its base 
 and 4x6 feet at its top. It was only eighteen inches in height, 
 and contained a basin with a dip of nine inches. In this basin 
 
 SECTION OF ALTAR MOUND. (After Squier and Davis.) 
 
 were found fine ashes, fragments of pottery and shell beads. A 
 reference to the figure shows that the sand-stratum is semicir- 
 cular, with its extremities resting on the outer sides of the altar. 
 The skeleton shown in the figure designates a point three feet 
 below the apex of the mound where two well-preserved skeletons 
 were found. The strata were disturbed for their burial evidently 
 
 1 Ancient Monuments, p. 143, the following general description is given : 
 " The altars or basins found in these mounds are almost invariably of burned 
 clay, although a few of stone have been discovered. They are symmetrical, 
 but not of uniform size or shape. Some are round, others elliptical, and others 
 square or parallelograms. Some are small, measuring barely two feet across, 
 while others are fifty feet long by twelve or fifteen feet wide. The usual 
 dimensions are from five to eight feet. All appear to have been modelled of 
 fine clay brought to the spot from a distance, and they rest on the original sur- 
 face of the earth. In a few instances a layer or small elevation of sand had been 
 laid down, upon which the altar was formed. The height of the altars, never, 
 theless, seldom exceeds a foot or twenty inches above the adjacent level. The 
 clay of which they are composed is usually burned hard, sometimes to the 
 depth of ten, fifteen, and even twenty inches. This is hardly to be explained 
 by any degree or continuance of heat, though it is manifest that in some cases 
 the heat was intense. On the other hand, a number of these altars have been 
 noticed which are very slightly burned ; and such, it is a remarkable fact, are 
 destitute of remains." 
 
CONTENTS OF OHIO MOUNDS. 
 
 85 
 
 at a considerable period after the construction of the mound. 
 This is a fair example of the " intrusive burial " practised in the 
 mounds by Red Indians. The same authors found some of these 
 altars rich in relics ; one especially in the vicinity of the above- 
 described mound contained nearly two hundred pipes carved in 
 stone. Also a considerable number of pearl and shell beads and 
 copper ornaments covered with 
 silver. It is quite probable that 
 the copper was from their Lake 
 Superior mines, as they alone are 
 known to yield deposits of silver 
 with copper. The same pecu- 
 liarity was observed with refer- 
 ence to the copper ornaments and 
 implements found in the Marietta 
 works. The pipes secured in this 
 mound were much calcined by 
 heat, and considerable copper had 
 been fused in the basin of the 
 altar. In some of the mounds 
 
 examined large collections were obtained, and in some instances, 
 articles made of obsidian, which it is believed could be pro- 
 cured nowhere nearer than the Mexican mountains of Cerro 
 Gordo, or the region west of the Rocky Mountains. 1 
 
 The evidences are abundant that some mysterious rites were 
 performed at the altar mounds ; cremation only may have been 
 practised, but we fear that even more awful and heart-sickening 
 ceremonies took place upon these altars as well as upon the high 
 temple sites in which human victims may have been offered to 
 appease the elements or the sun or moon by their death agonies. 
 What splendid ceremonial, what mystic rites administered by a 
 national priesthood in the presence of a devout multitude may 
 have accompanied these horrible sacrifices, are beyond even the 
 limits of conjecture. Besides cremation, inhumation was also 
 
 VASE FROM MOUND. 
 
 1 Charles Rau in Smithsonian Report, 1872, p. 357. Baldwin's Ancient 
 America, p. 41. 
 
86 
 
 CONTENTS OF OHIO MOUNDS. 
 
 STONE PIPES FROM OHIO MOUNDS. 
 
 practised extensively. Multitudes of mounds were devoted either 
 partly or exclusively to sucli uses, Mr. Tomlinson, the owner 
 
GRAVE CREEK MOUND. 87 
 
 of the Grave Creek Mound, who sank a shaft from its original 
 summit to its centre, and intercepted it by a tunnel along the 
 surface of the ground, speaking of the latter excavation, remarks : 
 " At the distance of one hundred and eleven feet we came to a 
 vault, which had been excavated before the mound was com- 
 menced, eight by twelve feet and seven in depth. Along each 
 side and across the ends, upright timbers had been placed, which 
 supported timbers thrown across the vault as a ceiling. These 
 timbers were covered with loose unhewn stone, common to the 
 neighborhood. The timbers had rotted and tumbled into the 
 vault. * * * In this vault were two human skeletons, one of 
 which had no ornaments, the other was surrounded by six hun- 
 dred and fifty ivory (shell) beads, and an ivory (bone) ornament 
 six inches long." Thirty-five feet above the bottom vault 
 another was found containing a skeleton decorated with copper 
 rings, plates of mica and shell disks. The number of disks cut 
 from the shell known as the Buscycon perversum and collected 
 by the excavators was 2350 ; of mica 250 specimens, and of the 
 little shell known as Marginella apicina, 500 ; all of which had 
 been pierced and strung as beads. Ten skeletons were subse- 
 quently found together upon enlarging the horizontal tunnel. 
 Ashes, charcoal and burnt bones were also discovered in large 
 masses. Though this was the largest of this class of mounds, 
 still the general characteristics of the contents are the same in 
 all of them, and are usually disposed in the same relative posi- 
 tion to each other. 1 One of the most interesting explorations 
 of sepulchral mounds was that conducted in the autumn of 1865 
 by Professor 0. C. Marsh, assisted by Mr. Geo. P. Kussell, of 
 Salem, Mass., in what is known as the " Taylor Mound," situated 
 two and a half miles south of Newark, Ohio. The mound was 
 ten feet high and eighty feet in diameter, and was surmounted 
 by a forest of oak trees ranging from two and a half to eight 
 
 1 Squier and Dans: Op. Git., pp. 169-70. Foster: Op. Cit., pp. 188-196. 
 Schoolcraft in vol. i, Trans. Am. Ethnol. 8oc. M. C. Reid in American Anti- 
 quarian, vol. i, p. 189, Jan. 1879. Dr. Clemens in Morton's Crania Americana, 
 p. 221. Mr. E. 0. Dunning in Foster, p. 194. 
 
88 THE "TAYLOR MOUND," LICKING COUNTY, OHIO. 
 
 feet in thickness, while the decaying trunks of a former growth 
 were lying upon the ground. The mound was excavated from 
 the apex downward. Five feet from the surface a pipe and a 
 tube of stone unknown in Ohio were found. Seven feet from the 
 top, in a thin white layer of earth, a string of more than one 
 hundred beads of native copper were found around the neck of a 
 child about three years old. The salts of the copper had pre- 
 served the cord of vegetable fibre on which they were strung. 
 The beads were about one-fourth of an inch in length and one- 
 third in diameter. They evidently had been hammered out of 
 the metal in its original state, and the workmanship displayed 
 no inferior skill. One foot deeper the remains of two adults, 
 male and female, were found carefully buried in layers of bark, 
 their heads towards the east, and the body of the female resting 
 upon that of the male skeleton. Immediately above these were 
 found a considerable number of charred human bones and the 
 evidences of cremation or human sacrifice in honor to the couple 
 (probably man and wife) below. The professor even expresses 
 the fear that the wife who appears to have been about thirty 
 years of age may have been put to death and buried above the 
 remains of her deceased consort. A foot deeper the party found 
 another layer of charcoal, ashes and charred bones, similar to 
 the above, and immediately beneath it a carefully-buried skeleton, 
 much decomposed, lying in a white layer of earth, and with its 
 head toward the east. A few inches below this skeleton several 
 carelessly-buried skeletons were found near the natural level of 
 the earth. Below the natural surface a cist six feet long, three 
 feet wide and two feet deep was found containing the remains 
 of eight or more skeletons, which seem to have been imperfect 
 when buried. The remains had been thrown into the grave in a 
 careless and perhaps hasty manner. In the grave were found 
 nine lance and arrow-heads of flint. Six small hand-axes, one 
 of them of hematite and the others of compact greenstone or 
 diorite, a small hatchet of hematite, a flint chisel and scraper, 
 fine needles or bodkins made of the metatarsal bones of the com- 
 mon deer, a whistle made from the tooth of a young bear, and 
 spoons cut from the shells of river mussels. A rude vessel of 
 
ANCIENT COPPER MINES. 89 
 
 clay was found, but broken, while several bones of animals, all 
 but two of existing species in Ohio at present, were discovered ; 
 though it is worthy of remark that the remains of the deer were 
 of a size seldom attained by the species at the present day. 
 All the skulls found in the mound were broken, and all but two 
 so badly decayed that no effort was made to preserve them. 
 These two were of small size showing the vertical occiput, promi- 
 nent vertex and large interparietal diameter. There is abundant 
 evidence that the mound had never been disturbed by Indians. 1 
 
 One of the best evidences which we have of the systematic 
 government and habits of the Mound-builders, together with the 
 comparatively advanced state of the practical arts among them, 
 is found in the ancient copper mines of the Lake Superior Region 
 so extensively operated by them at quite a remote period. 2 
 These were first discovered by Mr. S. 0. Knapp, agent of the 
 Minnesota Mining Company, in 1848. One excavation explored 
 by this gentleman was thirty feet deep, filled with clay and a 
 mass of mouldering vegetable matter. Eighteen feet from the 
 surface he found a mass of copper ten feet long, three feet wide 
 and two feet thick, weighing over six tons. By digging around 
 this great lump of metal, he observed that it was resting on "a 
 cob- work of round logs or skids six or eight inches in diameter, 
 the ends of which showed plainly the strokes of a small axe or 
 cutting tool about two and a half inches in width. The wood, 
 from its exposure to moisture, had lost all its consistency, and 
 opposed no more resistance to a knife-blade than would ordinary 
 
 1 Description of an Ancient Sepulchral Mound near Newark, Oldo, by 
 0. C. Marsh, F.G. S., in American Journal of Science and Arts for July, 1866. 
 Second Series, vol. xlii. 
 
 2 See Dr. Charles T. Jackson's Geological Report to the United States Govern- 
 ment, 1849. Foster and Whitney's Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior 
 Region, Part I. Published by authority of Congress in 1850, and substan- 
 tially reproduced in Foster's Pre-Historic Races of the U. 8., chap, vii, in 1873. 
 The most elaborate treatment is by Col. Charles Whittlesey, Ancient Mining on 
 the Shores of Lake Superior. Published in the Smithsonian Contribution to 
 Knowledge in 1863, vol. xiii. Swineford's History and Review of the Mineral 
 Resources of Lake Superior, Marquette, 1876. Containing Ancient Copper 
 Mines of Lake Superior by Jacob Houghton. 
 
90 
 
 ANCIENT COPPER MINES NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 
 peat. After having raised the mass of copper over five feet 
 along the foot wall of the lode on the timbers by means of 
 wedges, the ancient miners had abandoned the task. The walls 
 of the mine still show the marks of fire ; charcoal and stone 
 
 STONE AXES FROM MOUNDS. 
 
 STONE MAULS AND P!AMMERS. 
 
 mauls were taken from this and similar excavations. The largest 
 of these mauls weighed thirty-six pounds and was encircled by 
 a double groove around its centre. Withes were probably wound 
 in these grooves by which two men could wield the maul very 
 
ANCIENT COPPER MINES NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR. 91 
 
 effectively. The number of smaller hammers of greenstone and 
 porphyry removed from these works by Mr. Knapp exceeded ten 
 cart-loads. In one of the pits a rude oak ladder was found, 
 made by trimming the branches of a tree at a distance from the 
 trunk to leave a sufficient foothold. Wooden levers, preserved 
 beneath the water, were also of frequent occurrence. A copper 
 maul, shaped by pounding in a cold state, and weighing upwards 
 of twenty pounds, was found in this locality, as well as many 
 well-formed copper implements designed for various purposes. 
 Upon a mound of rubbish near one of the excavations, Messrs. 
 Foster and Whitney saw a pine stump ten feet in circumference 
 the trunk having been broken fifteen feet from the ground 
 which must have grown and died after the earth was thrown up. 
 Mr. Knapp mentions a hemlock which he found growing on a 
 heap of rubbish which had 395 rings of annual growth. Fallen 
 and decayed trees of a previous generation were found lying 
 across the pits. In front of the Waterbury mine are blocks of 
 stone weighing two and three tons which had been removed by 
 the ancient miners from the shaft, and when observed by Colonel 
 Whittlesey, they were covered by a forest growth of the full size 
 and kind common to the neighboring region. Under a pile of 
 rubbish the remains of a trough of cedar bark was brought to 
 light and had been used to carry oif water baled from the mine 
 by means of wooden bowls, some of which were preserved by 
 water in the mines. Mr. S. W. Hill communicated to Dr. Foster 
 in 1872 the discovery of mining pits in Isle Koyal, measuring 
 fifty feet in depth. 1 In the Ontonagon region for thirty miles 
 traces of the ancient miners abound. The idea that the Indians 
 formerly worked these mines was abandoned shortly after their 
 discovery. They possess no tradition of copper mines, nor did 
 their ancestors visited by the Jesuit Fathers in the early part of 
 
 1 Foster's Pre-Historic Races, p. 268. For a further account, see Mr. Henry 
 Gillman in an article printed in Appleton's Journal, August 9, 1873, and entitled 
 Ancient Works at Isle Royal; also to a paper printed in the Smithsonian Report 
 for 1873, and in the Proceedings of the Amer. Ass. for the Advancement of 
 Science, 1875 meeting, p. 330. Also A. C. Davis in Smithsonian Report for 
 1874, p. 369. 
 
92 ACCOUNTS OF THE JESUIT FATHERS. 
 
 the seventeenth century obtain any intelligence of mines, though 
 they penetrated this region in 1660. They often mention the 
 occurrence of loose masses of copper found in the shape of boul- 
 ders, but could learn nothing from the Indians as to their origin. 
 It is quite certain that no traditions were current among them 
 on the subject. " Instead/' says Col. Whittlesey, " of viewing 
 copper as an object of every day use, they regarded it as a sacred 
 Manitou, and carefully preserved pieces of it wrapped up in skin 
 in their lodges for many years ; and this custom has been con- 
 tinued to modern times." 1 Father Allouez, in his Relation, has 
 described this custom. 2 Father Dablon, who shortly afterward 
 visited the Lake Superior tribes, has described their super- 
 stitions concerning an island where the missionaries first met 
 with copper. 3 That the Mound-builders were these ancient 
 
 1 Ancient Mining on the Shore of Lake Superior, p. 2. 
 
 2 " L'on trouve souvent au fond de 1'eau, des pieces de cuivre tout forme, de 
 la pesanteur de dix et vingt livres ; i'en ay veu plusieurs fois entre les mains 
 des Sauvages, et comme ils sont supers titieux, ils les gardent comme autant de 
 divinites, ou comme des presents que les dieux qui sont au fond de 1'eau leur 
 ont faits pour estre la cause de leur bonlieur ; c'est pour cela, qu'ils conservent 
 ces morceaux de cuivre envelopes parmi leurs meubles les plus pretieux, il y en 
 a qui les gardent depuis plus de cinquante ans; d'autres les ont dans leurs 
 families de temps immemorial, et les cherissent comme des dieux domes- 
 tiques." Relations des Jesuites, en VAnnee 1667, p. 8. Quebec reprint, 1858. 
 Tome iii. 
 
 3 En y entrant par son embouchure, que se decharge au Sault, le premier 
 endroit que se pressnte ou se retrouve du cuivre en abondance, est une Isle que 
 est eloignee de quarante on cinquante lieues, scituee vers le cote du Nord, vis 
 a vis d'un endroit qu'on appelle Missipicoiiatong. Les sauvages racontcnt que 
 c'est une Isle flottante, que est quelquefois loing, quelquefois proche, selon les 
 vents qui la poussent, et la promenent de cote et d'autre. Ils ajoutent qu'il 
 y a bien longtemps que quatre sauvages y furent par rencontre, s'etans egarez 
 dans la brume, dont cette Isle est presque toujours environnee. C'etoit du temps 
 qu'ils n'avoient point encore eu de commerce avec les Francois, et n'avoient 
 aucun usage ny des cliaudieres ny des hacbes. Ceux-cy done voulans se preparer 
 a manger, firent a leur ordinaire : prenant des pierres qu'ils trouvoient au bord 
 de 1'eau, les fakaient rougir dans le feu et les jettaient dans un plat d'ecorce 
 plein d'eau pour la faire boiiillir et faire cuire par cette Industrie leur viande. 
 Comme ils choisissoient ess pierres, ils trouvoient, que c'etoient presque tous 
 morceaux de cuivre ; ils se servirent done des unes et des autres, et apres avoir pris 
 leur repas, ils songerent a s'embarquer au plustost, craignant les Loups Cerviers 
 
JESUIT RELATIONS. 93 
 
 miners, there is abundant evidence. Col. Whittlesey has de- 
 scribed a collection of copper implements from Carp Kiver con- 
 taining pieces of native silver, such as have often been found in 
 the Ohio mounds. 1 We have already referred to this peculiarity 
 of the Lake Superior copper. The use of copper by the Mound- 
 builders was very general all the way from Wisconsin to the 
 Gulf, and the labor involved in a journey of a thousand miles 
 from the Ohio Yalley to the copper regions, the toil of the 
 summer's mining, and the tedious transportation of the metal 
 to their homes upon their backs, and by means of an imper- 
 fect system of navigation, indicates either industry and resolu- 
 tion such as no savage Indian ever possessed, or a condition 
 of servitude in which thousands occupied a position of abject 
 slavery. 
 
 No permanent abodes were erected by the miners in this 
 region, no mounds were constructed, but the indications all point 
 to a summer's residence only and a return to the south with the 
 accumulation of their toil when the severities of winter ap- 
 proached. Frederick von Hellwald expresses it as his opinion 
 that the Mexicans obtained all their copper from the Lake Supe- 
 
 et les Lievres, qui sont en cet endroit grands corame des Chiens, et qui venoient 
 manger leurs provisions et meme leur Canot. Avant que de partir, ils se 
 chargerent de quantite de ces pierres grosses et menues, et meme de quelques 
 plaques de cuivre ; mais ils ne furent pas bien eloignez du rivage, qu'une puis- 
 sante voix se fit entendre a leurs oreilles, disant tout en colere : Qui sont ces 
 voleurs qui m'emportent les berceaux et les divertissemens de mes enfans ? Les 
 plaques de cuivre sont les berceaux, parce que panny les sauvages ils ne sont 
 faits que d'un ou deux aix joints ensemble, sur lesquels ils couchent leurs 
 enfans; et ces petits morgeaux de cuivre qu'ils enlevoient, sont les jouets et les 
 divertissemens des enfans sauvages, qui jolient ensemble avec des petites pierres." 
 The voice which the savages heard was believed to be that of a spirit called 
 Missibizi, a certain water-god. "Quoy qu'il en soit, cette voix etonnante jetta 
 tellement la frayeur dans 1'esprit de nos Voyageurs, qu'un des quatre mourut 
 avant que d'arriver a terre ; peu de temps apres un second fut enleve, puis le 
 troisiema ; de sorte qu'il n'en resta qu'un, lequel s'etant rendu en son Pays, 
 raconta tout ce qui s'etoit passe, pues mourut fort peu apries." The Father 
 adds that the savages never afterward could be induced to approach the island 
 for fear of being seized by the Genii presiding over its treasures. Relations des 
 Jesuits, I'annee 1670, p. 84, tome iii. Quebec reprint, 1853. 
 1 Ancient Mining, p. 22 et seq. 
 
94 
 
 ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 rior mines, and adds that no evidences exist that copper was 
 mined in Mexico or Central America prior to the Spanish Con- 
 quest. 1 Humboldt affirms that various metals were mined by the 
 Mexicans, but does not specify copper. 2 Col. Whittlesey and Prof. 
 Andrews estimate that in the ancient Lake 
 Superior mines worked by the Mound-builders, 
 the removed metal would aggregate a length of 
 one hundred and fifty miles in veins of varying 
 thickness. This fact certainly indicates that 
 great supplies were transported southward. 
 
 This remarkable people was evidently pos- 
 sessed of the beginnings of science ; at least 
 if the Davenport and Cincinnati tablets are 
 genuine, astronomy must have received con- 
 siderable attention at their hands. In the 
 former tablet we observe a cycle divided 
 into twelve months (which, however, is so 
 modern and coincides so strictly with our 
 division as to excite suspi- 
 cion of fraud), while in the 
 latter we have the number 
 368 as the sum of the pro- 
 ducts of the longer and 
 shorter lines, suggestive of 
 an approximation to the 
 number of days in a year. 
 Other supposed astronomical 
 instruments have been dis- 
 
 COPPER CELTS THE SMALLER FROM A 
 MOUND NEAR SAVANNAH, TENNESSEE. 
 (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 Luxembourg. 1877, torn, i, 
 
 1 Congrts International des Americanistes. 
 pp. 51-2. 
 
 2 Essai Politique (Paris, 1825-27), vol. iii, p. 114. Dr. Charles Kau has 
 courteously furnished me the following references on ancient mining in Mexico : 
 Clamgaro's History of Mexico, Phil., 1817, vol. i., p. 20. Prescott's Mexico, vol. i, 
 p. 138 ; Despatches of Hernando Cortes addressed to the Emperor Charles V 
 (trans, by Folsom,New York, 1842), p. 412. Memoirs of Bernal Diaz (trans, of 
 Lockhart, London, 1844), vol. i, p. 36. Dr. Rau remarks : " We are forcibly led 
 to the conclusion that the Mexicans obtained copper by the mining process." 
 Letter to the AutJwr, Aug. 24, 1878. 
 
VESSELS FROM MOUNDS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 95 
 
 CLAY VESSELS FROM MOUNDS IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. J SIZE. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
96 ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 covered in the mounds of Ohio, and several of these, antique tubes, 
 telescope devices, were discovered in the course of excavations 
 made in 1842 in the most easterly of the EKzabethtown group, 
 West Virginia. Mr. Schoolcraft makes the following statement 
 concerning them : " Several tubes of stone were disclosed, the 
 precise object of which has been the subject of various opinions. 
 The longest measured twelve inches, the shortest eight. Three of 
 them were carved out of steatite, being skillfully cut and polished. 
 The diameter of the tube externally was one inch and four-tenths ; 
 
 MOUND TUBES. Ja SIZE. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 the bore eight-tenths of an inch. By placing the eye at the 
 diminished end, the extraneous light is shut from the pupil, and 
 distant objects are more clearly discerned/' 1 A silver figure found 
 in Peru represents a man in the act of studying the heavens 
 through one of these tubes, and Captain Dupaix saw a stone in 
 Mexico bearing the figure of a man sculptured on its side in the 
 act of using a similar tube. 2 
 
 With reference to the civilization of the Mound-builders, 
 however much writers may differ, we think the following con- 
 clusions may be safely accepted : That they came into the 
 
 1 Colonel Whittlesey in the Eeport of the State Archaeological Society to the 
 Centennial Commission of Ohio, Chap. IV, pi. 10, has figured several symmetrical 
 tubes of stone from Ohio Mounds. The most perfect of these he thinks may 
 have served "as telescopic helps for distant views." The most general use to 
 which most of them were applied, it is believed, was the making of signals, or 
 possibly rude music. One of the tubes taken from the Tippet Mound near 
 Newark, Ohio, and figured in the report, has its upper end flattened like a whistle 
 or flute, and has a hole penetrating it just below the mouthpiece, which indi- 
 cates that it may have been a musical instrument. The Huron slates were 
 most frequently employed in the manufacture of tubes, as they were in the 
 production of the class of objects known as ceremonial relics. 
 
 2 Baldwin's Ancient America, p. 42, and Dupaix, quoted on pp. 122-3. 
 
CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 97 
 
 country in comparatively small numbers at first (if they were not 
 Autochthenes, and there is no substantial proof that the Mound- 
 builders were such), and during their residence in the territory 
 occupied by the United States they became extremely populous. 
 Their settlements were widespread, as the extent of their re- 
 mains indicate. The magnitude of their works, some of which 
 
 LARGE CLAY VESSEL FROM MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA. SIZE 14 INCHES HIGH 
 AND 13 INCHES ACROSS APERTURE. (Nat. Mus.) 
 
 approximate the proportions of Egyptian pyramids, testify to the 
 architectural talent of the people and the fact that they had 
 developed a system of government which controlled the labor of 
 multitudes, whether of subjects or slaves. They were an agri- 
 cultural people, as the extensive ancient garden-beds found in 
 Wisconsin and Missouri indicate. Their manufactures afford 
 proof that they had attained a respectable degree of advance- 
 ment, and show that they understood the advantages of the 
 7 
 
98 CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 division of labor. 1 Their domestic utensils, the cloth of which 
 they made their clothing, and the artistic vessels met with every- 
 where in the mounds, point to the development of home culture 
 and domestic industry. There is no reason for believing that 
 the people who wrought stone and clay into perfect effigies of 
 animals have not left us sculptures of their own faces in the 
 images exhumed from the mounds. 
 
 They mined copper, which they wrought into implements of 
 war, into ornaments and articles for domestic use. They quarried 
 mica for mirrors and other purposes. 2 They furthermore worked 
 flint and salt mines. They probably possessed some astronomical 
 knowledge, though to what extent is unknown. 
 
 Their trade, as Dr. Kau has shown, was widespread, extend- 
 ing probably from Lake Superior to the Gulf, and possibly to 
 Mexico. 3 They constructed canals by which lake systems were 
 
 1 Dr. Ran lias shown that division of labor and its advantages was recog- 
 nized among the aborigines ; that certain individuals who were qualified to 
 manufacture particular implements devoted themselves exclusively to that 
 work. He bases his conjecture " on the occurrence of manufactured articles of 
 a homogeneous character in mounds or in deposits below the surface of the soil. 
 There is little doubt, for instance., that there were persons who devoted their 
 time chiefly to the manufacture of stone arrow-heads and of other articles pro- 
 duced by chipping, among which may be mentioned those remarkable large 
 digging tools described by me several years ago, and the oval or leaf-shaped 
 implements made of the peculiar hornstone of ' Flint Ridge ' in Ohio. " See 
 Stock-in-trade of an Aboriginal Lapidary, by Charles Rau, Smithsonian Report 
 for 1877. 
 
 2 Dr. S. S. Schoville, in the Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science, April, 
 1875, p. 164, describes the discovery of numerous mica plates in a mound on the 
 east bank of the Little Miami River, about twenty-five miles east of Cincinnati. 
 He states, that at the base of the mound, on a level with the surrounding coun- 
 try, the remains of several skeletons were found, placed with their heads 
 together and lying in a horizontal position. " Lying upon or Immediately over 
 the cranial debris, were found plates of mica, some a foot in diameter. These 
 plates were disposed in such a way as to cover an area somewhat larger than 
 that occupied by the crania beneath. However, it could not definitely be deter- 
 mined whether the design had been to make a continuous or common roof over 
 the faces as a group, or whether each face had a covering of its own." The 
 writer ventures the rather fanciful conjecture that the mica in this and many 
 other cases served the purpose of exhibiting temporarily the features of the 
 dead in the manner that glass is now used on caskets. 
 
 3 See a most interesting and extensive memoir on Aboriginal Trade in 
 
COPPER RELICS FROM WISCONSIN. 
 
 99 
 
 COPPER RELICS FROM WISCONSIN. 
 (From photos furnished by Prof. Butler.) 
 
100 CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 united, a fact which Mr. Conant has recently shown to be well 
 established in Missouri. 1 Their defences were numerous and 
 constructed with reference to strategic principles, while their 
 system of signals placed on lofty summits, visible from their 
 settlements and communicating with the great water-courses at 
 immense distances, rival the signal systems in use at the begin- 
 ning of the present century. Their religion seems to have been 
 attended with the same ceremonies in all parts of their domain. 
 That its rites were celebrated with great demonstrations is 
 certain. The sun and moon probably were the all-important 
 deities, to whom sacrifices (possibly human) were offered. We 
 have already alluded to the development in architecture and art 
 which marked the possible transition of this people from north 
 to south. Here we see but the rude beginnings of a civilization 
 which no doubt subsequently unfolded in its fuller glory in the 
 valley of Anahuac, and spreading southward engrafted a new 
 life upon the wreck of Xibalba. Though there is no evidence 
 that the Mound-builders were indigenous, we must admit that 
 their civilization was purely such the natural product of climate 
 and the conditions' surrounding them. 2 
 
 North America, by Charles Ran, first published in vol. iv of the Archiv fur 
 Anthropologie (Braunschweig, 1872), and translated in Smithsonian Report for 
 1872, pp. 249-394 
 
 1 Mr. A. J. Conant in the Commonwealth of Missouri, pp. 77-8 (St. Louis, 
 1877), refers to ancient canals fifty feet wide and twelve feet deep observed by 
 Dr. G. C. Swallow. He quotes a pretty full account from Geo. W. Carleton, 
 Esq. Mr. Conant considers some of the southern bayous of artificial origin. 
 
 2 For further material on the Mound-builders, see the documents cited 
 throughout the chapter. No less important is Dr. Foster's admirable work so 
 often quoted, and which we must add has been of great service in the prepara- 
 tion of this chapter. A very good paper on the Mound-builders is that by Robert 
 S. Robertson of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Congres International des Ameri- 
 canistes Compte-Rendu de la Sec. Ses, Luxembourg, 1877, torn, i, pp. 39-50, though 
 we do not fully agree with the author's views as to the colonization of the Mis- 
 sissippi valley from the south. The classification of Mound-works by Rev. 
 Stephen D. Peet in the same document, p. 103, is very satisfactory, and corre-' 
 spends to that adopted in this chapter. The learned article by Judge Force of 
 Cincinnati in the same document, vol. i, pp. 121-156, is full of interest. For 
 recent mound explorations, see Appendix. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF MAN ON THE WESTERN CONTINENT. 
 
 Antiquity of the Mounds No Tradition of the Mound-builders Vegetation 
 Covering the Mounds Age of Mound Crania Probable Date of the 1 Aban- 
 donment of the Mounds Ancient Shell-heaps Man's Influence on Nature 
 Supposed Testimony of Geology Agassiz on the Floridian Jaw-bone 
 Remains on Santos River The Natchez Bone Remains on Petit Anse 
 Island Brazilian Bone-caves Dr. Koch's Pretended Discoveries Ancient 
 Hearths Age of the Mississippi Delta Dr. Dowler's Discovery at New 
 Orleans Dr. Abbott's Discoveries in New Jersey Discoveries in Cali- 
 fornia Inter-Glacial Relics in Ohio Crania from Mounds in the North- 
 westNo Evidences as yet Discovered Proving Man's Great Antiquity 
 in America. 
 
 AT the opening of the preceding chapter we made some allu- 
 -j- sions to the supposed antiquity of the Bed Indian, but are 
 sure that the unimportance of the subject and the unreliable 
 character of the testimony must render it valueless in deter- 
 mining the question of man's antiquity on this continent. Quite 
 different, however, is the estimate which we place on data left 
 us by the people of the mounds. The question of the antiquity 
 of the Mound-builders is one which cannot be accurately deter- 
 mined ; no chronometric scale can be applied to the uncertain 
 record which they have left behind them. Their history is a 
 sealed book, and the approximate date of their first occupancy of 
 the Mississippi Basin is as uncertain as the period of man's origin. 
 However, certain data present themselves for our consideration 
 which lead us to conclude that a few thousand years, three or 
 four perhaps, and possibly even less time, is all that is required in 
 which to account for their growth into a nation and the moderate 
 advancement which they made toward civilization. As to when 
 the Mound-builders left this country, is another question, and 
 
102 NO TRADITION OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 
 
 can be approximated more closely. It is a well-known fact that 
 no tradition was ever found among the Indians as to the origin 
 or the purpose for which the mounds were constructed. They 
 described them ( as having been found by their ancestors in the 
 same condition in which we now see them, and clothed, if not 
 with the same, at least with a growth of vegetation similar to 
 that which covers them to-day. It is true the Iroquois, who are 
 supposed to have reached the lake regions and the Ohio Valley 
 some time previous to the Algonquins, had certain vague tradi- 
 tions of a people whom they called the " Allighewi ; " but 
 there seems to be nothing in those indefinite allusions which 
 would associate that unknown people with the mounds. Still, 
 Indian tradition is nearly valueless in determining this question, 
 since any fact, however grave, was soon forgotten by a people so 
 savage and unsettled. The tribes of the lake region, says Dr. 
 Lapham in his Antiquities, so soon forgot the visit of the Jesuit 
 Fathers that their descendants a few generations later had no 
 tradition of the event. The same is true of the Indians of the 
 Mississippi Valley with reference to De Soto's expedition, " which 
 must," remarks Dr. Foster, "have impressed their ancestors 
 with dread at the sight of horses ridden by men, and the sound 
 of fire-arms, which they must have likened to thunder. Sir 
 John Lubbock states that the New Zealanders at the time of 
 Captain Cook's visit had forgotten altogether Tasman's visit, 
 made less than one hundred and thirty years before." l Another 
 
 1 Pre-Historic Times, p. 435. Also cited by Foster. In this connection I 
 refer the reader to the argument of Mr. John H. Becker of Berlin, in the 
 Congres International des Americanistes, Luxembourg, 1877, torn, i, pp. 345-6 : 
 " These northern nations * * * have not quite forgotten the former exist- 
 ence and the exodus of these Nahua Mound-builders in and from the western 
 prairie country. Cusick's remarkable history of the Iroquois (Schoolcraft, 
 vol. v) states again and again that ' their hunters were opposed by big snakes,' 
 that the ' great horned snake appeared on Lake Ontario/ that the ' lake serpent 
 traversed the country, and they were compelled to build fortifications in order 
 to save themselves from the devouring monsters,' that * a snake with a human 
 head prevented the intercourse of their several villages, as it had settled near 
 the principal path of communication,' also ' that it retreats,' etc., etc. Now, in 
 order to understand the force of these passages, it is necessary to remind the 
 reader that the Nahua race were perhaps even more properly and generally 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MOUNDS. 1Q3 
 
 argument for the construction of the mounds at a remote period, 
 and which is certainly of little more value than Indian tradition, 
 is that which supposes the Mound-builders to have erected works 
 on the lowest of the river terraces existing at the time of their 
 occupancy of the country. Much stress has been laid on the fact 
 that no works have been found on the lowest-formed of the river 
 terraces which mark the subsidence of the western rivers. "And 
 as there is no good reason/' remarks Mr. Baldwin, " why their 
 builders should have avoided erecting them on that terrace while 
 they raised them promiscuously on all the others, it follows, not 
 unreasonably, that this terrace has been formed since the works 
 were erected/' 1 To any one familiar with the great rise and fall 
 which takes place annually in the water-level of the Ohio and 
 Mississippi and all of their tributaries, the fallacy of such an 
 argument is at once apparent. We must at least allow that the 
 Mound-builders learned by experience, just as animals do, even 
 if we could deny them a very high order of intelligence. Little 
 time could have elapsed after their advent to these valleys before 
 they observed the impracticability of erecting mounds or enclo- 
 sures on most of the alluvial bottoms bordering these streams. 
 The raging torrents which sometimes sweep through the valleys 
 of the central basin, uprooting the largest trees, carrying away 
 natural embankments, forming immense deposits of new allu- 
 vium, submerging miles of adjacent country, and in many ways 
 changing its physical conformation, would in a few years oblit- 
 
 designated as the ' Culhua ' the ' Snake ' race, and one branch, remotely con- 
 nected with them in blood and language, though wofully degenerated, the 
 Snakes or Shoshones of Oregon, etc., carry the name to this very day. 4 
 ' An expedition was sent towards the Mississippi River ; they crossed it, reached 
 an extensive meadow ; they discovered a curious animal, a winged fish; it flew 
 about the tree, it moved like a hummingbird' * * * the humming bird was 
 the totem of the last tribe of Nahuas, arriving in Anahuac from Aztlan. The 
 Cherokee tradition, told by Timberlake, is equally significant : ' The prince of 
 rattlesnakes lives in the glens of the mountains. His palace is guarded by 
 obedient subjects. * * * And in the myth of the Algonquins, the god-hero 
 Michabo is in conflict with the shining prince of serpents who lives in the lake ; 
 he destroys the reptile with a dart ; clothes himself with the skin of his foe, 
 and drives the rest of the serpents to the south' " 
 1 /. D. Baldwin's Ancient America, p. 47. 
 
104 AGE OF VEGETATION. 
 
 erate any traces of earthworks built within their reach. 1 Far 
 more certain data, however, is furnished in the arborescent vegeta- 
 tion which covers many of the works, with which to measure 
 part of the period during which they have remained unoccupied, 
 though we are left in uncertainty as to the remoteness of their 
 abandonment. The annular rings of a tree present us indisputa- 
 ble evidence as to its age. 2 It is evident that the forests which 
 cover these remains have grown up since they were vacated, as 
 no difference exists between them and the surrounding vegeta- 
 tion no break exists in the density of the forests in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of the works. The oldest of the trees found upon 
 the works present eight hundred annual rings, indicating as 
 many years of growth. 3 This cannot, however, be set down as 
 the limit of the period of their abandonment, since, as it seems 
 that this country was open and mostly unwooded in the sections 
 thickly settled by the Mound-builders, a considerable time would 
 be requisite for the slow encroachments of a forest, even when 
 the trees which now stand upon the mounds may have been pre- 
 
 1 Foster, pp. 173-3, remarks : "Squier and Davis hastily stated that none 
 of these works occupied the alluvial bottoms (an error which Mr. Squier 
 subsequently corrected), and from this statement the most erroneous conclu- 
 sions as to their antiquity have been drawn. There is nothing to indicate but 
 that those works were constructed after the surface had assumed its present 
 configuration, and that the climate had become essentially as it is now. That 
 they should not occur as abundantly on the bottoms as on the river terraces is 
 not to be wondered at, when we consider the great fluctuations of the Missis- 
 sippi and its tributaries. The extreme range between low and high water of 
 the Upper Mississippi at its mouth is thirty-five feet ; that of the Missouri at 
 its mouth about the same ; and that of the Ohio at Louisville, forty-two feet. 
 Hence, during the flood time a greater portion of the bottom lands are subject 
 to overflow, and it would be natural for the Mound -builders to shun such 
 situations. Where the immediate valleys lie above high water, we find their 
 works. Of this the ' American Bottom ' is a notable instance." 
 
 2 See Dr. Lapham's communication in Foster's Pre- Historic Races, pp. 373-5, 
 in which he shows the possibility of finding the average increase of wood each 
 year by measuring annual rings of growth. 
 
 3 Sir Charles Lyell, Antiquity of Man, p. 41, says : " When I visited 
 Marietta in 1842, Dr. Hildreth took me to one of the mounds, and showed me 
 where he had seen a tree growing on it, the trunk of which when cut down 
 displayed eight hundred rings of annual growth." 
 
GREAT AGE OF MOUND CRANIA. 1Q5 
 
 ceded by trees of other species or by two or three generations of 
 their own. 1 The age of the trees on the mound-works in the 
 Ohio Valley or farther north, rarely exceeds five hundred or six 
 hundred years, and such cases as that cited by Sir Charles Lyell 
 are the exceptions. Farther south, in the Mississippi Valley 
 and near the Gulf, they are still younger than those at the 
 north. 2 So noticeable is this that we are led to think the Gulf 
 coast may have been occupied by the Mound-builders for a couple 
 of centuries after they were driven by their enemies from the 
 country north of the mouths of the Missouri and Ohio Rivers. 
 The condition of skeletons found in the mounds indicate an 
 antiquity which they furnish us no means of measuring. It is 
 not to be presumed that all human remains discovered in exca- 
 vating the works were interred immediately previous to the 
 abandonment of the country. Some of them may belong to the 
 middle or beginning of the period of their residence in the terri- 
 tory occupied by the United States. Human remains taken from 
 the mounds, perhaps furnish us better evidence of the long resi- 
 dence of the Mound-builders in this country than any other data 
 in our possession. It suffices to say that few Mound-builder 
 crania have been recovered in a condition to be of any service 
 to science ; although of late years, several valuable collections 
 
 1 See Prof. Asa Gray in Foster's Pre-Historic Races, p. 392 ; also Lyell's 
 Antiquity of Man, p. 41, where the opinion of President Harrison is quoted as 
 follows : " We may be sure that no trees were allowed to grow so long as 
 the earthworks were in use ; and when they were forsaken, the ground, like 
 all newly-cleared land in Ohio, would for a time be monopolized by one or two 
 species of tree, such as the yellow locust and the black or white walnut. 
 When the individuals which were the first to get possession of the ground had 
 died out one after the other, they would, in many cases, instead of being 
 replaced by other species, be succeeded, by virtue of the law which makes a 
 rotation of crops profitable in agriculture, by other kinds, till at last, after a 
 great number of centuries (several hundred years perhaps), that remarkable* 
 diversity of species characteristic of North America, and far exceeding what is 
 seen in European forests, would be established." 
 
 2 Foster's Pre-Historic Races, pp. 118, 119, 122, and M. Stronck, Reperes 
 chronologiques de Vhistoire des Mound-builders in Congres des Americanistes, 
 Luxembourg, torn, i, pp. 316-18, catalogues the record of the age of trees 
 found on mounds. 
 
106 KITCHEN-MIDDENS, OR SHELL-HEAPS. 
 
 have been made. The preservation of the skeletons depends 
 greatly on the composition of the soil in which they are found. 
 The Loess has afforded well-preserved remains, however, with 
 the gelatinous matter leached out. The crania of the sandy 
 loam of river bottoms, on the other hand, are in all cases so far 
 decayed upon discovery that the greatest precautions fail to pre- 
 vent them from crumbling to dust when exposed to the light 
 and air. Mastodon bones, on the contrary, recovered from peat 
 swamps, and much older than any of the remains of the Mound- 
 builders, are found to have retained so much of their gelatinous 
 matter as to furnish a nourishing soup. 1 To these evidences may 
 ,be added the testimony derived from the ancient ruins which 
 points to long-continued occupation and to a considerable lapse 
 of time since their abandonment. 
 
 How long the Mound-builders occupied the country north of 
 the Gulf of Mexico it is impossible in the present state of science 
 to determine. Some authors conjecture that they were here two 
 thousand years ; that we think would be time enough, though 
 after all it is but conjecture. It seems to us, however, that the 
 time of the abandonment of their works may be more closely 
 approximated. A thousand or two years may have elapsed since 
 they vacated the Ohio Valley, and a period embracing seven or 
 eight centuries may have passed since they retired from the Gulf 
 coast. As an evidence of a large population having existed in 
 this country at a former period, we have immense shell-heaps 
 artificially collected, extending along the Atlantic coast from 
 Nova Scotia to Florida, on the Gulf coast and up the river 
 valleys through nearly all of the Southern States. It is difficult 
 to assign the formation of these vast remains to any definite 
 period or to any particular people. Though of the same charac- 
 ter as the Kjokken-Moddings (Kitchen-Middens) of the Danish, 
 ihey furnish no indications of so great an antiquity. This has 
 been shown by Dr. Jeffries Wyman in his researches in Maine 
 and Massachusetts. 2 Sir Charles Lyell made aa examination of 
 a shell-bank on St. Simon's Island, near the mouth of the Alla- 
 
 1 Foster's Pre-Historic Eaces, p. 370. 
 8 American Naturalist, Jan. 1868. 
 
KITCHEN-MIDDENS, OR SHELL-HEAPS. 1Q7 
 
 maha River, Georgia, so extensive that it covers ten acres to a 
 depth varying from five to ten feet. 1 Dr. Brinton has described 
 immense accumulations in Florida. On Amelia Island, shells 
 exist to the depth of three feet over an area 150 yards wide and 
 a quarter of a mile long. Notable instances of a similar kind 
 are Turtle Mound near Smyrna a mass of oyster shells thirty 
 feet thick and a shell-bank on Crystal Eiver four miles from 
 its mouth, reaching a height of forty feet. 2 Dr. Wyman care- 
 fully examined many of the fresh-water shell-heaps of Florida and 
 obtained pretty satisfactory results. 3 Near the Silver spring upon 
 a shell- heap covering nearly twenty acres, stand several live-oaks 
 of immense size, the largest of which measured between twenty- 
 six and twenty-seven feet in circumference. Excavations under 
 this monster, taken together with its position on the side of the 
 shell-bank, proved it to be of more recent origin than the latter. 
 Prof. Wyman, by allowing twelve rings to the inch and granting 
 it a semi-diameter of fifty inches, estimated that it was not less 
 than six hundred years old. Of course the shell-bank may have 
 existed a long time before any vegetation appeared upon it. The 
 
 1 Second Visit to the United States, vol. i, p. 252. 
 
 2 Dr. Brinton's Notes on the Floridian Peninsula. 
 
 3 From the immense heaps distributed over an area of 150 miles between 
 Pilatka and Salt Creek Dr. Wyman made some collections of interest. The banks 
 were composed mostly of the Ampullaria Depressa, the Paludina Multilineata 
 and Unio Buckleyi. The bank at King Phillip's Town, 450 feet long by 120 
 feet wide, and in some places eight feet thick, yielded fragments of pottery 
 and decayed animal bones. At Black Hammock, on the St. Johns, a mound 
 900 feet long and from 100 to 150 in width, yielded the following: such marine 
 shells as the strombus-gigos, pyrula carica and P. perversa. These had been 
 shaped into hatchets, gouges and chisels. Scarcely any stone implements were 
 found in any of the mounds examined. A chisel and twenty-five arrow-heads 
 were collected in the vicinity of the above shell-bank. The following animal 
 remains were found : bear, deer, raccoon, opossum, terrapin, turtle, alligator, 
 cat-fish and garpike. But few bones of birds were found. Prof. Wyman can 
 only explain the presence of so many of the now scarce species, the Ampulla- 
 rius and Paludinas, on the supposition that they were much more plentiful and 
 are now becoming extinct, or that the heaps where so abundantly found were 
 made by slow accumulation, through the lapse of an indefinitely long period. 
 American Naturalist, vol. ii, Nos. 8 and 9, and Fifth Annual Report of Peabody 
 Museum, pp. 22-25. Also First Report of Peabody Museum, pp. 11, 18. 
 
108 FRESH-WATER SHELL-HEAPS. 
 
 crania of the shell-banks of Florida differ from those of the 
 Mound-builders in greater thickness as well as greater mean 
 capacity. 1 In his Fresh-water Shell-Mounds of the St. John's 
 River j and in his memoir on Human Remains in the Shell-heaps 
 of the St. John's River (Seventh Annual Report of Peabody 
 Museum, pp. 26 et seq.), Dr. Wyman reports having discovered 
 the startling fact that cannibalism prevailed among the barbarous 
 people of the shell-banks. In the Peabody Museum a collection 
 of human bones taken from the shell-banks by Dr. Wyman are 
 arranged to illustrate this sad discovery. It is possible that this 
 people had some relationship 'to the Caribs. Prof. Forshey has 
 described in brief the vast extent and proportions of the marine 
 shell-banks of the Gulf coast, and the shores of the bayous, lakes 
 and lagoons where Guathodon shells are found. Those of 
 Louisiana, especially near New Orleans, are remarkable, but 
 have yielded no remains, except broken pottery, flint flakes and 
 stone hatchets. A shell-bank at Grand Lake, on the Teche, 
 however, upon which great live-oaks are growing, situated fifteen 
 miles inland, from which the sea has receded since its formation, 
 "yielded unique specimens of axes of haematitic iron-ore and 
 glazed pottery." 2 Probably the most remote shell-bank from 
 the sea containing marine shells, occurs on the Alabama Kiver, 
 fifty miles inland. 3 Fresh-water shell-banks, other than those 
 examined in Florida, furnish evidences of slow accumulation and 
 indicate a comparatively remote antiquity for their origin. On 
 Stalling's Island, in the Savannah Eiver, two hundred miles 
 above its mouth, is a shell-bank three hundred feet in length by 
 one hundred and twenty feet in width, with an average depth of 
 
 1 A small sand-mound near Cedar Keys yielded peculiarly massive skulls ; 
 the capacity being 1375 cubic centimetres, or nearly 84 cubic inches. They 
 show no distortion, and the average thickness of eight of them through the 
 parietal bones measured 10.5 millimetres, or 0.42 of an inch. The heaviest 
 weighed 995 grams, and notwithstanding the loss of its organic matter, is 
 heavier than any of the three hundred skulls in the collection (Peabody 
 Museum). Fourth Annual Report of Peabody Museum., p. 13. Also see Fos- 
 ter's Pre-Historic Races, p. 170. 
 
 2 Foster's Pre-Historic Races, p. 159. 
 
 3 Nott and Gliddon's Types of Mankind, p. 272. 
 
THE FORMATION OF SHELL-HEAPS. 109 
 
 over fifteen feet. 1 In the American Bottom and on many of the 
 tributaries of the Mississippi, shell-banks occur, composed of 
 varieties of the Unios and Anodons. A remarkable example of 
 such accumulation is the well-known shell-bank a mile and a 
 half south of New Harmony, Indiana, and situated on a high 
 hill 170 feet above the level of an arm of the Wabash Kiver. 
 The bank covers an area of a quarter of an acre, and has attracted 
 the attention of eminent scientists like Leasure, Say 3 Lyell and 
 others, but nothing of value was developed that would refer the 
 construction of this and similar banks to any people more ancient 
 than the Mound-builders. 2 On the Pacific coast, great numbers 
 of shell-banks exist, but contain nothing different from those in 
 other parts of the country. (See Kesearches in the Kjokken 
 Moddings of the Coast of Oregon and of the Santa Barbara Islands 
 and Adjacent Mainland, by Paul Schumacher. Bulletin of U. S. 
 Geol. and Geog. Survey, vol. iii, No. 1.) There can be little doubt 
 but these strange and vast accumulations indicating the presence 
 of an extinct population, had a remote beginning, and have been 
 added to from time to time by different peoples, removed from 
 each other both by the diversities of race and the lapse of time. 
 
 A trifle more than a decade ago the treatment of the sub- 
 ject of this chapter would have called for a discussion of the 
 antiquity of the magnificent architectural remains of Southern 
 Mexico, and of the still older ruins of the Maya civiliza- 
 tion in Yucatan, and the branches of that people in Central 
 America ; but the indefatigable labor which has been bestowed 
 by several eminent antiquarians upon the ancient history of the 
 civilized nations of the New World previous to its discovery by 
 Europeans, has transferred this part of the subject to another 
 field ; has elevated it from the uncertain position it occupied in 
 archaeology to a place in the realm of history. It is true that it 
 is difficult to draw the line between tradition and history, and 
 especially so in this case ; but as tradition does not conflict with 
 
 1 C. C. Jones, Jr., Antiquities of the Southern Indians. 
 
 2 Further consult, Second Indiana Report, p. iii ; Smithsonian Report for 
 1870 ; Humphreys and Abbot's Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi Valley, 
 p. 89, and Foster's Pre-Historic Races, Chap. IV. 
 
110 MAN'S INFLUENCE UPON NATURE. 
 
 archaeology in its bearing on the ancient civilization of Tropical 
 America, it is better than nothing ; certainly archaeology thus 
 far has amounted to little more than nothing in revealing the 
 approximate period of the origin of these remains. While it has 
 done much towards verifying tradition and assisted largely in 
 its interpretation, it has not been adequate to the task of solving 
 the age of these remains. Tradition, on the contrary, and we 
 might almost say history, carries us back three thousand years, 
 if not farther, as the period when man whether the first here 
 or not appeared upon the Western Continent. The discussion 
 of this part of our subject will be given in a future chapter. 
 Too much doubt exists with reference to the stupendous remains 
 of Peru, especially in the neighborhood of Lake Titicaca, Tiahua- 
 naco, Old Huanaco, and Grau-Chirnu, as to whether they ante- 
 dated the arrival of the Incas by a great lapse of time, to admit 
 of a serious discussion here. Nothing of a scientific character is 
 available as yet upon which even to base conjecture. Rivero 
 and Tschudi, it is true, have treated the subject, and their work 
 has been often quoted, but after all it amounts to but little more 
 than a description of the remains, which serves the good end of 
 exciting interest in the subject. The antiquities and legendary 
 history of the Peruvians have so recently been treated with such 
 ability by Mr. E. G. Squier, that the South American civiliza- 
 tion needs no attention in this connection. 
 
 In considering the question as to how long man has inhabited 
 this continent, his influence upon nature cannot be overlooked. 
 In the animal kingdom, certain animals were domesticated by 
 the aborigines from so remote a period that scarcely any of their 
 species, as in the case of the lama of Peru, were to be found in a 
 state of unrestrained freedom at the advent of the Spaniards. 
 In the vegetable kingdom more abundant testimony of the same 
 nature is presented. A plant must be subjected to the trans- 
 forming influences of cultivation for a long time before it becomes 
 so changed as no longer to be identified with the wild species, 
 and infinitely longer before it becomes entirely dependent upon 
 cultivation for propagation. Yet we find that both of these 
 facts have been accomplished with reference to the maize, tobacco, 
 
MAN'S INFLUENCE UPON NATURE. 
 
 cotton, quinoa and mandico plants ; and the only species of 
 palm cultivated by the South American Indians, that known as 
 the Gulielma speciosa^ has lost through that culture its original 
 nut-like seed, and is dependent upon the hands of its cultivators 
 for its life. 1 Alluding to the above-named plants, Dr. Brinton 
 remarks : " Several are sure to perish unless fostered by human 
 care. What numberless ages does this suggest ? How many 
 centuries elapsed ere man thought of cultivating Indian corn ? 
 How many more ere it had spread over nearly a hundred degrees 
 of latitude and lost all resemblance to its original from ? " 2 Cer- 
 tainly this class of evidence, though furnishing no chronometric 
 scale, points us to an antiquity for man on this continent more 
 venerable than that suggested either by tumuli or architectural 
 remains. The peculiar value of this argument rests in the fact 
 that with the exception of cotton, none of the plants indicated 
 
 1 Martius : Von dem Rechtszustande unter dem Ureinwohner Brasiliens, p. 80, 
 and reprinted in bis Beitrdge zur Ethnographic, etc., Leipzig, 1867, quarto. 
 " Der dermalige Zustand dieser Naturwesen beurkundet, dass die amerikanische 
 Natur schon seit Jalirtausenden den Einfluss einer verandernden und urnge- 
 staltenden Menschenhand erfaliren hat. Auf den Antillen und dem Festlande 
 fanden die ersten Conquistadores den stummen Hund als Hausthier und auf 
 der Jagd dienend, ebenso das Meerschweinchen in t. Domingo in einem heimi- 
 schen Zustande . . . Das Llama war in Peru schon seit undenklicher Zeit als 
 Lastthier beniitzt worden, und kam nicht mehr im Zustand der Freiheit vor; 
 ja sogar das Guanaco und die Vicunna scheinen damals nicht ganz wild, son- 
 dern in einer beschrankten Freiheit den Urbewohnern befreundet, gelebt zu 
 haben, da sie, um geschoren zu werden, eingefangen, so dann aber wieder frei- 
 gelassen wurden. . . . Die Cultur dieser Pflanze (Maize) aus welcher die Perua- 
 ner auch Zucker bereiteten, ist uralt ; man findet sie, und die Banane, den 
 Baumwollenstrauch, die Quinoa- und die Mandioca-Pflanze ebenso wenig wild 
 in America als unsere Getreidearten in Asien, Europa und Africa. Die einzige 
 Palme, welche von den Indianern angebaut wird, hat durch diese Cultur den 
 grossen, steinharten Saamenkern verloren, der oft in Fasern zerschmolzen, oft 
 ganzlich aufgelosl ist. Ebenso findet man die Banane, deren Einfuhr nach 
 America geschichtlich nicht nachgewiesen werden kann, immer ohne Saamen. 
 Man weiss aber aus anderen Erfahrungen, welch' lange Zeit nothwendig ist, 
 um den Pfianzen einen solchen Stempel von der umbildenden Macht mensch- 
 lichen Einflusses aufzudrucken. Gewiss, auch in America sind die dort heimi- 
 schen Nutz-Pflanzen der Menschheit seit undenklichen Zeiten zinsbar unter- 
 worfen." 
 
 2 Brinton's Myths of the New World, p. 37. 
 
112 AGASSIZ AND THE HUMAN JAW. 
 
 have ever been cultivated by any other people than the aborigines 
 of America, and could not have matured their characteristics of 
 dependence in the old world, and been brought hither through 
 the channel of immigration. 
 
 Back of the age of man's monuments of an architectural 
 character, beyond the beginning of the first existing shell-heap, 
 and at a time probably more remote than the first cultivation of 
 maize, it has been supposed that man occupied the Western Con- 
 tinent as a contemporary with the mastodon, megalonyx and other 
 extinct animals. Our information in this department is entirely 
 dependent upon the revelations of geological science. Unfor- 
 tunately very little data which may be termed truly scientific 
 has been brought to light. While considerable seeming testi- 
 mony to man's antiquity on this continent has been produced 
 from a geologic quarter, still it mostly has been of an unscientific 
 character. Fossils and human remains are said to have been 
 discovered in localities and in associations that if the statements 
 of those who found them could be relied on, would give man an 
 antiquity here as great as in the valley of the Somme or in the 
 bone caves of Belgium, France, and England. In the instances 
 alluded to, it is not so often feared that the veracity of discov- 
 erers is doubtful as that their general lack of acquaintance with 
 the science should make them liable to error. Where a com- 
 petent geologist is not present to examine a fossil in situ, and 
 report intelligently upon its position and surroundings, the case 
 must remain open to suspicion. Unfortunately for science, this 
 is precisely the weak point in most of the reputed "finds" 
 which are cited as evidence in this field. In 1848, Count Pour- 
 tales found in Florida, according to Agassiz, a human jaw and 
 teeth, and bones of the foot, embedded in a calcareous con- 
 glomerate forming a part of a coral reef. This reef, according to 
 Agassiz, may be 135,000 years old, and the human remains at 
 least ten thousand years. 1 This statement has been accepted as 
 reliable by Sir Charles Lyell, 2 Daniel Wilson, 3 and other noted 
 scientific gentlemen. Count Pourtales, however, makes a state- 
 
 1 Nott and Gliddon's Types of Mankind, p. 352. 
 
 2 Antiquity of Man, p. 44. 3 Pre-Historic Man, p. 12. 
 
REMAINS AT SANTOS RIVER, BRAZIL. 
 
 
 
 ment which materially alters the case. He says : " The human 
 jaws and other bones found by myself in Florida in 1848, were 
 not in a coral formation, but in a fresh- water sandstone on the 
 shore of Lake Monroe, associated with fresh- water shells or species 
 still living in the lakes (Paulina, Ampullaria, etc.). No date can 
 be assigned to the formation of that deposit, at least from present 
 observation." 1 Human remains were found a number of years 
 ago embedded in the solid rock in the island of Guadaloupe. 
 " But more careful investigation proved the rock to be a con- 
 cretionary limestone formed from the detritus of corals and 
 shells/' < This rock was ascertained to have been one of very 
 rapid formation. 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell, in his Travels in America in 1842, ex- 
 pressed the opinion that certain human remains found embedded 
 in the solid rock near the town of St. Paul jon the Santos Kiver, 
 Brazil, were of great antiquity. 3 Subsequently referring to the 
 memoir of Dr. Meigs on the shell-heap of which the rock was a 
 part, 4 he expresses the opinion that shells were brought to the 
 place and heaped up over the remains, and " were bound together 
 in a solid stone by the infiltration of carbonate of lime, and the 
 mound may therefore be of no higher antiquity than those above 
 alluded to on the Ohio." 3 In a few instances it has been alleged 
 that the remains of man have been found associated with the 
 remains of the mastodon and other extinct animals. More than 
 thirty years ago Dr. Dickson of Natchez discovered the pelvic 
 bone of a man, the os innominatum, mingled with the bones of 
 extinct animals (megalonyx and mylodon). This discovery was 
 made two and one-half miles from Natchez, at the bottom of 
 what is known as Bernard's Bayou, an immense ravine from 
 thirty to sixty feet deep and several miles long, formed by the 
 convulsions of the earthquake of 1811-12. This bone is now in 
 the possession of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- 
 phia. Sir Charles Lyell visited the spot where it was discovered 
 
 1 American Naturalist, vol. ii, p. 434, 1858. Also quoted by Foster, Prc- 
 Historic Races, p. 77. 
 
 2 Daniel Wilson's Pre-Historic Man, p. 12. 8 Vol. i, p. 200. 
 
 4 Meigs : Trans. Am. Phil Soc., 1828, p. 285. 5 Antiquity of Man, p. 42. 
 8 
 
114 THE NATCHEZ OS INNOMINATUM. 
 
 in 1846, and made a careful examination of the bone then in the 
 possession of Dr. Dickson, and also explored the " Mammoth 
 Ravine." He discusses the case as follows : " It appeared to be 
 quite in the same state of preservation and was of the same 
 black color as the other fossils, and was believed to have come 
 like them from a depth of about thirty feet from the surface. 
 In my Second Visit to America in 1S46, 1 1 suggested as a 
 possible explanation of this association of a human bone with 
 remains of a mastodon and megalonyx, that the former may 
 possibly have been derived from the vegetable soil at the top of 
 the cliff, where, as the remains of extinct mammalia were dis- 
 lodged from a lower position, and both may have fallen into the 
 same heap or talus at the bottom of the ravine, the pelvic 
 bone might, I conceived, have acquired its black color from having 
 lain for years or centuries in a dark superficial peaty soil common 
 in that region. I was informed that there were many human 
 bones in old Indian graves in the same district stained of as 
 black a dye." * * * " No doubt, had the pelvic bone belonged 
 to any recent mammifier other than man, such a theory would 
 never have been resorted to ; but so long as we have only one 
 isolated case, and are without the testimony of a geologist who 
 was present to behold the bone when still engaged in the matrix, 
 and to extract it with his own hands, it is allowable to suspend 
 our judgment as to the high antiquity of the fossil. 2 Both 
 Dr. Joseph Leidy 3 and Prof. C. G. Forshey, 4 who have examined 
 the case, agree with the above. A few years ago a fragment of 
 
 1 Vol. ii, p. 197. 2 Antiquity of Man, p. 203. 
 
 3 Extinct Mammalia of North America, p. 365 : " The specimen may have 
 been contemporary with the remains of extinct animals, with which it is said to 
 have been found, though it appears to me equally if not more probable that it 
 may have fallen into the formation from an Indian grave above at a compara- 
 tively recent date, and become stained like the true fossils from ferruginous 
 infiltration." 
 
 4 Foster : Pre-Historic Races, p. 61. "A dozen plantation burial places and 
 Indian mounds and camps had been exposed above for centuries ; and in recent 
 years since uninhabited by the whites (for a hundred years), the drains had cut 
 through the surface to the depth of twenty and even forty feet of the bluff 
 loam-beds. The probabilities are a hundred to one that this bone was not of 
 the bluff (mastodon) formation but of the recent era." 
 
REMAINS AT PETIT ANSE ISLAND. 115 
 
 matting composed of the outer bark of the southern cane (Arun- 
 dinaria macrosperma) was discovered on Petit Anse Island in 
 Yermillion Bay, Louisiana, in connection with the remains of a 
 fossil elephant. This island, containing about five thousand 
 acres, is the locality of an extraordinary mine of rock salt, dis- 
 covered and worked considerably during the late rebellion. The 
 salt is found in nearly all parts of the island at the depth of 
 fifteen or twenty feet below the surface of the soil. The matting 
 was discovered near the surface of the salt, and about two feet 
 above it were the remains of an elephant, including the tusks. 
 Prof. Henry was the first to call public attention to the matter 
 in a notice based on the verbal statements of T. F. Cleu, Esq., who 
 presented a specimen of the matting to the Smithsonian Institu- 
 tion. 1 In 1867, Prof. E. W. Hilgard and Dr. E. Fontaine, secretary 
 of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences, examined the locality. 
 We regret to say that the report made by the latter is so confused 
 in its use of terms and so conflicting in its statements as to be 
 of no service to science. 2 Prof. Hilgard is, on the contrary, clear 
 on the subject. He considers the heap in which the matting, 
 elephant bones, and subsequently pottery in great profusion, were 
 found, " A mass of detritus washed down from the surrounding 
 hills." " The pottery," he remarks, " at some points form verita- 
 ble strata three and six inches thick." He then adds in a note 
 that "it is very positively stated that mastodon bones were 
 found considerably above some of the human relics. In a detrital 
 mass, however, this cannot be considered a crucial test." 3 Dr. 
 Foster, after citing the above, interposes the objection, " That 
 in an island whose area is less than eight miles square, there 
 would be few floods of sufficient power to transport such heavy 
 bones as the tusks and molars of mastodons to any considerable 
 distance." 4 Certainly the question is an open one, and in its 
 
 1 Foster in Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, vol. i, part ii. 
 
 2 Fontaine's How the World was Peopled, pp. 67-89. A book with many 
 good points, but obscure as to this particular case. 
 
 3 On the Geology of Lower Louisiana and the Salt Deposit on the Petit Anse 
 Island, p. 14, in Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, No. 248. 
 
 4 Foster's Pre-Historic Races, p. 58. 
 
116 BONES AT MINAS GERAES, BRAZIL. 
 
 present unsettled status proves nothing. The same uncertainty 
 attaches itself to the discoveries of Dr. Lund, the distinguished 
 Swedish naturalist, made many years ago in the bone caves of 
 Minas Geraes, Brazil. This indefatigable investigator examined 
 more than eight hundred caverns, and in only six were human 
 remains found. In one instance out of the six, the remains were 
 associated with the bones of animals now extinct, but the original 
 stratification had been disturbed, and the presumption is that it 
 was a case of comparatively recent interment. 1 
 
 The most remarkable instance of the supposed, or we might 
 be allowed in this case to say pretended discovery of human 
 remains in association with those of extinct animals, is that set 
 forth by Dr. Koch. This collector of curiosities described his 
 discovery of a mastodon giganteus in 1839 in Gasconade County, 
 Missouri, at a spot on the Bourbeuse River, first in a newspaper 
 article of January 1839, and cited in the American Journal of 
 Science and Arts? And a second time in the St. Louis Com- 
 mercial Bulletin of June 25, 1839, which article was also 
 noticed in the above Journal. 3 This article was signed " A. Koch, 
 Proprietor of the St. Louis Museum." Subsequently he pub- 
 lished descriptions in pamphlets, which unfortunately did not 
 always convey the same impressions. 4 Dr. Koch, after referring 
 to the discovery of a back and hip bone of this remarkable animal, 
 
 1 Brinton's Myths of the New World, p. 35. 2 Vol. xxxvi, p. 198. 
 
 3 Vol. xxxvii, p. 191. 
 
 4 J. D. Dana : Koch's Evidence on the Contemporaneity of Man and the Mas- 
 todon in Missouri, in the Am. Jour, of Set. and Arts, Art. xxxv. May, 1875, 
 gives the title of two of these pamphlets as follows : 1. Description of the Mis 
 sourium or Missouri Leviathan, together with its Supposed Habits ; Indian Tra- 
 ditions Concerning the Location from which it was Exhumed ; Also, Comparisons ~ 
 of the Whale, Crocodile, and Missourium with the Leviathan, as described in 
 the Forty-first Chapter of the Book of Job : by Albert Koch, 16 pp. octavo, St. 
 Louis, 1841 (1840 on the cover, indicating that the copy is from a second edition). 
 2. Description of the Missourium Theristocaulodon (KocJi) or Missouri Leviathan 
 (Leviathan Missouriensis\ together with its Supposed Habits and Indian Tradi- 
 tions; Also, Comparisons of the Whale, Crocodile, and Missourium with the 
 Leviathan, as described in the Forty-first Chapter of the Book of Job : by Albert 
 Koch. Fifth edition enlarged, 28 pp. octavo. Dublin, 1843. (A third edition 
 of twenty -four pages appeared in London in 1841.) 
 
DR. KOCH'S MASTODON AND ARROWHEAD. H7 
 
 gives the following description : " I immediately commenced 
 opening a much larger space ; the first layer of earth was a 
 vegetable mould, then a blue clay, then sand and blue clay. I 
 found a large quantity of pieces of rocks, weighing from two to 
 twenty-five pounds each, evidently thrown there with the inten- 
 tion of hitting some object. It is necessary to remark that not 
 the least sign of rocks or gravel is to be found nearer than from 
 four or five hundred yards, and that these pieces were broken 
 from larger rocks, and consequently carried here for some express 
 purpose. After passing through these rocks I came to a layer 
 of vegetable mould ; on the surface of this was found the first 
 blue bone, with this a spear and axe ; the spear corresponds 
 precisely with our common Indian spear ; the axe is different 
 from any I have seen. Also on this earth were ashes nearly from 
 six inches to one foot in depth, intermixed with burned wood 
 and burned bones, broken spears, axes, knives, etc. The fire 
 appeared to have been the largest on the head and neck of the 
 animal, as the ashes and coals were much deeper here than in 
 the rest of the body ; the skull was quite perfect, but so much 
 burned that it crumbled to dust on the least touch ; two feet 
 from this was found two teeth broken off from the jaw, but 
 mashed entirely to pieces. By putting them together, they 
 showed the animal to have been much larger than any heretofore 
 discovered. It appeared by the situation of the skeleton, that 
 the animal had been sunk with its hind feet in the mud and 
 water, and, unable to extricate itself, had fallen on its right side, 
 and in that situation was found and killed as above described ; 
 consequently the hind and fore-feet on the right side were sunk 
 deeper in the mud, and thereby saved from the effects of the 
 fire ; therefore I was able to preserve the whole of the hind foot 
 to the very last joint, and the fore foot, all but some few small 
 bones that were too much decayed to be worth saving. Also 
 between the rocks that had sunk through the ashes, were found 
 large pieces of skin that appeared like fresh-tanned sole leather, 
 strongly impregnated with the lye from the ashes ; and a great 
 many of the sinews and arteries were plain to be seen on the 
 earth and rocks, but in such a state as not to be moved except 
 
118 DR. KOCH'S SECOND DISCOVERY. 
 
 in small pieces the size of a hand, which are now preserved in 
 spirits." " Should any doubts arise in the mind of the reader 
 of the correctness of the above statement, he can be referred to 
 more than twenty witnesses who were present at the time of 
 digging." 1 Subsequent accounts agree substantially with the 
 above except that we never again hear of the " large pieces of 
 skin," the " sinews and arteries," " which are now preserved in 
 spirits." The presumption is that the author, upon mature 
 reflection, arrived at the conclusion that in reality he had seen 
 nothing of the kind, and in fact had never preserved such relics 
 in spirits. 
 
 Dr. Koch made a second discovery about one year subse- 
 quently in Benton County, Missouri, in the bottom of the 
 Pomme-de-Terre Kiver, at about ten miles above its junction 
 with the Osage Kiver. His description is as follows : "The 
 second trace of human existence with these animals I found 
 during the excavation of the Missourium. There was embedded 
 immediately under the femur or hind-leg bone of this animal, 
 an arrow-head of rose-colored flint, resembling those used by the 
 American Indians, but of larger size. This was the only arrow- 
 head immediately with the skeleton ; but in the same strata, at 
 a distance of five or six feet, in a horizontal direction, four more 
 arrow-heads were found. Three of these were of the same 
 formation as the preceding. The fourth was of very rude work- 
 manship. One of the last-mentioned three was of agate, the 
 others of blue flint. These arrow-heads are indisputably the 
 work of human hands. I examined the deposit in which they 
 were embedded, and raised them out of their embedment with 
 my own hands. The original stratum on which this river flowed 
 at the time it was inhabited by the Missourium theristocaulodun 
 and up to the time of its destruction, was of the upper green 
 sand. On the surface of this stratum, and partly mingled with 
 it, was the deposit of the before-described skeleton. The next 
 stratum is from three to four feet in thickness, and consisted of 
 
 1 American Journal of Science and Arts, 1 830, Art. xxxvi, p. 193, and copied 
 by Mr. J. D. Dana, in his article before cited, May, 1875. 
 
DR. KOCH'S SECOND DISCOVERY. 
 
 a brown alluvium of the Eocene region, and was composed of 
 vegetable matters of a tropical production. It contained all the 
 remainder of the skeleton/' " Most of these vegetables were in a 
 great state of preservation and consisted of a large quantity of 
 cypress burs, wood and bark, tropical cane, ferns, palmetto leaves, 
 several stumps of trees, and even the greater part of a flower of 
 the strelitzia class, which when destroyed was not full blown. 
 There was no sign or indication of any very large trees ; the 
 cypresses that were discovered being the largest that were grow- 
 ing here at the time. These various matters had been torn up 
 by their roots and twisted and split into a thousand pieces 
 apparently by lightning combined with a tremendous tempest 
 or tornado ; and all were involved in one common ruin. Several 
 veins of iron pyrites ran through the stratum." " The next 
 over this formation was a layer of plastic clay of the Eocene 
 region, also with iron pyrites. It was three feet in thickness ; 
 over this a layer of conglomerate from nine to eighteen inches in 
 thickness ; over this a layer of marl of the Pliocene region, 
 from three to four feet in thickness; next, a second conglomerate 
 from nine to eighteen inches in thickness. This was succeeded 
 by a layer of yellow clay of the Pliocene; over this a third layer 
 of conglomerate from nine to eighteen inches in thickness, and 
 at last the present surface, consisting of brownish clay mingled 
 with a few pebbles, and covered with large oak, maple, and elm 
 trees, which were, as near as I could ascertain, from eighty to 
 one hundred years old. In the centre 'of the above-mentioned 
 deposit was a large spring which appeared to rise from the very 
 bowels of the earth, as it was never affected by the severest rain, 
 nor did it become lower by the longest draught." l The preced- 
 ing accounts were presented to the St. Louis Academy of 
 Sciences in a special paper several years later (1857). 2 
 
 Dr. Foster is inclined to believe that Dr. Koch was not mis- 
 taken in his claimed discovery, having arrived at that opinion 
 by pointedly questioning him on the subject a short time before 
 
 1 Dr. Koch's Pamphlet of 1843, pp. 13, 14, 27, copied by J. D. Dana. 
 
 2 Transactions of St. Louis Academy of Sciences, vol. i, 1857. 
 
120 J. D. DANA VS. DR. KOCH. 
 
 his (Koch's) death. 1 Charles Kau is also of the opinion that he 
 was truthful. 3 Mr. J. D. Dana, however, discusses the case as 
 follows : "In the account of the second case above cited Dr. 
 Koch says that the Missourium was embedded in a brown 
 alluvium of the Eocene region resting on the ' upper green 
 sand; ' that next over it was plastic clay of the i Eocene region' 
 and beds of the i Pliocene region/ He thus makes his Missou- 
 rium to have come from the lower tertiary, and from a bed just 
 above the green sand (cretaceous) when actually from quartenary 
 beds ; and he uses the terms Eocene and Pliocene, as if he had 
 no familiarity with geological facts or language. The earlier 
 pamphlet of 1840 avoids this bad geology, ' the upper green 
 sand/ in that being called simply quicksand and the other beds 
 merely beds of clay and conglomerate. All the pamphlets 
 sustain the conclusion that Dr. Koch knew almost nothing 
 of geology, and that what he gradually picked up from inter- 
 course with geologists, he generally made much of but seldom 
 was able to use rightly." 3 The same critic says : " In zoologi- 
 cal knowledge he was equally deficient," and cites the fact of 
 the discoverer recognizing the resemblance to the mastodon, still 
 makes the animal an inhabitant of the watercourses like the 
 hippopotamus ; states that his food " consisted as much of 
 vegetables as of flesh, although he undoubtedly consumed a 
 great abundance of the latter," and makes the marvelous revela- 
 tion that he "was capable of feeding himself with his forefoot 
 after the manner of the beaver or otter." Mr. Dana continues : 
 " He says that one arrow-head lay c immediately under the femur 
 or thigh-bone/ and he further states in his later article of 
 1857, that 'he carefully thought to investigate the point as to 
 its having been brought thither after the deposit of the bone ' 
 and decided against it. The observation and conclusion would 
 have been more satisfactory had the author been a better ob- 
 
 1 Foster's Pre- Historic Races, p. 62. 
 
 2 Smithsonian Report, 1872, p. 396, in a note to his article on North Ameri- 
 can Stone Implements. 
 
 3 J. D. Dana in American Journal of Science and Arts, May, 1875, p. 340. 
 
KOCH A MISTAKEN ENTHUSIAST. 121 
 
 server." " The descriptions of the deposits in Gasconade County 
 containing the remains of an animal the principal part of which 
 was consumed by fire is a still more unsatisfactory basis for a 
 safe conclusion as to age. But in the article of 1857, he says 
 that the layer of ashes, etc., ( was covered by strata or alluvial 
 deposits consisting of clay, sand and soil, from eight to nine 
 feet thick, forming the bottom of the Bourbeuse (Elver) in 
 general, which seems to make it almost certain that the beds 
 were of quite recent origin/' 1 Mr. Dana considers Dr. Koch's 
 evidence as "very doubtful." 2 Dr. Foster has figured a fossil 
 which, for a better name, he has designated as a " stone 
 hatchet/' from the modified drift of Jersey County, Illinois. 3 
 He is positive as to the position in which it was found, but has 
 doubt as to its human origin. The probabilites are that its 
 peculiar shape is due to its exposure to atmospheric agents. He 
 remarks, however : " On the whole, I will not positively assert 
 that this specimen is of human workmanship, but I affirm that 
 if it had been recovered from a plowed field I should have un- 
 hesitatingly said it was an Indian hatchet." In the Proceedings 
 of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences for July, 1859, Dr. 
 Holmes describes the occurrence of fragments of pottery in close 
 proximity with the bones of the mastodon and megatherium, 
 on the Ashley River in South Carolina. The case, however, has 
 not been considered authentic by scientific men. Dr. Holmes is 
 possibly mistaken. 4 Col. Charles Whittlesey, in 1838, saw at 
 
 1 Article cited, p. 344. 
 
 2 Though the above argument by so eminent a specialist must satisfy any 
 one that Dr. Koch's claim, as it now stands, is valueless to science ; still, it is 
 due to the memory of the latter, to admit that he was the most indefatigable 
 and successful collector in his department in this country. Though unscientific 
 himself, his service to science must ever be recognized. The great Mastodon 
 in the British Museum is a monument to his persevering research. Perhaps 
 the disposition to acknowledge his services, has unduly biased the judgment of 
 many in favor of his groundless claim. 
 
 3 Pre-Historic Races, p. 67. 
 
 4 " But it is one of those isolated cases which require further investiga- 
 tion before full credence can be attached to it." Foster's Pre-Historic Races, 
 p. 71. 
 
122 ANCIENT HEARTHS. 
 
 Portsmouth, Ohio, on the Ohio Kiver, remains of ancient fire- 
 places situated eighteen to twenty feet above low water and about 
 fifteen feet below the surface. He states, "at low water and 
 thence up to a height of twelve or fifteen feet is a bed of sand 
 and transported gravel, containing pebbles of quartz, granite, 
 sandstone and limestone, derived partly from the adjacent 
 Carboniferous and Devonian rocks and partly from the northern 
 drift, the upper part much the coarsest. On this is a layer of 
 blue quicksand from one to five feet thick, in which is a timber- 
 bed including large numbers of the trunks, branches, stumps 
 and leaves of trees, such as are now growing on the Ohio, princi- 
 pally birch, black-ash, oak and hickory. Over the dirt-bed is 
 the usually loamy yellow clay of the valley, fifteen to thirty feet 
 thick, on which are very extensive works of the Mound-builders. 
 In and near the bottom of this undisturbed homogeneous river- 
 loam I saw two places where fire had been built on a circular 
 collection of small stones, a part of which were then embedded 
 in the bank." 1 Near these fire-places the writer of the above 
 found the membranous covering of common river shells (the 
 Uinos). We think that no geologist familiar with the constant 
 changes of the Ohio Kiver bed, will consider that the conditions 
 surrounding these ancient fire-places warrant us in assigning 
 them a much greater antiquity than we attach to the Mound- 
 builders' works in the neighborhood. In 1846, Sir Charles 
 Lyell, when at New Orleans, made an estimate of the time 
 required to account for the immense annual deposit of the Mis- 
 sissippi Kiver in the neighborhood of its delta. From a compu- 
 tation based on certain data, which assumed the area of the 
 alluvial plain which is the result of those deposits, to equal 
 30,000 square miles, several hundred feet thick in some places, 
 he estimated that probably 100,000 years would be requisite. 2 
 Subsequently, during the process of excavating for the New 
 Orleans Gas Works, it was found necessary to cut through four 
 
 1 Antiquity of Man in the United States, Transactions of American Asso- 
 ciation for Advancement of Science. Chicago, 1869. 
 
 2 Second Visit to the United States. 
 
AGE OF THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA. 123 
 
 buried cypress forests. At the depth of sixteen feet and on the 
 fourth forest level, a human skeleton distinctly of the Indian 
 type/ was found under the roots of a cypress tree, together with 
 burnt wood Dr. Dowler, dividing the history of the delta into, 
 1. The epoch of grasses or aquatic plants ; 2. That of the cypress 
 (Taxodium distichum) basins, and 3. That of the live-oak 
 platform, tabulates the age of the strata overlying the skeleton 
 as follows : 
 
 Epoch of aquatic plants 1,500 years 
 
 Epoch of the cypress basin, in which he assumes 
 
 only two successive growths 11,400 " 
 
 Epoch of live-oak platform 1,500 " 
 
 Total 14,400 years 
 
 The basis for his estimate of the age of the cypress basins 
 was the computed age of the trees of the fourth level, ten feet in 
 diameter and probably reaching 5,700 years. 2 Sir Charles Lyell 
 in a later work, though still adhering to his former estimate of 
 the time required in which to form the delta, cannot accept Dr. 
 Dowler's great antiquity for the remains. 3 The question in hand 
 of course involves the question of the antiquity of the deposit 
 where the skeleton was found, which is well-nigh identical with 
 the vexed question of the age of the delta. The very diversity 
 of opinion on this subject precludes the possibility of its con- 
 sideration here. We will content ourselves by citing two esti- 
 mates in addition to those already given. Professor Edward 
 Hitchcock calculated that the entire delta embraced a bulk of 
 matter equal to 2,720 cubic miles, for the deposit of which he 
 thought 14,204 years necessary. 4 Humphries and Abbot think 
 that both the area and thickness of the deposit have been over- 
 stated, and instead of 30,000 square miles for the former, they 
 
 1 Nott and Gliddon's Types of Mankind, p. 336, and Lyell's Antiquity of 
 Man, p. 43. 
 
 2 Tableau of New Orleans, 1852, cited by Foster, Pre-Historic Races, p. 73. 
 
 3 Antiquity of Man, p. 43. 
 
 4 Surface Geology, p. 92, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. ix. 
 
124 THE NEW ORLEANS SKELETON NOT VERY ANCIENT. 
 
 claim only 19,450. As to the latter, they estimate the thickness 
 of the alluvial matter as but twenty-five feet on the river banks 
 along the St. Francis swamp ; thirty-five along the Yazoo swamp, 
 and continuing of uniform thickness to Baton Rouge ; while 
 the artesian well at New Orleans showed it in that locality to 
 reach a point forty feet below the level of the Gulf. These 
 authors base their calculations as to the age of the deposits on 
 the following ascertained facts : the total yearly contributions 
 of the river equal a prism two hundred and sixty-eight feet in 
 height, with a base of one mile square ; two hundred and sixty-two 
 feet is the supposed mean yearly advance of the river ; the original 
 mouth of the Mississippi was near the afflux of the Bayou Plaque- 
 mine, and has hence progressed two hundred and twenty miles 
 since it began to empty its deposits into the Gulf. Supposing 
 these data to be correct, they estimate that only four thousand 
 four hundred years have elapsed since that period. 1 This would 
 give the skeleton alluded to a comparatively recent origin. We are 
 inclined to believe that the above estimate assigns a period for the 
 formation of the delta as much too short as that of Sir Charles 
 was too long. As to the antiquity of the skeleton, probably Dr. 
 Foster's solution of the question is as near correct as any that ever 
 may be proposed : " Thus, then, with these carefully-observed 
 computations before us, we are not prepared to accept the high 
 antiquity assigned by Dr. Dowler to the human remains found 
 beneath the surface at New Orleans. What he regards as four 
 buried forests which once flourished on the spot, may be nothing 
 more than driftwood brought down the river in former times 
 which became embedded in the slits and sediments which were 
 deposited on what was then the floor of the Gulf." 2 
 
 If all the indications were verified, we should be justified in 
 assigning man a much greater antiquity in the Rocky Mountain 
 region and on the Pacific slope than in any other part of North 
 America. Mr. E. L. Berthoud collected numerous stone implements 
 in what he considers to be tertiary gravel on Crow Creek and 
 in the region of the South Platte River, Lat. 40 N., Long. 104 W. 
 
 1 Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi, pp. 150 et seq., and 435. 
 
 2 Pre-Historic Races, p. 76. 
 
PROFESSOR WHITNEY'S TESTIMONY. 125 
 
 Two shells secured in the same locality by him have been pro- 
 nounced a corbicula and a rangia respectively, and are thought 
 to belong to the older Pliocene or possibly to the Miocene. 1 The 
 evidence in this case is, however, unsatisfactory, and cannot be 
 admitted to be of scientific value without further authentication. 
 In 1857 a portion of a human cranium was found associated 
 with bones of the mastodon at the depth of one hundred and 
 eighty feet below the surface in a mining shaft at Table Moun- 
 tain, California. Dr. C. F. Winslow sent this fragment to the 
 Boston Natural History Society, but no importance was attached 
 to it, since no other evidence other than that furnished by work- 
 men in the mine could be obtained. Subsequently, when an 
 entire skull was reported to have been found in the gold drift 
 near Angelos in Calaveras County, in a shaft one hundred and 
 fifty feet deep, the intelligent portion of the community pro- 
 nounced the finder guilty of a scientific fraud, and it is not yet a 
 certainty that their decision was incorrect. However, Professor 
 Whitney, of the State Geological Survey, upon hearing of the 
 case examined the mine, and found that the shaft passed through 
 five beds of lava and volcanic tufa and four beds of auriferous 
 gravel. It was in one of these beds that the skull was said to 
 have been found. Some of the cemented gravel was still adhering 
 to the skull when it came into the Professor's possession, and 
 Professor Wyman, to whom it was submitted subsequently, 
 refers to the difficulty which he had in removing the incrustation. 
 Professor Whitney, on the testimony of the possessor of the skull, 
 pronounced it an authentic " find," and while his decision has 
 been acquiesced in by a number of scientific gentlemen of repute, 
 Professor Wyman among them, still the great majority, we 
 believe, are unwilling to rest their faith on such slender evidence. 
 Though no crack was apparent through which the skull might 
 have fallen from the surface, such might have existed at an 
 earlier period. In a region which is the product of volcanic 
 action there is room for suspicion, especially in cases like both 
 of these, where, as Sir Charles Lyell has said, no geologist was 
 
 1 Philadelphia Acad. of Natural Sciences. Proceedings, Part 1, 1872. Also 
 Foster, pp. 69-71. 
 
126 INTER-GLACIAL RELICS IN OHIO. 
 
 present at the moment of discovery to see the fossil in situ and 
 extricate it with his own hands from the matrix which con- 
 tained it. 
 
 President Edward Orton, of the Ohio State University, 
 recently called our attention to the discovery of relics of human 
 workmanship found many years ago near Waynesville, Ohio, at 
 the depth of over twelve feet below the surface. Dr. Robert 
 Furnas, a clergyman of the Society of Friends, courteously 
 furnished us the following statement : " The relic was obtained 
 about the year 1824. It was in the process of digging a well 
 for my grandfather. My father, then twenty-one years of age, 
 was performing the work of excavation, when at the depth of 
 thirteen or fourteen feet he came to a dark mould about two feet 
 deep, on the top of which was lying a thimble and a piece of 
 coarse cloth six inches wide and a yard long. The outer edge 
 containing the fringe showing the end of the chain or warp at 
 the end of the fabric and point of fastening in weaving." " The 
 removal above after passing through the soil consisted of solid 
 clay of a yellowish-brown color. The farm was purchased by 
 my grandfather in 1803, and occupied by him to the time of his 
 death in 1863. He was the pioneer of the place, having settled 
 there in an unbroken forest. The location is on the top of 
 the hill on the east side of the Little Miami River forty or fifty 
 feet above the level of the stream. The cloth soon lost all traces 
 of texture on coming in contact with the air. The thimble was 
 in a pretty good state of preservation." 1 Professor Orton, who 
 has examined the locality and studied the case in hand, expressed 
 the opinion to us that it was not only authentic, but (while not 
 amounting to absolute proof) seemed to associate man's works 
 with a deposit which has furnished remains of the mastodon. 
 The Professor considers the dark mould referred to as that upon 
 which the relics were lying to be of an inter-glacial vegetable 
 deposit peculiar to Southern Ohio, and once constituting an 
 ancient surface of the land inhabited with animal life. 2 The 
 
 1 This letter bears date December 24, 1876, written from Waynesville, Ohio, 
 and signed by Robert F. Furnas, M.D. 
 
 2 Prof. Orton in Geology of Highland County in "Progress of the Ohio 
 
INTER-GLACIAL MAN IN NEW JERSEY. 127 
 
 cloth from its coarse character bears a resemblance to that of the 
 mounds, while its length of just a yard is suggestive of more 
 modern measurements. 1 
 
 Dr. C. C. Abbott claims to have discovered recently, paleo- 
 lithic implements in the glacial drift in the valley of the Dela- 
 ware Kiver near Trenton, New Jersey. Among a number of 
 rude implements from the undisturbed gravel of the region is 
 a spear-head, found six feet from the surface, on the site of the 
 Lutheran Church, Broad Street, Trenton, N. J. The circum- 
 stances surrounding it were such as to justify the conclusion that 
 the weapon had not gotten into its position where found " sub- 
 sequently to the deposition of the containing layer of pebbles." 
 Subsequent investigation has brought to light sixty well fin- 
 ished flint implements, all of them from what appears to be 
 undisturbed drift. Some of the relics have as many as from 
 twenty to forty planes of cleavage, all equally weathered. The 
 specimens are not unlike their neolithic counterparts taken from 
 the aboriginal graves and stone cists of Tennessee. 2 Dr. Ab- 
 bott concludes that the gravel, boulders, and rude implements 
 associated with them were deposited by ice-rafts on the descent 
 of a glacier down the valley, and that man more rude and 
 ancient than the red Indian dwelt at the foot of the glacier, 
 being driven south by its advance and following it again to the 
 
 Geological Survey in 1870" published 1871, and in vol. I. of State Geological 
 Report, p. 442. 
 
 1 Prof. Winchell remarks : " The very general interest that is being excited 
 in this country in the problems that invest the history of the drift is my only 
 excuse for calling your attention to the prevalence of vegetable remains in the 
 Drift of the North-west, and to the wide divergence of high authorities on the 
 relative position of those remains in respect to the boulder clay." See Proceed- 
 ings, p. 56, Am. Ass. for Adv. Sci., 1875, 24th Meeting. 
 
 2 Eleventh Annual Report of the Pedbody Museum, p. 226, Cambridge, 1878. 
 Dr. Abbott concludes his interesting report by citing a letter from Mr. Thomas 
 Belt, dated Grant, Colorado, June 29, 1878, in which the writer reports the 
 discovery of " a small human skull in undisturbed loess, in a railway cutting- 
 about two miles from Denver, near the watershed between the South Platte 
 and Clear Creek. All the plains are covered with a drift deposit of granitic 
 and quartzose pebbles, overlaid by a sandy and calcareous loam closely resem- 
 bling the diluvial clay and the loess of Europe." The skull was found at a 
 point three and a half feet from the surface. Ibid, p. 257. 
 
128 INTER-GLACIAL MAN IN NEW JERSEY. 
 
 north upon its return. 1 Professors Shaler and Pumpelly, how- 
 ever, while considering the deposit as of glacial origin, think it 
 was subsequently modified by water-action. Dr. Abbott, with 
 great fairness, admits that, "Inasmuch as such subsequent action 
 may have occurred long after the final deposition of the gravel, 
 as true glacial drift, the antiquity of the contained stone imple- 
 ments is proportionately lessened." Professor Shaler, after a 
 partial examination of the locality, remarks that " if these re- 
 mains are really those of man, they prove the existence of inter- 
 glacial man on this part of our shore." 2 Dr. Abbott and Prof. 
 Aug. E. Grote believe that the Eskimo is the surviving rep- 
 resentative of paleolithic and glacial man in North America. 
 The latter believes that man reached this continent during the 
 Pliocene, and before the ice-period had interfered with a warm 
 climate in the north. 3 It is therefore apparent that much 
 uncertainty attends both the discoveries of Dr. Abbott and 
 the interesting speculations of Professor Grote. Judgment 
 must be suspended in both cases until more light can be ob- 
 tained. On page 30, we referred to mounds examined in the 
 Northwest, N. lat. 47, W. long. 98 38', by General H. W. 
 Thomas. 4 In these mounds crania indicating a very low type 
 of intelligence were discovered in form resembling skulls of the 
 great Gibbon monkey. 5 From the standpoint of the develop- 
 
 1 Tenth Annual Report of Peabody Museum, Cambridge, 1877, vol. ii, pp. 
 30-43 ; American Naturalist, June, 1876, p. 329. 
 
 2 Tenth Annual Report of Peabody Museum, p. 47. 
 
 3 Grote, The Peopling of America, American Naturalist, April, 1877. 
 
 4 Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, under Dr. 
 Hayden in 1872, p. 657. 
 
 5 General Thomas gives the following account of this form of skull discov- 
 ered by him, p. 657: "It is unlike that of any human being to-day alive on 
 this continent ; the frontal bone being low, receding, growing narrow and 
 pinched from the brows up ; the top of the head depressed in the centre. The 
 cavity of the cranium is full seven inches long, and a scant four and a half 
 inches wide. The orbital ridges or eyebrows are excessively developed, like 
 those of the great Gibbon monkey. In fact the whole skull resembles that 
 of the great Gibbon monkey. The malar or cheek bones run down very low 
 and deep toward the lower jaw, are set very far to the front, and are not wide 
 at top, but widen very much toward the bottom. The n'ose, and here is the 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN THE NORTH-WEST. 129 
 
 ment theory (and by this we do not mean evolution, but that 
 progression which takes place when a savage advances from his 
 low state toward civilization), the evidences are abundant that 
 man is older by far on the Western side of the continent and 
 perhaps in the Northwest, than elsewhere in the new world. 
 Though this discovery by General Thomas does not reach back 
 in antiquity to geologic times, still it cannot be denied that a 
 considerable period must have elapsed before low-type crania 
 of the Northwest could have developed into the crania of the 
 Ohio Valley Mounds. Professor James Orton, in commenting 
 on the investigations of Wilson on the coast of Equador, refers 
 to the discovery of gold, copper and stone vestiges of a former 
 population in the system of terraces traced from the coast 
 through the province of Esmeraldas to Quito. He remarks: 
 " In all cases these relics are situated below high- tide mark, in 
 a bed of marine sediment, from which he (Wilson) infers that 
 this part of the country formerly stood higher above the sea. If 
 this be true, vast must be the antiquity of these remains, for 
 the upheaval and subsidence of the coast is exceedingly slow." 1 
 The antiquity of man in Europe is an established fact, but how 
 
 anomaly, is much more aquiline than that of the Indian. The superior 
 maxillary is one-third deeper and much more prominent than the Indian's. 
 The inferior maxillary is of uncommon prominence, depth, and power, far 
 exceeding that of the Indian. The mouth is narrow and long, more dog- 
 shaped than the Indian's. The foramen magnum or aperture at base of skull, 
 where the spinal cord enters the head, is peculiarly small. The condyloid pro- 
 cesses are full, oblong, flat on the working surfaces, and at such an angle as to 
 set the head upward and back more than any race we know to-day on this con- 
 tinent. Set one of these skulls, without the lower jaw, on the table, and a line 
 drawn from the upper jaw perpendicularly upward would be a good inch and a 
 half in front of the forehead. Set on the lower jaw and it would be two inches. 
 Mr. R. D. Guttgisal, formerly an engineer on the Mexican Central Railroad, in 
 connection with some friends, opened a mound at Chihuahua, on the line 
 of that railroad. The skulls resembled those I have described (so he informs 
 me) in every particular. He especially remembers the somewhat bird-shaped 
 head, and the excessively small foramen magnum. The bodies were not 
 interred horizontally there, but leaning backward as if in a rocking-chair. 
 Professor H. H. Smith, University of Pennsylvania, has one of the skulls. 
 
 1 Professor James Orton, The Andes and the Amazons, third ed., p. 109, 
 New York, 1876. 
 
 9 
 
130 MAN OF RECENT ORIGIN IN AMERICA. 
 
 remote is a question which science as yet fails to answer. When 
 geologic research opens up Central Asia, no doubt man will be 
 found to have existed there a long period anterior to his advent 
 in Europe. But for the decadence of Arabic glory and learning 
 we should now probably be in possession of a fund of information 
 concerning that region as well as of man's early history. Were 
 the discovery of the human skull in the gold drift of California 
 an authentic case, we should have strong reasons for supposing 
 a remote intercourse existed between Asia and the Pacific coast. 
 It is quite certain the crania of the North-west Mounds, as com- 
 pared with those of the Mississippi region, clearly point to that 
 fact. We have seen that as yet no truly scientific proof of man's 
 great antiquity in America exists. This conclusion is concurred 
 in by most eminent authorities. 1 At present we are probably 
 not warranted in claiming for him a much longer residence on 
 this continent than that assigned him by Sir John Lubbock, 
 namely, 3,000 years. Future research may develop the fact 
 that man is as old here as in Europe, and that he was contem- 
 poraneous with the Mastodon. As the case stands in the 
 present state of knowledge, it furnishes strong presumptive 
 evidence that man is not autochthonic here, but exotic, having 
 originated in the old world, perhaps thousands of years prior to 
 reaching the new. 
 
 1 Sir John Lubbock, alluding to the changes that have transpired in the 
 condition of man from his first appearance in America, says : " But even if we 
 attribute to these changes all the importance which ever has been claimed for 
 them, they will not require an antiquity of more than three thousand years. I 
 do not, of course, deny that the period may have been very much greater, but 
 in my opinion, at least, it need not be greater." Pre- Historic Times, p. 234, 
 London, 1865. 
 
 Dr. Foster, after giving many of the reputed proofs of man's antiquity 
 here, sums up the argument in the following language: "The evidence, it 
 must be confessed, rests, in most cases, upon the testimony of a single observer, 
 and besides, there has not been a recurrence of ' finds ' in the same deposit 
 (except in the gravel beds of Colorado and Wyoming, which require further 
 investigation to command an unqualified belief), as in the valley of the Somme 
 and in the European caves, which is so conclusive as to the existence of man as 
 contemporary with the great Pachyderms." Foster's Pre-Hlstoric Races, p. 71. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DIVERSITY OF OPINION AS TO THE ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT 
 
 AMERICANS. 
 
 Conflict of Discovery and Dogmatism Antipodes Arabic Learning in the 8th 
 Century Spirit of Early Writers on America Common Opinion as to the 
 Origin of the Americans Father Duran Lost Tribes of Israel Garcia 
 Lascarbot Villagutierre Torquemada Pineda, etc. Abbe Domenech 
 Modern Views Pre-Columbian Colonization Plato's Atlantis Kings- 
 borough The Book of Mormon Phoenicians George Jones Greek and 
 Egyptian Theories The Tartars Japanese and Chinese Theories Fusang 
 The Mongol Theory Traces of Buddhism White-Man's-Land The 
 Northmen The Welsh Claim. 
 
 VAKIOIJS perplexing problems presented themselves to the 
 minds of the discoverers of the new continent for solution, 
 as well as to their immediate successors, which were greatly 
 intensified by the dogmatic teaching of the times. The status 
 of science in the Middle Ages was defined from time to time by 
 some ecclesiastical utterance without any reference to the phe- 
 nomena of nature or the revelations of accidental discovery. We 
 say accidental, for no designed or systematic investigation was 
 so much as tolerated, much less encouraged by friendly recogni- 
 tion. This unfortunate antagonism to progress had its founda- 
 tion chiefly in ignorance, and its origin in the misinterpretation 
 and perversion of Sacred Scripture. 
 
 Two questions, especially in view of the dogmatic utterances 
 of the day, presented grave difficulties to the minds of the dis- 
 coverers and their successors in the New World. "Is the world 
 a sphere ? " " Are the Inhabitants of the Indias of a common 
 origin with the rest of mankind ? " These were the most serious 
 problems that forced themselves upon their consideration. As 
 
132 ANTIPODES. 
 
 long ago as 280 B. c., the investigations of Aristarchus of Samos, 
 though not accepted by antiquity, suggested an affirmative 
 answer to the first question. But the Fathers of the Church 
 had spoken authoritatively on this subject at quite an early day, 
 and consequently left no room for speculation. St. Augustine 
 discusses the question as follows : " But as to the fable that 
 there are antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the 
 earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with 
 their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground credible. And, 
 indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learned by historical 
 knowledge, but by scientific conjecture, on the ground that the 
 earth is suspended within the cavity of the sky, and that it has 
 as much room on the one side of it as on the other ; hence they 
 say that the part which is beneath us must also be inhabited. 
 But they do not remark that although it be supposed or scien- 
 tifically demonstrated that the world is of a round and spherical 
 form, yet it does not follow that the other side of the earth is 
 bare of water ; or even though it be bare, does it immediately 
 follow that it is peopled. For Scripture, which proves the truth 
 of its historical statements by the accomplishment of its prophe- 
 cies, gives no false information ; and it is too absurd to say that 
 some men might have taken ship and traversed the whole wide 
 ocean, and crossed from this world to the other, and that thus 
 even the inhabitants of that distant region are descended from 
 that one first man." 1 
 
 Though, during the kalifate of Al-Mamoun (A. D. 813-833) 
 Arabic learning had well-nigh demonstrated the globular form 
 of the earth and determined its circumference, according to their 
 measurements, to be about 24,000 miles, still not a man in Chris- 
 tendom ventured to advocate the theory for almost half a dozen 
 
 1 De Cimtate Dei, lib. xvi, cap. 9. Above I have availed myself of the 
 admirable translation by Rev. Marcus Dods, vol. ii, p. 118. Edinburgh, 1871. 
 On the subject of Antipodes we may refer the reader to the view of Cosmos 
 Indicopleustes, an Egyptian of the middle of the 6th century. See Draper's 
 Conflict between Religion and Science, p. 65, and the opinion of the Venerable 
 Bede, cited by the same author. See further Bancroft's Native Eaces of the 
 Pacific States, vol. v, pp. 1-8, and Ogilby's America, pp. 6-7. 
 
ARABIC LEARNING IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY. 133 
 
 centuries, such was the power of the ban put upon investigation 
 which ran counter to the pre-expressed opinions of a dark age. 
 The theories of Tascanelli and the observations of Columbus on 
 the polar star prepared the way for the great triumph achieved 
 by De Gama in 1497-8, in his voyage around the Cape of Good 
 Hope ; and the question of the globular form of the earth was 
 forever set at rest twenty-two years afterwards by the voyage 
 of Magellan. 1 When it was definitely determined that America 
 was a continent of itself and not the eastern extremity of India, 
 the fact that it was inhabited gave rise to speculations which 
 have since been often repeated. Through an unaccountable 
 misapprehension, not only the questions of the origin of the 
 Americans, but the manner of their separation from the rest of 
 the race, together with the routes they pursued in reaching the 
 new world all were thought to be capable of solution by the 
 light of Scripture. The education of the early writers enables 
 us to account for the intolerance with which they looked upon 
 any other solution of the problem than that which alone would 
 conform to the teachings of the church. 2 
 
 It is true that the natural nobility of character possessed by 
 such writers as Las Casas, Duran and a few others, tempered the 
 fanaticism which had been inculcated by education, and enabled 
 
 1 R. H. Major's Prince Henry of Portugal, chap. xxi. London, 1868, 8vo. 
 Draper's Conflict, pp. 163-5. 
 
 2 The narrowness of the attainments of the " educated " in Spain in the 
 17th century is portrayed by Buckle : " Books, unless they were books of devo- 
 tion, were deemed utterly useless ; no one consulted them, no one collected 
 them ; and until the 18th century, Madrid did not possess a single public 
 library. * * * De Torres, who was himself a Spaniard, and was educated at 
 Salamanca early in the 18th century, declares that he had studied in the uni- 
 versity for five years before he had heard that such things as the mathematical 
 sciences existed. So late as the year 1771, the same university publicly refused 
 to allow the discoveries of Newton to be taught ; and assigned as a reason, that 
 the system of Newton was not so consonant with revealed religion as the system 
 of Aristotle." History of Civilization in England, vol. ii, pp. 72-3. New York, 
 1861. Of course these remarks apply to Spain's period of misfortune and decline, 
 but it must also be remembered that the spirit of intolerance which alone 
 brought about that condition was at its height about the time of the discovery 
 of America. 
 
134 OPINION AS TO THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. 
 
 them to furnish invaluable information concerning the real con- 
 dition and traditions of the so-called Indians. But, upon the 
 other hand, there were great numbers of blind, unscrupulous 
 ecclesiastics who either destroyed outright the manuscripts and 
 picture-writing of the natives, committing them to the flames, 
 or so warping tradition in order that it might conform to their 
 mistaken theology, that in many cases the most precious infor- 
 mation is irretrievably lost. Such men could hardly be expected 
 to have treated calmly and with any degree of liberality the 
 question before us one which has so often been asked, but as 
 yet never satisfactorily answered, and one which in the present 
 state of knowledge cannot be." 1 
 
 The unanimity with which the most celebrated writers on 
 the Americans during three centuries following the discovery, 
 fixed upon a solution of the problem, will be best illustrated in 
 the following pages : One of the most ingenious and at the 
 same time most calmly expressed opinions on the origin problem 
 is that recorded by Father Duran, a native of Tezcuco in 
 Mexico, in his History of New Spain, written in the year 1585. 2 
 
 1 Mr. Bancroft has illustrated the spirit of this latter class by quoting a 
 passage from Garcia's Origende Los Indios, Madrid, 1729, p. 248. It is certainly 
 one of the most venomous and narrow-minded utterances on record. See Ban- 
 croft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 4. 
 
 2 Historia Antigua de la Nueva Espana con Noticias de los Ritos y Costum- 
 bres de los Indios y Explication del Calendario Mexicano, por F. Diego Duran, 
 Escrita en el ano de 1585 ; MS. in three vols. folio of upwards of 1000 pp. 
 each. On p. 507, torn, iii, we find notice of December, 1579, as the date at 
 which that stage of the work was reached. Copy in the library of Congress at 
 Washington. From Beristain's Biblioteca Hispano- Americana, Septentrional, 
 torn, i, p. 442, Mexico, 1816, we quote the following : " Duran (F. Diego) 
 a quien el Illmo. Eguara, p. 324, de su Biblioteca da equivocadamente el 
 nombre de Pedro, y a quien el Jesuita Clavigero llama Fernando con igual 
 equivocacion. Fue natural de Tezcuco, antigua corte de los Emperadores 
 Megicanos ; y Profeso el Orden de Santo Domingo, en el Convento Imperial de 
 Megico, a 8 de Margo de 1556. Era varon Docto en Theologia, y de vasta 
 erudicion en la historia antigua de los Indios ; pero molestado de enfermeda- 
 des en sus anos ultimos, no pudo dar a luz publica los bellos libros, que tenia 
 compuestos, los mas amenos y gustosos, que hasta entonces se habian escrito 
 sobre las cosas de Indias, como se explica el Illmo. Daila Padilla, y repetieron 
 despues los criticos franceses Querif y Echard. El referido Arzo-Bispo aiiade, 
 
LOST TRIBES OP ISRAEL. 
 
 135 
 
 He was convinced that the natives had a foreign origin, and that 
 they performed a long journey of many years duration in their 
 migration to the new world. He arrived at these conclusions on 
 account of several considerations, some of which are as follows : 
 The natives had no definite knowledge of their origin, some 
 claiming to have proceeded from fountains and springs of water, 
 others that they were natives of certain caves, and others that 
 they were created by the gods, while all admit that they had 
 come from other lands. Furthermore, they preserved in their 
 traditions and pictures the memory of a journey in which they 
 had suffered hunger, thirst, nakedness and all manner of afflic- 
 tions, "with which," he adds, "my opinion and supposition is 
 confirmed that these natives are of the ten tribes of Israel that 
 Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians, made prisoners and carried 
 to Assyria in the time of Hoshea, king of Israel, and in the 
 time of Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, as can be seen in the 
 fourth Book of the Kings, seventeenth chapter, where it says 
 that Israel was carried away from their land to Assyria, etc., 
 from whence, says Esdras, in Book Fourth, chapter third, they 
 went to live in a land, remote and separated, which had never 
 been inhabited, to which they had a long and tedious journey 
 of a year and a half, for which reason it is supposed these 
 people are found in all the islands and lands of the ocean consti- 
 tuting the Occident." l The preceding opinion was concurred in 
 
 que el P. Juan de Torar, Jesuita Megicano, en cuyo poder paraban los manu- 
 scritos de su paisano Duran, se los dio al P. Jose de Acosta a quien servieron 
 mucho para su Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias, en lo qual convienen 
 Pinelo y D. Nicolas Antonio. Los dichos MSS. eran : Historia de los Indios 
 de la N. E. AntiguaMas de los Indios dela N. E. 
 
 1 " Cuanto a lo primero tendremos por principal fundamento el ser esta 
 Nacion y Gente Indiana advenediza de estrafias y remotas regeiones, y que en 
 su venida a poseer esta Tierra liizo un largo y prolijo camino, en el cual gasto 
 mnchos meses y anos para llegar a ella, como de su relacion y pinturas se 
 colige, y como de algunos viejos ancianos de muchos dias he procurado saber 
 para sacar esta opinion en limpio ; y dado caso que algunos cuenten algunas falsas 
 fabulas conviene a saber, que nacieron de unas fuentes y manantiales de agua ; 
 otros, que nacieron de unas cuebas ; otros, que su generacion es de los Dioses ; 
 lo cual clara y abiertamente se ve ser fabula, y que ellos mismos ignoran su 
 origen y principle, dado caso que siempre confiessan habre venido de tierras ; y 
 
136 LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL. 
 
 by many Spanish writers ; but the first English writer to sup- 
 port the theory was Thorowgood, in his work entitled, Jewes in 
 America. 1 I/Estrange, who replied to this work, controverted 
 the theory of the lost tribes of Israel, but concluded that Shem 
 was the progenitor of the Americans ; that he was ninety-eight 
 years old at the time of the flood, and was not present at the 
 building of Babel. 2 " Thus far," he quaintly remarks, " have I 
 offered my week conceptions, first, how America may be collected 
 to have bin first planted, not denying the Jewes leave to goe 
 into America, but not admitting them to be the chief or prime 
 planters thereof, for I am of opinion, that the Americans origi- 
 nated before the captivity of the ten tribes, even from Sem's near 
 progeny." 3 Garcia presents an argument in favor of the same 
 theory, based upon the presence of Scripture names in Peru and 
 Yucatan. He is positive that the word Peru has the same 
 meaning as Ophir, the name of the grandson of Heber, from 
 whom the Hebrews derive their name. In Yucatan he also 
 finds the name lectan, identical with that of Ophir's father. 4 
 
 asi lo he hallado pintado en sus antiguas pinturas, donde senalan grandes 
 trabajos de hambre, sed, y desnudez, con otras innumerables afliciones que en 
 el pasaron hasta llegar a esta tierra y poblalla ; con lo cual confirmo mi opinion 
 y sospechia de que estos Naturales sean de aquellos diez Tribus de Isrrael que 
 Salmanasar, Rey de los Asirios cautivo y transmigro de Asiria en tiempe de 
 Ozeas, Rey de Isrrael, y en tiempo de Ozequias, Rey de Jerusalem, como se prodra 
 ver su el cuarto Libro de los Reyes, capitulo diez y siete, donde dice que fue 
 transladado Isrrael de su tierra a los Asirios hasta el dia de hoy, etc.; de los cuales 
 dice Esdras en el Libro cuarto, capitulo trece, que se pasaron a vivir a una tierra 
 remota y apartada que nunca habia sido habitada ; a la cual habia largo y pro- 
 lijo camino de ano y medio, donde agora se hallan estas Gentes de todas las 
 Islas y Tierra firma del mar oceano hacia la parte de occidente. Historia 
 Antigua de la Nueva Espana, torn, i., pp. 1-2, MS. 
 
 1 London, small quarto, 1650 ; we have both this and the edition of 1660 
 before us. 
 
 2 Harmon L'Estrange, Kt., Americans No Jewes; or Improbabilities that the 
 Americans are of that Race, p. 4. 1652 ; quarto, London. 3 Id., p. 13. 
 
 4 " De suerte que aviendose conservado este nombre Piru, que es lo mismo 
 que Ophir, en aquellas tierras, y hallandose que los moradores dellas parecen a 
 los Hebreos en muchas cosas, bien se signe que a quellos Indios, y los demas 
 proceden de Ophir nieto de Heber de quien los Hebreos, y su lengua tomaron el 
 nombre. Tambien se halla el nombre de lectan padre de Ophir en la provincia 
 
GARCIA AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 137 
 
 However, with a determination not to be surpassed by any other 
 theorist who might assume the unity of the race as the basis 
 of his conjectures, he offers a plan for populating the new world 
 so comprehensive that no room was left for originality in any 
 who might follow him in the same field. Hispaniola, Cuba and 
 neighboring isles, he believed to have been peopled by the Car- 
 thaginians. The natives of other parts proceeded from the ten 
 lost tribes ; others from the people whom Ophir commanded to 
 colonize Peru; others from the people living in the isle Atlantis; 
 others from regions adjoining that island, and by means of it 
 passed to America ; otbers from the Greeks ; otbers from the 
 Phoenicians, and still others from the Chinese and Tartars. 1 
 Lescarbot cites five opinions on the subject, all based more or 
 less on scriptural authority, and adds his own that the Ameri- 
 cans were the descendants of Noah. He thinks it not impossible 
 for voyagers to have reached the western continent when Solo- 
 mon's ships were sent on voyages of three years' duration. 2 
 Herrera, with characteristic soberness, states that because of the 
 lack of knowledge concerning the proximity of the continents at 
 the " ends of the earth " he is unable to say positively from 
 whom the natives were descended, but it seems most reasonable 
 to him to suppose that they are the descendants of men who 
 passed to the West Indies by the proximity of the land. 3 Vil- 
 lagutierre reiterates the same opinion, believing that Noah's 
 descendants were able to reach the new world either by land in 
 some unknown quarter, or by swimming, or by embarking in 
 canoes and balsas, for short distances. He supposes that animals 
 reached the new continent in the first two ways. 4 Torquemada, 
 after a long discussion of the subject, falls in with this view, 
 
 que oy se llama Yucatan, en la Nueva Espana, que no es pequeno fundemento 
 para provar que ya que no pusiesse aquel nombre lectan, por no aver ydo a 
 aquella tierra, pudo ser que lo diesse su hijo Ophir." Origen de los Indios, 
 p. 323. Ed., Valencia, 1607. 
 
 1 Origen de los Indios, ( Valencia, 1607), p. 485. 
 
 2 Hist, de la Nouvelle France, lib. i, cap. iii, p. 25. Paris, 1611. 
 
 3 Ilistoria General de los Hechos de los Castellanos, Madrid, 1728-30, fol. 
 decada 1, lib. i, cap. vi. 
 
 4 Historia de la Conquista Itza, p. 27, Madrid, 1701, fol. 
 
138 ECHEVARRIA Y VEITIA. 
 
 adding, however, the opinion that, because of their color, they in 
 all probability were descended from the sons and grandsons 
 of Ham. 1 Pineda adopts substantially the preceding opinion, 
 but improves upon it somewhat by pointing out the particular 
 branch of the family of Ham, to which we may trace the origin 
 of the first Americans. For some reason, perhaps no more 
 apparent to himself than us, he designates Naphtuhim, son 
 of Mezraim and grandson of Ham, as their progenitor. He 
 thinks that the colonization was accomplished soon after the 
 confusion of tongues, and may have been effected in any of the 
 numerous ways we have previously mentioned. He cites the 
 tradition of Yotan as a proof. 2 Siguenza y Gongora and Sister 
 Agnes de la Cruz, according to Clavigero, were the authors of 
 this opinion, who further designated Egypt as the starting-point 
 for that important expedition of colonists. 3 
 
 Echevarria y Veitia treats the subject fully, tracing it through 
 the traditions of the people. He cites their creation and flood 
 myths, their account of the building of the Tower of Babel and 
 the confusion of tongues, their dispersion upon the face of the 
 earth, and the passage of seven families to the new world (to 
 Hue hue Tlappalari) by means of balsas, with which they crossed 
 rivers and arms of the sea which they encountered in their jour- 
 ney. Though minute in his details, he does nothing more in 
 this respect than other important writers to whom we shall refer 
 in a further chapter, except that his computations by means of 
 the Mexican calendar have enabled him to assign dates to some of 
 these occurrences, which, though they probably are not accurate, 
 are at least interesting. His study of the Mexican paintings con- 
 vinces him that the natives had a foreign origin. 4 The same author 
 
 1 Aunque la veridad es que ellos, y por hablar mas propriamente los otros de 
 quien descendieron, por Generacion Natural, son de los Hijos de Noe * * * 
 j segun lo que tenemos diclio, en otra parte, acerca de el color de estas gentes, 
 no tendria por cosa descaminada, creer que son descendientes de los Hijos, u 
 Nietos de Cham, tercero Hijo de Noe. Monarquia, Ind., torn, i, p. 30. 
 
 2 Pineda in Soc. Mex. Geog. Boletin, 1852, p. 343 ; see tradition of Votan, 
 this work, chap. v. 
 
 3 StoriaAnt. del Messico, torn, iv, p. 17 ; cited by Bancroft. 
 
 4 Historia del origen de gentes que pdblaron la America Septentrional que 
 
ABBE DOMENECH. ^39 
 
 in a part of his work refers to the giants as the first inhabitants of 
 the country, but fails to state whether they came from the old 
 world or not. 1 Ulloa thinks Noah's long and aimless voyage in 
 the ark was not without fruit to the science of navigation. It 
 gave confidence to his immediate descendants, who no doubt 
 were enterprising enough to construct similar vessels and under- 
 take voyages in them. These, falling in with adverse winds and 
 treacherous currents, were driven to strange islands and even to 
 the new world, and being unable to return, became the first 
 colonists in these remote regions. He thinks the custom of eat- 
 ing raw fish, common to the American tribes, was acquired during 
 long sea voyages. 2 The Abbe Domenech's opinion has been 
 cited by Mr. Bancroft in his summary of the views of this class 
 of writers ; we presume, however, only for the amusement of the 
 reader. 3 The Abbe, less than a score of years ago, committed 
 himself to the ludicrous and antiquated theory that Ophir had 
 colonized Peru. 4 Clavigero considers the creation, flood, and 
 
 Hainan la Nueva Espalia con noticia de los primeros que ettablederon la Monar- 
 quia, que en ella florecio de la Nation Tolteca, y notidas que alcanzaron de la 
 creadon del Mundo (date at end of first vol. 1755, and end of third 1780), par 
 M. Fer. de Echevarria y Veitia, pp. 24-30, chap, i, torn, i, MS. Three vols. 
 folio, in Library of Congress at Washington. About one-fourth of the work is 
 published in Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., torn. viii. 
 
 1 Ilistoria, cap. xii, torn, i, p. 92, MS. ; of Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., 
 torn, viii, p. 189. 
 
 2 Noticias Americanos, pp. 391-5, 405-7. Cited by Bancroft, Native Races, 
 vol. v, p. 10. 
 
 3 Native Races, vol. v, p. 11. 
 
 4 Deserts, vol i, p. 26. But what else could be expected of the editor of that 
 curiosity of Americo-Germanic literature executed by some German school-boy 
 and unearthed in the Arsenal Library at Paris, entitled Manuscript Picto- 
 graphique Americain precede d'une notice sur V Ideographic des Peaux-Rouges, 
 par 1'Abbe Em. Domenech, Paris, 1860. Published under the auspices of the 
 Minister of State and of the Emperor Napoleon III. See also Le Lure des 
 Sauvages au Point de Veu de la Civilization Francaise, Brussels, 1861. The 
 internal evidences of this remarkable MS. being the work of a German boy are 
 plain to any one having the slightest knowledge of the German language. 
 How the Abbe and the Emperor could have been so blinded to its real character 
 we cannot imagine ; however, it would be unfair to leave the impression that, 
 because of the theory of Ophir's colonization and because of this literary blun- 
 der, the Abbe's work entitled Seven Years Residence in the Great Deserts of 
 
140 COMPARATIVELY MODERN VIEWS. 
 
 Babel myths of the natives sufficient evidence of unity of origin. 
 He, however, believes that the migration to this continent began 
 at a very early period. 1 
 
 These few writers pretty well represent the opinions of their 
 numerous contemporaries who, though they wrote voluminously 
 enough on this subject, added nothing to what we have noted. 
 The opinions of modern writers are as diverse as those of Garcia, 
 and only surpass him in the ingenuity with which they press 
 their favorite theories. Very little has been done in this field 
 
 North America is without value. On the contrary, it contains much useful 
 information. The following passage occurs on p. 66 of the above work : " The 
 most careful study concerning the origin of the red-skins, made on the spot, has 
 confirmed us in the belief that there is nothing in science to contradict the Bible, 
 which represents Adam as the sole stock whence sprung the three great races 
 which form the principal types of the human family." 
 
 1 Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, iv, p. 15. We quote the following from the 
 translation by Cullan, London, 1807 : " We do not doubt that the population of 
 America has been very ancient, and more so than it may seem to have been to 
 European authors : 1. Because the Americans wanted those arts and inventions, 
 such, for example, as those of wax and oil for light, which on the one hand 
 being very ancient in Europe and Asia, are on the other most useful, not to say 
 necessary, and when once discovered are never forgotten. 2. Because the 
 polished nations of the new world, and particularly those of Mexico, preserve 
 in their traditions and in their paintings the memory of the creation of the 
 world and of the building of the Tower of Babel, the confusion of languages 
 and the dispersion of the people, though blended with some fables, and had no 
 knowledge of the events which happened afterwards in Asia, in Africa, or in 
 Europe, although many of them were so great and remarkable that they could 
 not easily have gone from their memories. 3. Because neither was there among 
 the Americans any knowledge of the people of the old continent, nor among the 
 latter any account of the passage of the former to the new world." He then cites 
 Votan. See further on early views, Gottfried Wagner's De Originibus Amer. 
 Disertatio Lipsice, 1669 ; Hugo Grotius's Dissertatio de Origine Gentium Ameri- 
 canorum Amstelodami, 1642 ; Jean De Laet's Nota ad Diss. H. Grotii de Origi- 
 nine Gent. Americ., 1643 ; Jean De Laet's Responsis ad H. Grotii Diss. de Origine 
 Gent. Americ., 1644 ; Poisson's Animadversiones in Originem Peruvianorum et 
 Mexicanorum, Parisiis, 1644; Georgius Hornius's De Originibus Americanis 
 Hagce, 1652 ; Rocha's Tratado Unico y Singulars del Origin de los Indios Occi- 
 dentales, del Peru, Mexico, Santa Fe, y Chile ; Lima, 1681 ; Engel's Essai sur 
 Cette Question : Commet I'Amerique est-elle ete Peuplee d'Hommes et d'Ammaux, 
 Amsterdam, 1767 ; Corn. De Pauw's Recherche sur I'Amerique et les Ameri- 
 cains, Berlin, 1774 ; Vater's Untersuchungen uber America's Bevolkerung aus den 
 alien Continent, Leipzig, 1810. 
 
PRE-COLUMBIAN COLONIZATION CLAIMS. 
 
 with a true scientific spirit. Each has been an advocate rather 
 than an inquirer ; has had his theory to prove sometimes at the 
 expense of reason and fact, and it is remarkable that the majority 
 of works written by such advocates have presented the familiar 
 anomaly of more learning than of probability. It is scarcely the 
 province of this work to discuss these well-known productions 
 of imaginative and too often credulous writers. To more than 
 refer to them would be to lose sight for the time of the object 
 before us. 
 
 The claims for the Pre-Columbian colonization of this conti- 
 nent of course include most of those already mentioned, and 
 properly are of two classes : First, those which fix the period of 
 colonization remote enough to account for the old civilization or 
 some phases of it. Second, those which avowedly are too recent 
 to have accomplished that civilization. Of the first-named class 
 there are about a dozen thoroughly elaborated claims, while of 
 the second there are less than half that number. Mr. Warden 
 years ago treated them all in a manner and with a fullness which 
 has not been excelled by any more recent writer. 1 Though it is 
 due to Mr. Bancroft to say that never before has the subject 
 been so exhaustively handled in our own language as by him. 2 
 As nothing new has been developed in this field of speculation 
 since Mr. Bancroft, and we might add since Mr. Warden treated 
 it, and as nothing could be contributed either to the sciences of 
 ethnology or archaeology by a repetition of the old discussion 
 here, for we have our doubts whether any of the claims can ever 
 be substantiated at all, we will content ourselves with the simple 
 enumeration of the theories. A theory which rivals in antiquity, 
 if Egyptian chronology is reliable, the claims of the Fathers 
 that the immediate descendants of Noah peopled the new world 
 shortly after the deluge, is that which seeks to establish the 
 truth of the tradition told to Solon by the Egyptian priests of 
 Psenophis, Sonchis, Heliopolis and Sais concerning the ancient 
 
 1 D. B. Warden's Recherches sur les Antiquitcs de I'Amerique du Nord, in 
 Antiquites Mencaines, torn, ii, div. ii. Paris, 1834, quarto. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. v, cliap. i. The literary apparatus contained in the 
 notes accompanying the chapter is remarkably full and valuable. 
 
142 THE PLATONIC ATLANTIS. 
 
 island Atlantis. Critias, whose grandfather had heard the tra- 
 dition from Solon, communicated it to Socrates. Plato first 
 committed it to writing, and states that the events which it 
 described occurred nine thousand Egyptian years before Solon 
 heard it. After speaking of the "Atlantic Sea/' the priest adds 
 " that sea was indeed navigable, and had an island fronting that 
 mouth which you call the Pillars of Hercules ; and this island 
 was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and there was a 
 passage hence for travellers of that day to the rest of the islands, 
 as well as from those islands to the whole opposite continent 
 that suiTounds the real sea. For as respects what is within the 
 mouth here mentioned, it appears to be a bay with a kind of 
 narrow entrance, and that sea is indeed a true sea, and the land 
 that entirely surrounds it may truly and most correctly be called 
 a continent." The priest concludes his account with the state- 
 ment that an earthquake in a single night buried the entire 
 island and its inhabitants. This mysterious island has been 
 sought for in every quarter of the globe ; but the fact that part 
 of the description seems applicable to the West Indies and the 
 Gulf of Mexico, has led theorists to place its submerged shores 
 between that locality and the Cape Verde or Canary groups. It 
 is claimed that this imaginary land bridge, this backbone of 
 earth and rock, may have once been the connecting link between 
 the two continents. The claim has had many champions, but 
 none so celebrated as the lamented Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg. 
 The labors of this learned Americaniste are too well known to 
 require comment. 1 The Codex Chimalpopoca, a Nahua MS. of 
 anonymous authorship, which served the Abbe as the chief 
 
 1 "I know of no man better qualified than was Brasseur de Bourbourg, to 
 penetrate the obscurity of American primitive history. His familiarity with 
 the Nahua and Central American languages, his indefatigable industry and 
 general erudition, rendered him eminently fit for the task, and every word writ- 
 ten by such a man on such a subject is entitled to respectful consideration. 
 Nevertheless there is reason to believe that the Abbe was often rapt away from 
 the truth by the excess of enthusiasm, and the reader of his wild and fanciful 
 speculations cannot but regret that he has not the opportunity or the ability to 
 criticise by comparison the French savant's interpretation of the original docu- 
 ments." Bancroft's Native Races, p. 127. 
 
THE JEWISH THEORY. 143 
 
 authority for the Toltec Period of his Histoire des Nations 
 CiviliseeSj is the basis upon which he rests the advocacy of his 
 " Atlantic Theory." This singular Codex, which appears to the 
 eyes of the uninitiated to be only " A History of the Kingdoms of 
 Culhuacan and Mexico/' he considers susceptible of an allegor- 
 ical interpretation, in which he reads the history and fate of 
 that first of the continents, on whose soil originated all civiliza- 
 tion and whose inhabitants were the genii of the arts, the origin 
 of which are without even a tradition. 1 
 
 The popularity of the Jewish theory at an early date has 
 been indicated by our citations from some of the Spanish mis- 
 sionaries. Garcia, after a seven years residence in Peru, wrote 
 his work for the purpose of proving conclusively that the Jews 
 had been the chief colonists of the continent at an early date. 
 He elaborated the argument set forth by Father Duran, 2 which 
 is founded on passages in Esdras, but proceeded to prop up this 
 theory with a catalogue of analogies between the Jews and 
 Americans, some of which are so remote from each other that 
 the very attempt to assimilate them is simply puerile. Garcia 
 has had many disciples, some of whom have been no more critical 
 than himself. 3 The illustrious advocate of the Jewish coloniza- 
 tion of America was that indefatigable antiquary, Lord Kings- 
 borough. No more masterly, no abler and more exhaustive 
 defence was ever made in behalf of a hopeless and even baseless 
 claim than his ; and as the result, the historian and antiquary 
 has placed at his disposal fac-simile prints of most of the impor- 
 tant hieroglyphic MSS. of Mexican authorship deposited in the 
 various libraries of Europe, as well as pictures of the architecture 
 and stone records common to ancient America. We must con- 
 fess that the work itself, with its curious plates, its maze of 
 
 1 The work in which he repudiates his first interpretation of the Codex 
 Chimalpopoca, and in which he advocates the allegorical meaning together with 
 the theory of Atlantis, is entitled Quatre Lettres sur le Mexique, Paris, 1868. 
 
 2 This work, p. 135. 
 
 3 Among these we may cite Adair's History of the American Indians; Jones' 
 History of Ancient America; Giordan's Tehuantepec ; Rossi's Souvenirs d'un 
 Voyage en Oregon, pp. 276-7; Ethan Smith's Views of the Hebrews; Thorow- 
 good's Jewes in America; Domenech's Deserts, vol. i, ani Simon's Ten Tribes. 
 
144 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 notes and references, its masterly and novel discoveries of analo- 
 gies, though many of them are imaginary, is to us, after pro- 
 longed examination, as much of a riddle as the great and 
 improbable theory which it seeks to establish. 1 Closely allied to 
 the theory of the ten lost tribes, is the claim set forth in that 
 pretentious fraud, the Book of Mormon, which attributes the 
 colonization of North America, soon after the confusion of 
 tongues, to a people called Jaredites, who, by divine guidance, 
 reached our shores in eight vessels, and developed a high state 
 of civilization on our soil. These first colonists, however, be- 
 came extinct about six centuries B. c., because of their social 
 sins. The Jaredites were followed by a second colony, this time 
 of Israelites, who left Jerusalem in the first year of the reign 
 of Zedekiah, King of Juda. They reached the Indian Ocean 
 by following the shores of the Ked Sea, where they built a vessel 
 which bore them across the Pacific to the western coast of South 
 America. Having arrived in the new land of promise, they sepa- 
 rated into two parties, called Nephites and Laminites respec- 
 tively, after their leaders. They grew to be great nations and 
 colonized North America also. Eeligious strife sprang up be- 
 tween the two nations because of the wickedness of the Lami- 
 nites ; the Nephites, however, adhered to their religious traditions 
 and the worship of the true God. Christ appeared in the new 
 world and by his ministrations converted many of both peoples 
 to Him. But towards the close of the fourth century of our era, 
 both Laminites and Nephites backslid in faith and became 
 involved in a war with each other which resulted in the exter- 
 mination of the latter people. The numerous tumuli scattered 
 over the face of the country cover the remains "of the hundreds 
 of thousands of warriors who fell in their deadly strife. Mormon 
 and his son Morani, the last of the Nephites who escaped by 
 concealment, deposited by divine command the annals of their 
 ancestors, the Book of Mormon written on tablets, in the hill 
 of Cumorah, Ontario County, New York, in the vicinity of which 
 the last battle of these relentless enemies took place. 2 The 
 
 1 Mexican Antiquities, London, 1831-48, 9 vols. imperial folio. 
 
 2 The tablets remained in their place of concealment until discovered by 
 
PHOENICIANS AND CARTHAGINIANS. 145 
 
 claim,, of course, merits mention only on the ground of its 
 romantic character, and not on the supposition for a moment 
 that it contains a grain of truth. The Phoenician and Cartha- 
 ginian colonization of this continent has been much discussed 
 and credited by a larger number of Americanists than any other 
 theory, except that which refers the original population to 
 those parts of Asia adjacent to Alaska. This claim is based on 
 the maritime achievements of that nation of navigators. The 
 three-year voyages of Hiram and Solomon's fleet to Ophir and 
 Tarshish, has often been made to do service for this theory. 
 Ophir has most frequently been placed by its advocates in Hayti 
 or Peru. 1 Such speculations, however, are incapable of proof, 
 and are scarcely deserving of sober consideration. The theory 
 itself is one of the few that command respectful attention, 
 since tradition, history, and many facts in natural science, seem 
 to point to its probability. 2 Mr. Bancroft refers at some length 
 to the voyage of Hanno, a Carthaginian navigator, whose exploits 
 beyond the pillars of Hercules, with a fleet of sixty ships and 
 thirty thousand men, is recorded in his Periplus. 3 With true 
 critical insight, Mr. Bancroft rejects the opinion that Hanno 
 reached America, and thinks he only coasted along the shores 
 of Africa. 4 The only tradition preserved by the Americans is 
 that of the mysterious Yotan, whom some have sought to 
 assign to a Phoenician nativity. 5 Of late years the theory 
 of the Phoenician colonization has failed to receive its share 
 of support from new writers. This is owing probably to the 
 fact that the labors of Mr. George Jones, embodied in his 
 
 Joseph Smith, September 22, 1827. Mr. Bancroft, Native Races, p. 97 et tcq. 
 (from which we draw the above), has translated a full account of this wonder 
 ful claim from Bertrand's Memoirs, pp. 32 et seq. 
 
 1 Pineda's De Rehu* Solomonis, but especially Horn's De Origine Gentium 
 Americanarum. 
 
 2 Some of these features will receive attention in a following chapter. 
 
 3 Hudson's Geographic Veteris Scriptores Greed Minores, 1698-1712, 8vo, 
 and Rev. Thos. Falconer's Voyage of Hanno, translated, etc., Oxford, 
 1797, 8vo. 
 
 4 Native Races, p. G6. 
 
 5 Chap. V.; see Tradition and Literature. 
 
 10 
 
146 GEORGE JONES. 
 
 Original History of Ancient America Founded on tlie Ruins 
 of Antiquity ; the Identity of the Aborigines with the People of 
 Tyrus and Israel, and the Introduction of Christianity ly the 
 Apostle St. Thomas, 1 may have rendered all such support un- 
 necessary. It is more probable, however, that the assumption 
 and credulity displayed in this extraordinary work have dis- 
 couraged any critical writer from aspiring to the honor of 
 having his name transmitted to posterity as an advocate of 
 the Phoenician theory, side by side with that of the author 
 of the Original History. We have no space to devote to so 
 positive a writer, except to state that he colonizes America with 
 a remnant of the inhabitants of Tyre who escaped from their 
 island-city when it was besieged by Alexander the Great in 332 
 B. c. They sailed out beyond the Pillars of Hercules to their 
 colonies in the Canaries, whence the trade-winds bore them 
 across the Atlantic to the shores of Florida. Ezekiel xxvii. 26, 
 is quoted as proof : " Thy rowers have brought thee into great 
 waters ; the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the 
 seas." 2 The theory that the ancient Americans descended from 
 the Greeks has been incidentally advocated by several authors, 
 most of the arguments being based upon supposed Greek inscrip- 
 tions. Two advocates of the theory are, however, quite decided in 
 its defence, namely, Mr. Pidegeon 3 and Mr. Lafitau. 4 The latter 
 
 1 By George Jones, R. S. I.; M. F. S. V., etc.; dedicated by permission to the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and to Frederick William the Fourth, King of Prus- 
 sia. London, 1843. 
 
 2 Mr. Jones states in his preface that to furnish a list of the works from 
 which he drew his material would be pedantic, and adds : " Yet being 
 professedly an original work, the volume of the brain has been more largely 
 extracted from than any writer whose works are already before that public 
 to whose final judgment (upon its merits or demerits) the present author 
 submits the first history of ancient America with all humility ; but he will 
 yield to none in the conscientious belief in the truth of the startling proposi- 
 tions and the consequent conclusions." With such convictions there is no 
 opportunity for unbiased investigation. 
 
 3 Traditions of DecoodaJi and Antiquarian Researches, p. 16. New York, 
 1858, 8vo. 
 
 4 Mceurs des Sauvages Ameriquains Comparees aux Mceurs des Premiers 
 Temps. Paris, 1724. 
 
THE GREEK AND EGYPTIAN THEORIES. 147 
 
 believing that the ancient inhabitants of the Grecian archi- 
 pelago were driven from their country by Og, king of Bashan, 
 supposes the inhabitants of the new world descended from that 
 people, and cites numerous analogies of a political and social 
 nature. 1 No claim has been advanced, we believe, which advo- 
 cates an actual Egyptian colonization of the new world, but 
 strong arguments have been used to show that the architecture 
 and sculpture of Central America and Mexico have been in- 
 fluenced from Egypt, if not attributable directly to Egyptian 
 artisans. These arguments are based on the resemblance between 
 the gigantic pyramids, the sculptured obelisks, and the numerous 
 idols of these pre-historic countries and those of Egypt. It 
 requires no practised eye to trace a resemblance in general 
 features, though it must be said that the details of American 
 architecture and sculpture, are peculiarly original in design. 2 
 The principal advocate of the theory, Delafield, has furnished 
 many comparisons, but we think no argument has been presented 
 sufficiently supported by facts to prove that American architec- 
 ture and sculpture had any other than an indigenous origin. 3 
 Turning westward our attention is arrested by the probability 
 of the theory which claims that this continent was peopled 
 with the Tartars and nations occupying the regions of North- 
 western Asia. No one can consider the natural certainty of 
 long-continued communication between the two continents at 
 Behring's Straits without being impressed with the truth that 
 that narrow channel served probably as the first highway be- 
 tween the old world and the new, and vice versa. Certainly a 
 part of the ancient population of America came upon our soil at 
 that quarter. Mr. Bancroft remarks : " The customs, manner 
 
 1 See Bancroft's Native Races, p. 122 ; the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg's 
 discovery of the Greek Gods in America (Landa, Relation, pp. Ixx-lxxx) will 
 be considered further on. 
 
 2 Bancroft's Native Races, pp. 55 et seg.; M'Culloch's Researches, pp. 171-2 ; 
 Mayer's Mexico as it Was, p. 186; Humboldt's Vues, torn, i, pp. 120-4, and 
 Stephen's Central America, vol. ii, p. 441 ; Jones' Hist. Anc. Am., pp. 122 
 
 3 Delafield's Inquiry into the Origin of the Antiquities of America, Cincinnati, 
 1839, quarto. 
 
148 JAPANESE AND CHINESE THEORIES. 
 
 of life, and physical appearance of the natives on both sides 
 of the straits are identical, as a multitude of witnesses testify, 
 and it seems absurd to argue the question from any point. Of 
 course, Behring's Strait may have served to admit other nations 
 besides the people inhabiting its shores into America, and in such 
 cases there is more room for discussion." 1 Nearly as plausible 
 is the theory which claims that if the original population of this 
 continent were not Japanese, at least a considerable infusion of 
 Japanese blood into the original stock has taken place from time 
 to time, either by intentional colonization or by the accidents 
 incident to navigation. The great number of shipwrecks which 
 are continually being cast upon our Pacific coast by the Japanese 
 current or Kuro-suvo are constant and substantial witnesses to 
 the reasonableness of the claim. 2 
 
 The Chinese colonization theory, unfortunately, does not date 
 far enough back to account for the oldest American civilization. 
 It is nevertheless remote enough, were it proven true, to con- 
 siderably antedate the Aztec and Inca periods. Upwards of a 
 century ago the learned French sinologist Deguignes announced 
 that he had found in the writings of early Chinese historians the 
 statement that in the fifth century of our era certain adventurers 
 of their race had discovered a country which they called Fusang. 3 
 He further expressed it as his opinion that the country described 
 must be Western America, and probably Mexico. The original 
 document on which the Chinese historians base their statements 
 was the report of a Buddhist missionary named Hoei-Shin, who 
 in the year 499 A. D., claims to have returned from a long journey 
 of discovery to the remote and unknown east. This report, 
 whatever may be its intrinsic value, was accepted as true by the 
 Chinese, and found its way into the history of Li yan tcheon 
 written at the beginning of the seventh century of our era. In 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. v, p. 54. In a note an excellent collection of authorities 
 1 is quoted. 
 
 2 Colonel Kennon in Leland's Fusang, pp. 65 et seq. Also C. W. Brooks on 
 Japanese Race in Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 51. 
 
 3 In Memoires de I' Academic des Inscriptiones et Belles Lettres, vol. xxviii, 
 1761. 
 
FUSANG AND HOEI-SHIN. 149 
 
 1841, Dr. Neuman, Professor of Oriental Languages and History 
 at Munich, after a residence of a couple of years at Canton, pub- 
 lished a translation of the narrative of Hoei-Shin with comments 
 upon it. 1 A few of the most striking passages of the account 
 given by this Buddhist missionary are as follows : " Fusang is 
 about 20,000 Chinese li in an easterly direction from Tahan and 
 east of the Middle Kingdom. 2 Many Fusang trees grow there 
 whose leaves resemble the Dryanda cordifolia / the sprouts, on 
 the contrary, resemble those of the bamboo tree, and are eaten 
 by the inhabitants of the land. The fruit is like a pear in form, 
 but is red. From the bark they prepare a sort of linen which 
 they use for clothing, and also a sort of ornamental stuff. The 
 houses are built of wooden beams ; fortified and walled places 
 are there unknown. They have written characters in this land, 
 and prepare paper from the bark of the Fusang. The people 
 have no weapons and make no wars, but in the arrangement of 
 the kingdom, they have a northern and southern prison. Trifling 
 offenders are lodged in the southern prison, but those confined 
 for greater offences in the northern. The name of the king is 
 pronounced Ichi. The color of his clothes changes with the 
 different years. The horns of the oxen are so large that they 
 hold ten bushels. They use them to contain all manner of 
 things. Horses, oxen, and stags are harnessed to their wagons. 
 Stags are used here as cattle are used in the Middle Kingdom, 
 and from the milk of the hind they make butter. No iron is 
 found in the land ; but copper, gold, and silver are not prized, 
 and do not serve as a medium of exchange in the market. Mar- 
 riage is determined upon in the following manner : the suitor 
 builds himself a hut before the door of the house where the one 
 longed for dwells, and waters and cleans the ground every even- 
 
 1 English by Chas. G. Leland : Fusang, or tlie Chinese Disco-eery of America. 
 1875. New York. 
 
 2 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 34, note, says : " A Chinese li is about one- 
 third of a mile " English, we suppose, but upon what authority we are unable 
 to say. Klaproth adopted 850 li to a degree, while D'Eichthal fixes it at 400 to 
 a degree in the sixth century, though at present it is 250 K to a degree. 
 Deguignes' Memoir es de V Academic des Inscriptiones et Belles Lettres, vol. 
 xxviii, 1761, and Leland's Fusnng, pp. 128 and 140. 
 
150 FUSANG AND HOEI-SHIN. 
 
 ing. When a year has passed by, if the maiden is not inclined 
 to marry him he departs ; should she "be willing it is completed. 
 In earlier times these people lived not according to the laws of 
 Buddha, but it happened that in the second year named ' Great 
 Light ' of Song (A. D. 458) five beggar-monks from the kingdom 
 of Kipin went to this land, extended over it the religion of 
 Buddha, and with it his early writings and images. They 
 instructed the people in the principles of monastic life, and so 
 changed their manners." 1 Dr. Neuman does not claim that the 
 Chinese Fusang tree is identical with the Maguay plant, but 
 that the resemblance between it and the great numbers of the 
 latter found in Mexico suggested a name for the country to the 
 discoverer. Ths uncertainty as to the distance, arising out of 
 our inability to determine what was considered the length of a 
 Chinese li in the fifth century, is of course an obstacle to the 
 satisfactory solution of the question. The amusing and pre- 
 posterous statement as to the size of the horns of oxen is no 
 argument against the general truth of the narrative, since we 
 have no data from which to determine the capacity of the 
 measure, the name of which is here translated bushel, since the 
 widest possible difference exists between the ancient and modern 
 Chinese tables of measurement. The references to horses and 
 oxen are perplexing, and give the narrative the air either of im- 
 posture or mistake, since both were brought to America first by 
 the Spaniards. 2 The argument by the opponents of this theory 
 that Fusang was Japan stands on a very slender foundation, 
 since at a very early period, centuries before our era, Japan 
 afforded naval stations for Chinese ships. 3 Klaproth, and later 
 Dr. E. Bretschneider, designated the island of Tarakai, known 
 as Saghalien on our maps, as the Fusang of Hoei-Schin. 4 
 
 1 Leland's Fusang, pp. 25 et seq. This translation was revised by Professor 
 Neuman himself, and is more literal than that by Klaproth. 
 
 2 Klaproth's Recherches, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1831, torn, li, 
 pp. 57 et seq. Humboldt's Examen Critique, torn, xi, pp. 65-6. 
 
 3 Sr. Jose Perez in Revue Orientate et Americaine, No. 4, pp. 189-195. 
 
 4 Dr. E. Bretschneider in the fifth number of the Chinese Recorder and Mis- 
 sionary Journal, vol. iii, published at Foochow, October 1870. The article 
 entitled Fusang, or Who Discovered America, is copied in full in Leland's 
 
THE MONGOL THEORY. 
 
 M. D'Eichthal and Professor Neuman have both made able 
 arguments in defence of the authenticity and reasonableness of 
 this claim, but there are too many uncertainties about it to 
 admit of its unqualified acceptance. We are more disposed to 
 give credence to the theory that the Chinese discovered America 
 at a very early day, than to attach much importance to the par- 
 ticular account of that discovery by Hoei-Shin. The theory is 
 a good one, with an abundance of geographical and ethnological 
 testimony in its favor. 1 
 
 Closely allied to the Chinese theory is that so enthusiastically 
 advocated by Banking, who maintains that the Mongol emperor 
 Kublai Khan, in the thirteenth century sent a large fleet against 
 Japan, but that the vast armada was destroyed by a tempest, 
 and a portion of its ships were wrecked on the shores of Peru. 2 
 The first Inca he believes was the son of Kublai Khan. It is 
 a well-known fact that the Mongol fleet was dispersed by a 
 storm, but there are grave objections to the opinion that any of 
 the vessels were cast upon the shores of South America. No 
 tradition was found among the Peruvians only three centuries 
 later concerning the Incas or any other people having reached 
 their shores by the accident of shipwreck, or who could be identi- 
 fied as of Asiatic origin. It is true the Incas may have designed 
 to keep their human origin as well as their misfortunes a secret, 
 that they might the better set up their claim to imperial and 
 divine honors among the people whom they sought to subjugate 
 by that most powerful ally to ambition superstition. Mr. 
 Eanking wrote a very plausible book, but often fell into errors 
 of credulity and unrestrained enthusiasm which leaves many of 
 his statements open to suspicion. The theory cannot be accepted 
 
 Fusang, pp. 165 et seq. See also Dr. Neuman's Ost- Asian und West Amerika; 
 in Zeitschrifl fur Allgemeine Erdkunde for April, 1864. See D'Eichthal in 
 Revue Archccologique, 1832, vol. ii, and Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, pp. 33 
 ct seq. 
 
 1 The strongest proof upon which the Chinese theory rests is that of physical 
 resemblance, which on the extreme north-western coast of America is very 
 marked. Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 37. 
 
 2 John Banking's Historical Researches on the Conquest of Peru, Mexico, etc., 
 by the Mongols. London, 1827. 
 
152 BUDDHISM IN AMERICA. 
 
 without additional and more satisfactory proof. 1 Should it 
 prove to be true, it certainly cannot throw light upon the origin 
 of the population, but only on a phase of civilization. Humboldt, 
 Tschudi, Viollet-le-Duc, Count Stolberg and other writers have 
 pointed out striking analogies between the religion of Southern 
 Asia, especially of India and that of Mexico. 2 If the argument 
 from analogy is to be relied on, there is abundant reason to believe 
 that Buddhism in a modified form had permeated the religious 
 systems of the new world with its mystic element besides grafting 
 upon them some of its better and more humane institutions. 
 
 These are all the colonization claims worth mentioning, 
 which date back far enough to account for the ancient civiliza- 
 tion. Of the second class (those too recent to have made much 
 impression on the existing state of things) there are three. The 
 earliest of these as to date, is the claim which credits the Irish 
 with the colonization of the Atlantic coast from North Carolina 
 to Florida. "White-Man's Land/' so often located in this 
 country, is no doubt imaginary. The obscure and unsatis- 
 factory chronicle which forms the basis of this claim destroys 
 its own authority by the statement that White-Man's Land was 
 six days' sail from Ireland. 3 Another legend set forth by 
 Broughton, which claims that St. Patrick preached the Gospel 
 in the " Isles of America," carries its own refutation upon its 
 
 1 Bancroft's Natice Races, vol. v, pp. 44-50, contains a good review, but 
 Ranking himself must be examined to be appreciated. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. v, pp. 40 et seq., gives a brief review. The subject will 
 be fully treated in its proper place. 
 
 3 In the Landnama-book, No. 107, is found a narrative of ARE MARSON, in 
 Hvitramanna Land. Prof. Rafn (Antiquitates Americance,^. 210 et seq.}, trans- 
 lates it as follows : " Ulvus Strabo, films Hognii Albi, totum occupavit Rey- 
 kjanesum inter Thorskafjordum et Hafrafellum ; uxorem hahuit Bjargam, 
 filiam Eyvindi (Estmanni, sororem Helgii Marci. Eorum films Atlius Rums, 
 qui uxorem habuit Thorbjargam, sororem Steinolvi Humilis ; horum films erat 
 Mar de Reykholis, qui uxorem habuit Thorkatlam, filiam Hergilsis Hnapprassi 
 (natibus globosis). Eorum films fuit Arius, qui tempestate delatus est ad 
 Hvitramannalandiam (Terrain alborum hominum), quam nonnueli Irlandiam 
 Magnum appellant, qui en oceano occidentali jacet prope Vinlandiam Bonam, 
 sex dierum navigatione versus occidentem ab Irlanda." On Hvitramannaland, 
 see Antiquitates Americana, pp. 162, 163, 183, 210, 212, 214, 447, 448, and De 
 Costa's Pre-Columbian Discovery of America, pp. lii, 86, 63, 70, 87, 88. 
 
WHITE MAN'S LAND. 153 
 
 face by the use of the word America in its text. 1 The Scandina- 
 vian discovery of America is a well-known fact, and requires no 
 discussion here. The Codex Flatioiensis, as expounded by the 
 learned Prof. Kafn in the Aniiquitates Americance, has, no 
 doubt, set at rest the whole matter. Humboldt, in reviewing the 
 evidence upon which the claim is founded, sums it up in these 
 words : " The discovery of the northern part of America by 
 the Northmen cannot be disputed. The length of the voyage, 
 the direction in which they sailed, the time of the sun's rising 
 and setting, are accurately given. While the caliphate of Bag- 
 dad was still flourishing under the Abbassides, and while the 
 rule of the Samanides, so favorable to poetry, still flourished in 
 Persia, America was discovered about the year 1000 by Lief, son 
 of Eric the Ked, at about 41J north latitude." No evidence 
 of a substantial character has been produced to show that the 
 Scandinavians left any impress upon the American civilization. It 
 is true, Brasseur de Bourbourg, when he first began his labors in 
 the field of American archaeology expressed such an opinion, but 
 we believe he never repeated it in the latter years of his life. 2 
 The learned Abbe was guilty of many contradictions, and this 
 may be considered one of them. The most positive claims in 
 this direction are advanced by two recent authors, M. Gravier 3 
 and Prof. Anderson, 4 the former attributing the Aztec civilization 
 to Norse influence. He cites the discovery in Brazil of an ancient 
 city near Bahia, in which was found the statue of a man point- 
 ing with his forefinger to the North Pole ; of course, according 
 to M. Gravier, he was a Northman. 3 Several authorities for 
 
 1 Monastikon Britannicum, pp. 131-2, 187-8. Cited by De Costa, Pre-Col. 
 Dis. of Am., p. xviii. 
 
 2 On tins subject see Brasseur de Bourbourg in the 16th vol. of the sixth 
 series ofNouvelles Annels des Voyages, pp. 263, 281-9 ; also 3d vol. of same work, 
 sixth series, 1855, pp. 156-7, and in New York Tribune for November 21, 1855. 
 
 3 Decouverte de I'Amerique par les Normands au X e siecle, par Gabriel 
 Gravier, Paris, 1864, 4to. 
 
 4 America Not Discovered by Columbus, by R. B. Anderson, Chicago, 1874, 
 
 16mo. 
 
 5 Gravier, Decouverte de I'Amerique, p. 235, quotes Dr. Schuck as auth 
 ity, Societe Royale des Antiquaires du Nord, 1840-43, pp. 26-7 ; also 1844, p. 1* 
 
154 DISCOVERY BY THE NORTHMEN. 
 
 the discovery of Norse remains in the United States might be 
 cited, but the unwarrantable arguments of most of them add 
 nothing to the already established fact of Norse colonization in 
 the tenth century of our era. Another pre-Columbian claim to 
 the discovery of America is that which declares Madoc-Ap-owen 
 and his Welsh countrymen to have reached this continent in 
 1170 A. D. The chronicle on which the claim is based, is want- 
 ing in authority. A translation of it, taken from a history 
 of Wales by Dr. Powell, was published by Hakluyet, in 1589. 
 As this claim can have no relation to our subject, we refrain 
 from a discussion of it here. 1 The only remaining theory, and 
 probably the most important of all, because of its purely scien- 
 tific character, which presents itself for our consideration, is 
 that which not only considers the civilization of ancient America 
 to have been indigenous, but also claims the inhabitants them- 
 selves to have been autochthonic ; in a word, that by process 
 of evolution or in some other way, the first Americans were 
 either developed from a lower order in the animal kingdom or 
 were created on the soil of this continent. As the latter theory 
 involves a denial of the unity of the race, it requires a separate 
 and critical examination. 
 
 1 Hakluyet's Principal Navigations, Voyages, etc., vol. iii, pp. 1 et seg.; see 
 a good discussion of the Welsh claim in Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, pp. 116 
 et seg. 
 

 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS AS VIEWED FROM THE 
 STANDPOINT OF SCIENCE. 
 
 Origin Theories Indigenous Origin Separate Creation Theory Dr. Morton's 
 Theory Agassiz's Views Dr. Morton's Cranial Measurements Classified 
 Prof. Wilson's Measurements Dr. Morton's Theory of Ethnic Unity 
 Groundless Ethnic Relationships Typical Mound-skull Crania from 
 the River Rouge Dr. Farquharson's Measurements Crania from Ken- 
 tucky Researches in Tennessee by Prof. Jones Measurements Prof. 
 Putnam's Collection of Crania from Tennessee Mounds Low Type Crania 
 from the Mounds Development Observable in Mound Crania Head- 
 Flattening Derived from Asia Diseases of the Mound-builders Physiog- 
 nomy of the Ancient Americans Languages Evolution and its Bearing 
 on the Origin of the American Darwin and Haeckel on the Indigenous 
 American The Autochthonic Hypothesis Groundless Unity of the 
 Human Family Accepted Chronology Faulty. 
 
 THE want of evidence for the theories which designate par- 
 ticular nations as the first colonizers of the Western Conti- 
 nent, long ago produced a feeling of distrust, which led some to 
 repudiate all claims for the foreign origin of the first inhabi- 
 tants of this continent. This theory, which claims for the most 
 ancient inhabitants an autochthonic origin, has had from time 
 to time among its advocates some of the most respectable 
 ethnologists. The character of their attainments, and in many 
 cases their arguments in behalf of this most remarkable hypoth- 
 esis, command the respect of all who are interested in this 
 fascinating field of speculation. 
 
 At first it was maintained that the Creator had placed an 
 original pair of human beings here, as Scripture teaches that He 
 did in the old world. 1 Other writers equally confident that the 
 
 1 " I think, therefore (as mentioned before), we do not at all derogate from 
 God's greatness, nor in any ways dishonor the sacred evidence given us by His 
 
156 THEORIES FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE AMERICANS. 
 
 first ancestors of the American race were indigenous, have not so 
 definitely expressed themselves as to the manner of their origin. 1 
 The most recent phase of the autochthonic theory is that which 
 designates evolution as the means by which the continent was 
 populated with human beings, developed from its own fauna. 
 This latter question is now the most absorbing of all that occupy 
 
 servants, when we think that there were as many Adams and Eves (every one 
 knows these names to have an allegorical sense), as we find different species 
 of the human genus * * * * God has created an original pair here as 
 well as elsewhere." Roman's Concise Nat. Hist, of E. and W. Florida, p. 55, 
 New York, 1775. " We will candidly confess that we could never understand 
 why philosophers have been so pre-disposed to advocate the theory which 
 peoples America from the Eastern hemisphere. We think the supposition that 
 the Red man is a primitive type of a family of the human race, originally 
 planted in the Western Continent, presents the most natural solution of the 
 problem; and that the researches of physiologists, antiquaries, philologists 
 and philosophers in general, tend irresistibly to this conclusion." Norman's 
 Rambles in Yucatan, p. 251, New York, 1843, 8vo. " My own belief is that, 
 whatever was the origin of the different tribes or families, the whole race 
 of American Indians are native and indigenous to the soil. There is no proof 
 that they are either the lost tribes of Israel or emigants from any part of the 
 old world. They are a separate and as distinct a race as either the Ethiopian, 
 Caucasian, or Mongolian. In the absence of all proof to the contrary, it seems 
 to me to be both rational and consistent to assume that the Creator placed the 
 Red race on the American Continent as early as He created the beasts and 
 reptiles that inhabit it." Swan's Northwest Coast, p. 206, New York, 1857. 
 " Dieu a cree plusieurs couples d'etres humains differant les uns des autres 
 interieurement et exterieureinent ; chacun de des couples a ete place dans le 
 climat approprie a son organisation." Lord Kames in Warden's Recherches, 
 p. 203. 
 
 1 The reader who has not given special attention to this phase of the subject, 
 will be surprised to learn how generally received has been the autochthonic 
 theory among writers in this field. Mr. Bancroft has given several quotations 
 to illustrate this fact. See Morelet's Voyage, vol. i, p. 177, Paris, 1857 ; Evens' 
 Our Sister Republic, p. 332 ; Catlin's North American Indians, vol. ii, p. 232. 
 We prepared extracts for insertion at this point, but the limit of our space will 
 not permit a full consideration of the question. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says of the theory, "If we may judge by the recent results 
 of scientific investigation, [it] may eventually prove to be scientifically correct. 
 To express belief, however, in a theory incapable of proof, appears to me idle. 
 Indeed such belief is not belief, it is merely acquiescing in or accepting a 
 hypothesis or tradition until the contrary is proved." Native Races, vol. v, 
 pp. 130-1. 
 

 SEPARATE CREATION THEORY. 157 
 
 the attention of the American Anthropologists. But to go Lack 
 to the separate creation view, we find it expressed in general and 
 unscientific utterances at first, mostly based on the hasty obser- 
 vation of travellers who, in many cases, had little knowledge 
 of anthropologic or ethnic principles. In fact, the subject was 
 not fairly discussed and its advocacy based on satisfactory in- 
 vestigation until the justly celebrated Dr. Samuel G. Morton, 
 of Philadelphia, issued his Crania Americana, containing the 
 results of the most diligent researches on the skulls of the Mound- 
 builders, Mexicans, Peruvians, and many of the known tribes 
 of the Red Indians. In the face of abundant proof among the 
 crania of his own splendid collection, and contrary to the testi- 
 mony of his numerous measurements, which have often since been 
 used against his theory, this diligent investigator arrived at 
 the conclusion that the Americans were a distinct race, origi- 
 nated in this continent, having a uniform cranial type (excepting 
 only the Eskimo), from the Arctic Circle to Patagonia. 
 
 A division, however, of this supposed homogeneous race was 
 made by this author into Toltecan and Barbarous nations ; the 
 former appellative comprising all the semi-civilized peoples, 
 while the latter embraced the wild tribes. All were believed to 
 have had the same origin and to belong to the same cranial type. 
 " It is curious to observe, however," remarks Dr. Morton, " that 
 the Barbarous nations possess a larger brain by five and a half 
 cubic inches than the Toltecans ; while, on the other hand, the 
 Toltecans possess a greater relative capacity of the anterior 
 chamber of the skull in the proportion of 42.3 to 41.8. Again the 
 coronal region, though absolutely greater in the Barbarous tribes, 
 is rather larger in proportion in the semi-civilized tribes ; and 
 the facial-angle is much the same in both, and may be assumed 
 for the race at 75." l In conclusion, the author is of the opinion 
 that the facts contained in his work tend to sustain the follow- 
 ing propositions: (1) "That the American race differs essen- 
 tially from all others, not excepting the Mongolian ; nor do the 
 feeble analogies of language, and the more obvious ones in civil 
 and religious institutions and the arts, denote anything beyond 
 * Crania American^ p. 260. Philadelphia, 18J-9. Folio. 
 
158 CORRESPONDENCE OF PHYSICAL LIFE TO NATURE. 
 
 casual or colonial communication with the Asiatic nations ; and 
 even these analogies may perhaps be accounted for, as Humboldt 
 suggested, in the mere coincidence arising from similar wants and 
 impulses in nations inhabiting similar latitudes." (2) " That the 
 American nations, excepting the Polar tribes, are one race and one 
 species, but of two great families which resemble each other in 
 physical, but differ in intellectual character." (3) "That the 
 cranial remains discovered in the mounds, from Peru to Wiscon- 
 sin, belong to the same race and probably to the Toltecan 
 family." 1 Among the several ethnologists and naturalists who 
 accepted without question the conclusions reached by Morton, 
 the chief was Agassiz, who adopted them as auxiliary to his 
 theory of the correspondence of human life with certain associa- 
 tions in the animal kingdom. 2 They served as a sure foundation, 
 
 1 Dr. Morton gives the following comparative table showing the internal 
 capacity and dimensions of the crania of different races : 
 
 RACES. 
 
 Number 
 of Skulls. 
 
 Mean 
 Internal 
 Capacity 
 in cubic in. 
 
 Laraest 
 in the 
 
 Series. 
 
 Smallest 
 in the 
 Series. 
 
 
 52 
 
 87 
 
 109 
 
 75 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 10 
 
 83 
 
 93 
 
 69 
 
 Malay 
 
 18 
 
 81 
 
 89 
 
 64 
 
 American .... . 
 
 147 
 
 82 
 
 100 
 
 60 
 
 Ethiopian 
 
 29 
 
 78 
 
 94 
 
 65 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 After presenting several arguments together with accompanying proofs, 
 Agassiz says : " This coincidence between the circumscription of the races of 
 man and the natural limits of different zoological provinces characterized by 
 peculiar distinct species of animals, is one of the most important and unexpected 
 features in the Natural History of Mankind, which the study of the geographical 
 distribution of all the organized beings now existing upon earth has disclosed to 
 us. It is a fact which cannot fail to throw light at some future time upon the 
 very origin of the differences existing among men, since it shows that man's 
 physical nature is modified by the same laws as that of animals, and that any 
 general results obtained from the animal kingdom regarding the organic dif- 
 ferences of its various types must also apply to man. Now there are only two 
 alternatives before us at present : 1st. Either mankind originated from a com- 
 mon stock, and all the different races with their peculiarities, in their present 
 distribution, are to be ascribed to subsequent changes an assumption for which 
 there is no evidence whatever, and leads at once to the admission that the diver- 
 
THE "AMERICAN RACE" DOES NOT EXIST. 159 
 
 so far as this continent is concerned, for his opinion that the 
 races originated in nations. " We maintain," says the eminent 
 naturalist, "that, like all organized beings, mankind cannot 
 have originated in single individuals, but must have been created 
 in that numerical harmony which is characteristic of each species. 
 Men must have originated in nations, as the bees have originated 
 in swarms, and as the different social plants have covered the 
 extensive tracts over which they have naturally spread." x This 
 view has been enlarged upon by Messrs. Nott and Gliddon, who 
 argue that, " if it be conceded that there were two primitive pairs 
 of human beings, no reason can be assigned why there may not 
 have been hundreds." 2 The uniqueness of the so-called Ameri- 
 can race not only fails of proof, but is positively disproven by 
 the measurements of crania accompanying Morton's plates, and 
 any thoughtful person cannot avoid surprise that so distinguished 
 a scholar as Agassiz should have committed himself to a theory 
 without first submitting it to a crucial test. That there is a 
 great variety of type observable among the crania figured by 
 Morton, even a superficial examination will show, while a more 
 careful classification presents several facts of interest. For this 
 classification we consider the simple division of the crania into 
 long and short skulls sufficient. The question of other divisions 
 has been often discussed, but with Mr. Huxley we content our- 
 selves with the simplest classification. Referring to a particular 
 instance, he says, " taking the antero-posterior diameter as 100, 
 
 sity among animals is not an original one, nor their distribution determined by 
 a general plan established in the beginning of the creation ; or 2d, we must 
 acknowledge that the diversity among animals is a fact determined by the will 
 of the Creator, and their geographical distribution part of the general plan 
 which unites all organized beings into one great organic conception ; whence it 
 follows that what are called human races down to their specializations as 
 nations are distinct primordial forms of the type of man." * * * He concludes 
 in these words : " The laws which regulate the diversity of animals and their dis- 
 tribution upon earth apply equally to man within the same limits and in ths, 
 same degree ; and all our liberty and moral responsibility, however spontaneous, 
 are yet instinctively directed by the All-wise and Omnipotent to fulfill the great 
 harmonies established in Nature." Types of Mankind, pp. Ixxv and Ixxvi. 
 1 Agassiz in Nott and Gliddon's Types of Mankind, p. 78. - Ibid. 
 
160 CEPHALIC INDEX OF CRANIA. 
 
 the transverse diameter varies from 98 or 99 to 62. The number 
 which thus expresses the proportion of the transverse to the 
 longitudinal diameter of the brain-case is called the cephalic 
 index. Those people who possess crania with a cephalic index of 
 80 and above are called bracliycephali (short-skulled), those with 
 a lower index are dolichocepliali (long-skulled)." 1 Dr. Meigs, 
 while accepting the classification into long and short skulls, 
 admits that it is open to the objection that it forces into either 
 and opposite classes crania closely related to each other in type 
 and measurement. 2 Yet it must be admitted, that in propor- 
 tion as arbitrary divisions are increased, these difficulties are 
 multiplied, and that this simple, twofold classification presents 
 the fewest. 3 In the following tables, which contain all the 
 measurements accompanying the plates in the Crania Ameri- 
 cana, the cephalic index is placed in the left-hand column. 
 That a wide difference of type is apparent between the extremes 
 of the dolichocephalic and brachycephalic measurements, cer- 
 tainly cannot be denied. 
 
 It will be observed that the widest range is found between 
 the proportions of the skull of the Cayuga chief 100 years old 
 (Plate XXXV) with a cephalic index of only 65.4, and those 
 of some of the Peruvian crania having a cephalic index of over 
 98. The supposed Natchez skull (Plate LIV) is so artificially 
 flattened as to exclude it from the calculation. The mean 
 cephalic index of each of the tables exhibits a well-defined type 
 
 1 Manual of the Anatomy of the Vertebrated Animals, p. 420. N. Y., 1872. 
 
 2 Note to Retzius' article in Smithsonian Report, 1859, p. 264. 
 
 3 As an illustration of complex classification, we have the following : 
 " From an old and well-filled European graveyard may be selected specimens 
 of Tdimocephalic (slope or saddle skull), conocephaliv (cone-skull), brachycephalic 
 (short-skull), dolichocephalic (long-skull), platycephalic (flat-skull), leptocephalic 
 (slim -skull), and other forms of crania equally worthy of penta or hexa-syllabic 
 Greek epithets." Owen (R.}, Anatomy of Vertebrates, vol. ii, p. 570. London, 
 1866, 8vo. Foster, in Pre-Historic Races of the United /States, in addition to 
 the long and short skulls, adopts also the orthocephalie (erect-head), with the 
 longitudinal diameter 100; he assumes the transverse diameter for dolicho- 
 cephalae to be less than 73 ; for orthocephalaB, to range between 74 and 79, and 
 for brachycephalae, 80 and upwards. 
 
DR. MORTON'S MEASUREMENTS. 
 
 161 
 
 4 
 
 'U0l69ff fDUOM^) fO "I 
 
 *MQ 
 
 -utm/o MUd^soj fo 'dnj 
 
 fui flii I lj 
 
 IMP Jim 
 
 
 sjrisl |ir!i si i|i5 
 
 ipi 
 
 i 
 
 II il 
 
 
 -unoiio 
 
 fo 
 
 z> 10 c* iq ># iq s* 
 
 oio ^ 
 
 S" -rH 1C 00 
 OOtDt^ 
 
 TJH t-- CO iO t* 
 
 St-GOQO QO 
 
 00 ^C* CO-rH-rnOl ^OO OOOOOOOSCO _ <NO 
 
 ' J3 S ^j ^ ^3 3 ^j S i2 3 ^ J3 3 S S* S ^" H ^ 
 
 -i-H T-I 1O T)* CO Oi (N 1C Tf CO C* (M TH 
 
 OTt<' Tf Tf Tf Tji Tj! Tjl' CO Tj5 & r * ' 
 
 mo T-< TH so oq co # e ^j oqsqcq ^.'O 
 
 5J ^j ^j }3 ^' J5 i9 3 S rt S S 3* J2* S3 ^ S i^ S 
 
 93^- pw 
 
 So 
 
 . 
 
 --r- 
 
 in IH i-; * o 
 
 1O T* O O ^ 00 CO 
 
 icot-os -r^wxsoeoaoos 
 
 Ul 
 
 Jb ' 
 
 &yi) 
 
 9yj 
 
 
 CO 0> 05CO-* CO -*10r)< 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 DR. MORTON'S MEASUREMENTS. 
 
 SC 
 
 if.-J.9q 
 -uivyj u,ou9)goj fo 
 
 MU9juy Jo - 
 
 lllll 
 
 
 
 
 
 g j 
 
 * a 
 
 36i 
 
 a m " " * * ' -3 
 
 t-c? 
 
 Tf o 
 
 * t-; iq <?* co iq iq iq a* TH ?r> i 
 
 T-l T-lW-i-n-l '. T-1 T-C S ,T-t J T-1 T1 ' 
 
 i> q . . . .^ . .? 1 .. lf ? 10 . 
 
 1O 1C 1O 
 
 lOt-lOlOlO 
 
 TJI me* 10 10 os e* t-iooco50THcio-* 
 
 ss ssi 
 
 c Ti<-^coc6eoTt-^ci3cOTii ifl-^'^T)HT)<cococo-* 
 
 *' -^ . Tj5 c o 10 m' TJH 10 10 "* <* 10 10' *' 10 -*' !-; co -t 4 " 10 't 
 
 T-IOJCOTH 1O5DSO COS* OrfOS OC OO CO lO lO O5 TJI CO CO 
 
 ididio'idio'iocdio'itjid 
 
 ^coosiqt^iqeot-co osost^oosTft-osTt; 
 
 III 
 
 fO 'O^f 
 
 ioio-<*ao T-II>CO 10 i-H QO 
 
 ' '' 
 
 co oo cct-ioi> 
 
 ^ M M w 
 
 ^S 
 
 '(OOT sv pdwnssn MWDI 
 9W) wmq 
 
 91/1 OJ 
 
 eoiq coq eo-^cocooq 
 
DR. MORTON'S MEASUREMENTS. 
 
 163 
 
 -find 
 
 fo - 
 
 ed) 
 
 . 
 ttened). 
 ttened) 
 . 
 ially flat ) 
 flattened)' 
 
 Supposed 
 
 Rimac, 
 
 . 
 lly flatten 
 ificially rt 
 ificially fl 
 (artificial 
 r (artificia 
 ificially fl 
 
 Mound. S 
 
 ssee. 
 Peru. 
 Valley 
 
 Peru 
 mba, Mex 
 
 Moxico. 
 Illinois. 
 
 100 
 
 ' 
 
 a* co TJ! co so e o< 
 
 am? pW}SVff-^fUI I ^^^ 
 
 
 ayojf puv 
 /o 
 
 co iiococqcsco 
 
 QO 'o6oOo6t~00 
 
 mo 
 
 ' 
 
 s 
 
 O iOJOt- (7* <N CO TO 1O 1O 
 
 oi oicooi oioiciciosoi 
 
 Ui TP CO TJ! CO CO rj< Tt CO CO 
 
 {3 J23i3 333333 
 
 
 *' id TjJ *' ^' 5 -^ 10 10 T)< 10 10* 10 10 10' rji 10 
 
 10* CD fC CO ' 10' CO 50 (0 10' 10" 10' 10 10' 10 10' 10 10' 
 
 t* Ci O5 t^ 00 O CQ C5 CO C7 O5 ip CO CO t* t^ 00 
 
 o co co' co to o t-' ,_ o co co eb co' d co' cc' cc5 
 
 "(oor * pdiunssn daijvj 
 Pitf) -wwici jvmpnn6u(rT 
 
 OJ JV)9Ut)J[ 91/f Jo 
 
 
 ojoo 10 r-i TH eo 
 
164 
 
 MORTON'S MEASUREMENTS CLASSIFIED. 
 
 of the long and the short skull respectively. The former 74.7 
 and the latter 87 are both far enough removed from the divid- 
 ing line (80) to leave no doubt that the types are distinct and 
 separate. Additional data, materially strengthening the conclu- 
 sion of the variety of types found among American crania, has 
 been furnished by that eminent authority Dr. Daniel Wilson. 1 
 The following table of measurements in inches is based upon his 
 extensive researches : 
 
 No. of 
 Crania 
 in each 
 Class. 
 
 Description of Crania. 
 
 Mean 
 Longitu- 
 dinal 
 Diameter. 
 
 Mean 
 Parietal 
 Diameter. 
 
 Cephalic 
 Index. 
 
 8 
 
 Mound Crania (two from Morton, four un- 
 doubtedly from the mounds) 
 
 6.54 
 
 567 
 
 867 
 
 12 
 
 
 662 
 
 578 
 
 85 7 
 
 29 
 
 Peruvian Brachycephalic Crania . 
 
 597 
 
 5 12 
 
 85 7 
 
 16 
 
 Peruvian Dolichocephalic Crania 
 
 649 
 
 495 
 
 762 
 
 8 
 
 
 705 
 
 541 
 
 767 
 
 7 
 
 Mexican Brachycephalic Crania . . . 
 
 656 
 
 5 51 
 
 840 
 
 31 
 22 
 12 
 
 Dolichocephalic Crania of Am. Indians 
 Brachycephalic Crania of Am. Indians, . . . 
 Livinjy Alffonouins BrachycephalsB 
 
 7.24 
 6.62 
 
 725 
 
 5.47 
 5.45 
 609 
 
 75.5 
 82.3 
 
 827 
 
 39 
 
 West Canadian Hurons (male) 
 
 739 
 
 550 
 
 744 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 It requires no careful examination of these figures to observe 
 that the type of skull among the American aborigines, ancient 
 or modern, was in no sense constant, since among the same tribes 
 long and short skulls occur in almost equal numbers. This fact 
 is especially true among the savage Indians, Among the semi- 
 civilized nations, however, as among the Peruvians and Mexicans, 
 the long and short skulls mark the successive existence and 
 destruction of distinct peoples having physiological characteris- 
 tics peculiar to themselves. The Peruvian elongated crania are 
 always found with large-boned skeletons having strong hands, 
 while the short or rounded crania accompany very small bones, 
 such as were unable to endure labor like the building of pyra- 
 mids and the erection of such edifices as are found in Peru. 2 
 
 1 Pre- Historic Man, chap. xx. 3d ed. London, 1876. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 2 Dr. Wilson's American Cranial Type in Smithsonian, Report, 1862, pp. 250 
 et seq. Dr. Wilson clearly shows that in one set there is the characteristic 
 
EELATIONSHIP OF ANCIENT AMERICAN PEOPLES. 165 
 
 It is with the utmost deference to the genius, and with full 
 recognition of the valuable researches of Dr. Morton, that we dis- 
 agree with his conclusions and pronounce his theory without 
 foundation in fact. There is no evidence furnished by the 
 measurement of crania that an American race, as unique in itself 
 and distinct from the rest of mankind, ever existed. 1 One of the 
 most interesting studies connected with these tables, as well as 
 other measurements made more recently, is the question of rela- 
 tionship between the various semi-civilized peoples of the ancient 
 
 Mongol auxiliary of prominent cheek bones, while in the other the bones of the 
 face are small and delicate. In twenty-six measurements he finds proof that the 
 Peruvians were distinct from the Mexicans. Thirty-one dolichocephalic crania 
 as compared with twenty- two brachycephalic crania convince him of the error of 
 Morton and establish a diversity among'the tribes of the North-east. He thinks 
 analogies are traceable between the Esquimaux and the type of elongated skull ; 
 at all events he is satisfied that the form of the skull is as little constant among 
 the tribes of the new world as among those of the old. 
 
 1 This author (Dr. Morton), who has given us such numerous and valuable 
 facts, as well as the linguists who have studied these American languages with 
 indefatigable zeal, have arrived at the conclusion that both race and language 
 in the new world are unique. I am obliged to avow that the facts advanced by 
 Morton himself, and that the study of numerous skulls with which he has 
 enriched the museum of Stockholm, have conducted me to a wholly different 
 result. I can only explain the fact by surmising that this remarkable man has 
 allowed the views of the naturalist to be warped by his linguistic researches. 
 For, if the form of the skull has anything to do with the question of races, we 
 cannot fail to see that it is scarcely possible to find anywhere a more distinct 
 distribution into dolichocephalse and brachycephalae than in America. It would 
 be only necessary, in order to show this, to direct attention to certain of the 
 delineations in his own work, where the skull of the Peruvian infant (PI. 2), the 
 Lenni-Lenape (PI. 32), the Pawnee (PI. 38), the Blackfoot (PI. 40), etc., as clearly 
 present the dolichocephalic form as on the other hand his Natchez (PI. 30 and 31) 
 and the greater part of his representations of the skulls of Chili, Peru, Mexico, 
 Oregon, etc., are distinct types of the brachycephalic. Conclusive, however, as 
 the plates are, I should scarcely have ventured to advance these remarks, if the 
 rich series of our own collection, and the numerous and excellent figures of 
 Blumenbach, Sandifort, Van der Hoeven, etc., did not declare in favor of my 
 opinion. (Retzius in Smithsonian Report, 1859, p. 264.) 
 
 Latham, in Natural History of the Varieties of Man, p. 452, says : "As to 
 the conformation of the skull, a point where (with great deference) I differ with 
 the author of the excellent Crania Americana, the Americans are said to be 
 6raMy-kephalic, the Eskimo doWMo-kephalic." He quotes Morton's tables to 
 contradict his (Morton's) conclusions. 
 
166 TYPICAL MOUXD SKULL. 
 
 period. First and most naturally the type of the mound crania 
 attracts attention, and calls for comparisons with the Indian 
 type and with that of the remarkable people of the more southern 
 civilization. 
 
 The " Scioto Mound " skull figured by Dr. Davis in Plates 
 xlvii and xlviii of The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi 
 Valley, was pronounced by Dr. Morton in Dr. Meigs' catalogue 
 of the human crania in the collection of the Academy of Natural 
 Sciences of Philadelphia, as " perhaps the most admirably formed 
 head of the American race hitherto discovered/' 
 
 The most important measurements are as follows : 
 
 Longitudinal diameter 6.5 inches. 
 
 Parietal " 6.0 " 
 
 Vertical " 6.2 " 
 
 Inter-mastoid arch 16.0 " 
 
 Horizontal circumference 19.8 " 
 
 Cephalic index 92.3 " 
 
 The chief features as pointed out by the above-named author, 
 are : the elevated vertex, flattened occiput, great inter-parietal 
 diameter, ponderous bony structure, salient nose, large jaws and 
 broad face. These he pronounces to be characteristics of the 
 American cranium. Dr. Wilson has shown that Dr. Morton has 
 contradicted his own previous definition of what that type is as 
 well as the description given by Humboldt. 1 The propriety of 
 selecting any single cranium as typical of the Mound-builders 
 would be as questionable in this connection as it was for Dr. 
 Morton and the authors of the Types of Mankind to designate 
 the Scioto Mound skull as a type of the American cranium. 
 Until within a few years but few genuine mound skulls were 
 
 1 " Tried by Dr. Morton's own definitions and illustrations, the Scioto Mound 
 skull differs from the typical cranium in some of its most characteristic features. 
 Instead of the low, receding, unarched forehead, it has a finely-arched frontal 
 bone with corresponding breadth of forehead. The wedge-shaped vertex is 
 replaced by a well-rounded arch curving equally throughout ; and with the 
 exception of the flattened occiput, due to artificial though probably undesigned 
 compression in infancy, the cranium is a uniformly proportioned example of an 
 extreme brachycephalic skull." Pre-Historic Man, vol. ii, p. 127. 
 
CRANIA FROM THE RIVER ROUGE. 
 
 1G7 
 
 accessible, and considerable suspicion was reasonably attached 
 to the genuineness of several, including three or four of the so- 
 called mound skulls in the Crania Americana. Recent explora- 
 tions by the most competent persons has brought to light a 
 considerable number in different parts of the Mississippi Valley, 
 which we have reason to believe are genuine. 
 
 From a number of measurements only is it possible for us 
 to approximate the type of the mound skull. We have already 
 referred to the low type skulls secured by Gen. H. W. Thomas 
 from a mound in Dakota Territory. 1 Unfortunately we are 
 without measurements, but from the description we observe that 
 the forehead is decidedly receding, and the orbital ridges are 
 excessively developed. The inferior maxillary is of unusual 
 prominence and much more massive, as is the entire bony struc- 
 ture, than in the common Indian cranium. Another cranium 
 of similar characteristic was exhumed from the great mound on 
 the River Rouge near its junction with the Detroit River, Michi- 
 gan, by Mr. Henry Gillman. From this mound several crania 
 were taken, of which one (though evidently adult) presented the 
 hitherto, I think I may say, unprecedented feature of its capacity 
 being only fifty-six cubic inches. The mean given by Morton 
 and Meigs of the Indian cranium is eighty-four cubic inches, 
 the minimum being sixty-nine cubic inches. This cranium, for- 
 warded with other relics to the Peabody Museum, presents 
 (though in no wise deformed) the further peculiarity of having 
 the ridges for the attachment of the temporal muscle only .75 of 
 an inch apart, in this respect resembling the cranium of the 
 chimpanzee. It is rarely that in human crania those ridges 
 approach each other within a distance of two inches, while they 
 vary from that to four inches apart. 2 Eight crania were ex- 
 humed by Mr. Gillman from the great mound on Rouge River, 
 which furnished him the following measurements : 
 
 1 Chapter II, p. 127. 
 
 2 Henry Gillman, The Ancient Men of the Great Lakes, in Proceedings of 
 the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 24th meeting, at 
 Detroit, 1875, p. 317 ; also American Journal of Arts and Science, 1874, vol. cvii, 
 p. 1 et seq., and Sixth Annual Report of Peabody Museum, pp. 12-20. 
 
168 
 
 CRANIA FROM THE RIVER ROUGE. 
 
 8 
 
 * 
 
 oxapuj 
 
 y}p&9>i[ Jb xspuf 
 
 5 S 
 T# id n id Tji 
 
 gg8S328 S 
 
 id TJ! id n? n<' id id rt 
 
 8 S $ S 
 
 -^ id *' eo co *' 
 
 S 8 8 
 
 8 i2 
 
 O O O O Q O 
 
 rt c TH 55 S , oq 
 
 8 8 S S ^ 
 
 fl5 eo eo -<* co 
 
 10 10 Tf 
 
 8 S g 
 
 o id id id -^ 
 
 o 8 
 
 8 S S 
 S S g 
 
 : 8 
 
 S 8 ^ 
 
 CO GO CO 
 
 ~ si co Tj5 id o 
 
 . , 
 
 ^3 ^ .B ^H 
 
 fc .2 - 
 
RESEARCHES OF DR. FARQUHARSON. 
 
 169 
 
 We observe that only three of these crania are brachycephalic, 
 while the remaining five, and the mean of all, fall under the 
 class of dolichocephalic crania, according to our classification. 
 Mr. Gillman would call some of them Orthocephalic, and the 
 mean of the eight crania giving a cephalic index of .786 and .802 
 as an index of height might properly be so classified. The same 
 gentleman exhumed from an ancient mound on Chambers Island, 
 Green Bay, Wisconsin, six crania, which as to type were equally 
 divided into long and short skulls, while the mean cephalic 
 index, .817, assigned them to the brachycephalic class. The 
 long skulls were not far removed, however, from the dividing 
 line between the classes (.80). The energetic and intelligent 
 labors of Dr. K. J. Farquharson of the Davenport, Iowa, Academy 
 of Sciences, has placed within our reach measurements upon 
 twenty-five mound crania. 1 The following are the most impor- 
 tant measurements in inches : 
 
 
 *** 
 If 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Is! 
 
 CKANIA. 
 
 if 4 
 
 ll 
 
 li 
 
 It 
 
 ifl 
 
 
 *! 
 
 fS 
 
 II 
 
 II 
 
 |S 
 
 Mean of Nine Crania from Albany, 111. . . 
 
 19.8 
 
 6.8 
 
 5.1 
 
 68. 
 
 .768 
 
 Mean of Eleven from Rock River, 111. ... 
 
 20.15 
 
 7.0 
 
 5.4 
 
 74.48 
 
 .771 
 
 Mean of Four from Henry County, 111 ... 
 
 19.5 
 
 7.0 
 
 5.2 
 
 74.47 
 
 .743 
 
 One from Davenport . . . 
 
 19 5 
 
 70 
 
 5 25 
 
 76 20 
 
 752 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This table introduces a new feature into the investigation in 
 hand ; the brachycephalic or the near approximation to the 
 short skull is displaced by a mean cephalic index of .758, indi- 
 cating the well-marked dolichocephalic type. The mean internal 
 capacity 73.3 inches falls considerably below the mean of mound 
 crania as measured by Squier and Davis, Wilson and others, 
 from localities farther south. 
 
 1 Recent Explorations of Mounds near Davenport, Iowa, in Proceedings of 
 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 24th meeting, 1875, 
 pp. 297 et seq. 
 
170 
 
 RESEARCHES BY DR. FARQUH ARSON. 
 
 The mean results of Dr. Farquharson's measurements 1 show 
 a greater vertical than transverse diameter, a peculiarity of most 
 Mississippi mound skulls, distinguishing them from Peruvian 
 crania. In the Ohio Valley the brachycephalic type is quite 
 decided, though the general features of high receding forehead, 
 flattened occiput, and great transverse diameter, establish their 
 relationship to all other North American mound crania yet dis- 
 covered. Three Ohio Yalley mound skulls, as to the genuine- 
 ness of which no suspicion can be entertained, namely the Scioto 
 Mound cranium and two crania from the Grave Creek Mound, 
 give the following measurements in the mean : Longitudinal 
 
 1 Dr. Farquharson considers that some of his measurements in inches are 
 scarcely accurate enough, and gives the following table in the decimals of a 
 metre : 
 
 MEASUREMENTS OF MOUND SKULLS; ALSO OF SIOUX SKULLS IN DECIMALS 
 
 OF A METRE. 
 
 FORAMINAI, DISTANCE TAKEN WITH WTMAN'S INSTRUMENT. 
 
 No. 
 
 ?! 
 
 j 
 
 , 
 
 
 ,1 
 
 - 
 
 , 
 
 
 Mounds. 
 
 
 's 
 
 R 
 
 S? g 
 
 Sis 
 
 'S" 
 
 
 
 :'" 
 
 sH 
 
 
 
 *i 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 ^ 53 
 
 Cs 
 
 O O 
 
 1* 
 
 i* 
 
 " 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 .546 
 
 200 
 
 .120 
 
 140 
 
 1190 
 
 
 
 600 
 
 Albany, 111 
 
 2 
 
 .483 
 
 .162 
 
 .128 
 
 .140 
 
 1190 
 
 .062 
 
 .382 
 
 .790 
 
 Albany, 111. 
 
 3 
 
 .495 
 
 .174 
 
 .130 
 
 .135 
 
 1020 
 
 .077 
 
 .442 
 
 .752 
 
 Albany, 111. 
 
 7 
 
 .503 
 
 .170 
 
 140 
 
 125 
 
 
 
 
 823 
 
 Albany 111 
 
 8 
 
 .495 
 
 .175 
 
 .135 
 
 .140 
 
 1249 
 
 .065 
 
 .370 
 
 .771 
 
 Davenport, Mound No. 9. 
 
 9 
 
 .508 
 
 .171 
 
 .140 
 
 .140 
 
 1334 
 
 .062 
 
 .362 
 
 .818 
 
 Rock River, 111. 
 
 10 
 
 .508 
 
 .167 
 
 .148 
 
 .140 
 
 1135 
 
 .070 
 
 .419 
 
 .886 
 
 Rock River, HI. 
 
 11 
 
 .533 
 
 .180 
 
 .150 
 
 .145 
 
 1362 
 
 
 
 .833 
 
 Rock River, HI. 
 
 12 
 
 .457 
 
 .167 
 
 .128 
 
 .140 
 
 1021 
 
 
 
 .766 
 
 Rock River, 111. 
 
 13 
 
 .522 
 
 .185 
 
 .130 
 
 .150 
 
 1362 
 
 .089 
 
 .427 
 
 .702 
 
 Rock Rivet, 111. 
 
 14 
 
 .483 
 
 .171 
 
 .138 
 
 .140 
 
 1192 
 
 .079 
 
 .460 
 
 .807 
 
 Henry County, 111. 
 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 
 .508 
 .457 
 .533 
 
 .185 
 .170 
 .185 
 
 .138 
 .130 
 .135 
 
 .145 
 .140 
 .140 
 
 1306 
 1135 
 1249 
 
 .081 
 .078 
 .072 
 
 .443 
 
 .448 
 .389 
 
 .745 
 .764 
 .703 
 
 Henry County, 111, 
 Henry County, 111. 
 Henry County, 111. 
 
 18 
 
 .508 
 
 .180 
 
 
 .140 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rock River, 111. 
 
 19 
 
 .533 
 
 196 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 
 
 
 704 
 
 Rock River, 111. 
 
 20 
 
 
 .200 
 
 .128 
 
 
 
 
 
 .640 
 
 Rock River, 111. 
 
 21 
 
 
 .180 
 
 .137 
 
 
 
 
 
 761 
 
 Henry County, HI. 
 
 23 
 
 
 .178 
 
 .140 
 
 .140 
 
 
 073 
 
 .410 
 
 .730 
 
 Albany, 111. 
 
 24 
 
 
 .184 
 
 .139 
 
 .150 
 
 
 088 
 
 .478 
 
 .755 
 
 Rock River. HI. 
 
 26 
 
 
 .200 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Shell Bed, Rock Island. 
 
 27 
 
 .482 
 
 .170 
 
 .125 
 
 .140 
 
 936 
 
 076 
 
 .388 
 
 .735 
 
 Albany, 111. 
 
 28 
 
 
 .177 
 
 .135 
 
 .140 
 
 
 
 
 .762 
 
 Albany, 111. 
 
 29 
 
 .507 
 
 .177 
 
 .130 
 
 .145 
 
 1137 
 
 088 
 
 .440 
 
 .734 
 
 Albany, El. 
 
 
 .503 
 
 .179 
 
 .134 
 
 .140 
 
 1188 
 
 .075 
 
 .432 
 
 .755 
 
 Mean. 
 
 
 18 
 
 24 
 
 22 
 
 21 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 22 
 
 No. of skulls measured. 
 
RESEARCHES OF PROF. JONES IN TENNESSEE. 
 
 diameter, 6.5 inches ; parietal diameter, 6 inches ; vertical 
 diameter, 5.5 inches, and 90.7 as their cephalic index. The 
 mean internal capacity, though not obtainable with any degree 
 of accuracy, in this instance is no doubt from eight to ten 
 cubic inches greater than in the Davenport crania. With the 
 general characteristics alike, minor differences may in most 
 instances be attributed to artificial pressure. A valuable collec- 
 tion of mound crania was made in Kentucky for the Smithsonian 
 Institution and the Peabody Museum, by Mr. S. S. Lyon, and 
 is thoroughly reliable as a basis for measurements. Professor 
 Wyman, in the Fourth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, 
 describes them as follows : " The twenty-four crania measured 
 (Table VIII) show a mean capacity of 1313 cubic centimetres, 
 which is greater than that of the Peruvians, but less than that 
 of the North American Indians generally (viz., 1376 cubic centi- 
 metres, or 84 cubic inches). They differ also from those of the 
 ordinary Indians in being lighter, less massive, in having the 
 rough surface for muscular attachments less strongly marked. 
 * * . * In proportions they present a very considerable varia- 
 tion among themselves. Assuming the length of the skull to 
 be 1.000, the breadth ranges from 0.712 to 0.950 of the length. 
 The average proportion is 0.857, which places them in the 
 short-headed group." 
 
 We have already called attention to the extensive and thor- 
 ough work performed by Professor Joseph Jones in Tennessee, 
 the report of which was published in 1876 by the Smithsonian 
 Institution in a "contribution" entitled Explorations of the 
 Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee. Professor Jones secured 
 above a hundred mound and stone grave crania, mostly in the 
 valley of the Cumberland and on the banks of the Big Harpeth 
 Kiver. Some of the skeletons accompanying these crania were 
 of gigantic stature, a fact which is at variance with the opinion 
 that they were related to the diminutive race of Inca Peruvians. 1 
 On the contrary, however, a strong argument for the relationship 
 
 1 Dr. Jones found skeletons six feet, and in one instance seven feet in length. 
 (Antiquities of Tennessee, pp. 44 and 53.) 
 
172 
 
 PROFESSOR JONES' MEASUREMENTS. 
 
 between the Mound-builders and the Peruvians is found in the 
 frequent occurrence of the Inca-bone (os inca) so-called, on the 
 mound crania. 1 Mr. Henry Gillman found this same bone in 
 one of the crania exhumed by him from the great mound of 
 Kouge Kiver, Michigan, with a disposition to its formation in 
 several others. 2 Professor Jones is convinced of the unity of 
 the mound race throughout the entire Mississippi Basin. The 
 following table of measurements, published in the Antiquities 
 of Tennessee, is one of the most valuable which has yet been 
 prepared : 
 
 
 g 
 
 *- 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 s 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 
 <-i 
 
 \ 
 
 Jl 
 
 II 
 
 IIS 
 
 |l 
 
 li 
 
 ii 
 
 li 
 
 S 
 
 ll 
 
 ! 
 
 3 
 
 |2 
 
 Jl 
 
 ll 
 
 g e 
 
 fl 
 
 c I* 
 
 ll 
 
 l-s 
 
 -33 
 
 || N 
 
 n 
 
 i| 
 
 !| 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ll 
 
 3| 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 76.5 
 
 75. 
 
 6.3 
 
 5.4 
 
 4.3 
 
 5.5 
 
 15. 
 
 5. 
 
 13.5 
 
 19. 
 
 7.5 
 
 5.1 
 
 2 
 
 80. 
 
 78. 
 
 6. 
 
 5.6 
 
 4.4 
 
 5.4 
 
 146 
 
 5.1 
 
 13.2 
 
 18.9 
 
 7.2 
 
 5.2 
 
 3 
 
 75. 
 
 78. 
 
 6.1 
 
 5.7 
 
 4.3 
 
 5.6 
 
 15. 
 
 5.2 
 
 13. 
 
 19. 
 
 7.3 
 
 5.3 
 
 4 
 
 .... 
 
 82. 
 
 6.2 
 
 5.7 
 
 4.1 
 
 5.5 
 
 15.2 
 
 5.4 
 
 14. 
 
 19. 
 
 
 5.2 
 
 5 
 
 77.' 
 
 84. 
 
 6.5 
 
 5.8 
 
 4.4 
 
 5.8 
 
 15.5 
 
 5.2 
 
 14.3 
 
 19.9 
 
 7.4 
 
 5.3 
 
 6 
 
 76. 
 
 68. 
 
 6.4 
 
 4.9 
 
 3.9 
 
 5.5 
 
 13.9 
 
 4.5 
 
 13.8 
 
 18.2 
 
 7.1 
 
 4.6 
 
 7 
 
 81. 
 
 103. 
 
 7. 
 
 5.9 
 
 4.8 
 
 6.4 
 
 16.8 
 
 5.3 
 
 15.7 
 
 20.8 
 
 7.8 
 
 5.5 
 
 8 
 
 80. 
 
 80. 
 
 6.6 
 
 5.6 
 
 4.3 
 
 5.5 
 
 15. 
 
 4.6 
 
 13.8 
 
 19.3 
 
 7.2 
 
 5.2 
 
 9 
 
 78. 
 
 79. 
 
 7. 
 
 5.2 
 
 3.9 
 
 5.8 
 
 14.7 
 
 4.6 
 
 15.2 
 
 19,5 
 
 7.4 
 
 5. 
 
 10 
 
 81. 
 
 76. 
 
 6.3 
 
 6. 
 
 4.4 
 
 5.4 
 
 15.7 
 
 4.6 
 
 13.8 
 
 19.4 
 
 6.8 
 
 5.3 
 
 11 
 
 80. 
 
 90. 
 
 6.9 
 
 5.6 
 
 4.3 
 
 6. 
 
 15.7 
 
 4.8 
 
 14.8 
 
 20.3 
 
 7.6 
 
 5.5 
 
 12 
 
 77. 
 
 80. 
 
 6.8 
 
 52 
 
 4.1 
 
 5.8 
 
 15. 
 
 4.7 
 
 14.4 
 
 19.5 
 
 7.8 
 
 5.2 
 
 13 
 
 82. 
 
 81. 
 
 6.9 
 
 5.5 
 
 4.3 
 
 5.7 
 
 15. 
 
 4.8 
 
 14. 
 
 19.6 
 
 7.8 
 
 5. 
 
 14 
 
 
 92. 
 
 6.1 
 
 6.4 
 
 4.4 
 
 6. 
 
 16.5 
 
 5.4 
 
 13.8 
 
 19.8 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 79. 
 
 6.1 
 
 5.8 
 
 4.6 
 
 5.5 
 
 15. 
 
 4.8 
 
 13.4 
 
 189 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 7.2 
 
 5^7 
 
 46 
 
 5^9 
 
 16. 
 
 4.6 
 
 15.2 
 
 20.8 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 6.1 
 
 5,5 
 
 4 1 
 
 4.5 
 
 14. 
 
 
 136 
 
 19. 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 6.5 
 
 5.8 
 
 4^5 
 
 4.6 
 
 15. 
 
 
 
 19.4 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 82." 
 
 79.2 
 
 6,7 
 
 5.5 
 
 4.2 
 
 5.5 
 
 15. 
 
 4.4 
 
 13.5 
 
 19.1 
 
 *7.8 
 
 '5.2 
 
 20 
 
 75. 
 
 81.4 
 
 6.5 
 
 5.7 
 
 4. 
 
 5.6 
 
 14.4 
 
 5. 
 
 13.3 
 
 19.2 
 
 7.1 
 
 5.3 
 
 21 
 
 82. 
 
 80.5 
 
 6.4 
 
 5.9 
 
 4.6 
 
 5.7 
 
 15. 
 
 4.9 
 
 14. 
 
 19. 
 
 7.3 
 
 5.4 
 
 Max.. 
 
 82. 
 
 103. 
 
 7.2 
 
 6.4 
 
 4.8 
 
 6.4 
 
 16.8 
 
 5.4 
 
 15.7 
 
 20.8 
 
 7.8 
 
 5.5 
 
 Min.. 
 
 75. 
 
 68. 
 
 6. 
 
 4.9 
 
 3.9 
 
 4.5 
 
 13.9 
 
 4.4 
 
 13. 
 
 18.2 
 
 6.8 
 
 4.6 
 
 Mean 
 
 78.8 
 
 81.44 
 
 6.5 
 
 5.68 
 
 4.21 
 
 5.56 
 
 15.0 
 
 4.57 
 
 13.88 
 
 19.8 
 
 7.4 
 
 5.2 
 
 The most noticeable feature in the table aside from the mean 
 cephalic index .874 is the great internal capacity of cranium 
 No. 7, which was found in a stone grave in a mound near Nash- 
 ville, with a skeleton over six feet long. The occiput is but 
 slightly flattened, and the general contour of the head is sym- 
 
 1 Antiquities of Tennessee, p. 72 ; also note other similarities on p. 119. 
 
 2 Ancient Men of the Great Lakes. Proceedings of the American Associa- 
 tion for Advancement of Science, meeting of 1375, pp. 322-3. 
 
PROFESSOR PUTNAM'S CRANIA FROM TENNESSEE. 173 
 
 metrically oval. Morton gives as the mean internal capacity of 
 fifty-two Caucasian skulls 87 cubic inches ; the largest of the 
 series measured 109 cubic inches, and the smallest 75 cubic 
 inches. This remarkable cranium gives an internal capacity of 
 103 cubic inches, vastly above the mean European skull, and 
 only falling six cubic inches below the largest measured by 
 Morton. As we observed a considerable increase in capacity in 
 the Scioto Mound cranium, with its ninety cubic inches, over the 
 crania of the north-west and north, of Michigan and Davenport, 
 so here a most remarkable advance upon the capacity of the 
 Scioto cranium is presented. The evidence of considerable 
 development in the size of the cranium in this same race is clear ; 
 and taken with other testimony, such as the great improvement 
 in art and architecture, indicates probably a movement from 
 north to south, and that the mound race was older in the former 
 region than in the latter. 
 
 In September, 1877, Prof. F. W. Putnam and Mr. Edwin 
 Curtiss exhumed sixty-seven crania from stone graves located 
 in the neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee. These crania 
 were measured by Miss Jennie Smith and Mr. Lucian Carr, and 
 the latter has tabulated and described them in the Eleventh 
 Annual Report of the Peabody Museum (pp. 361 et seq., Cam- 
 bridge, 1878). As some interesting features occur in the tables, 
 we insert here Mr. Carr's mean measurements. It will be 
 observed that the classification in this instance is threefold, 
 besides the distinct position assigned to the " much flattened " 
 crania. 
 
 MEAN MEASUREMENTS OF SIXTY-SEVEN CEANIA FROM STONE GRAVES 
 IN TENNESSEE. 
 
 
 
 Number of 
 Crania. 
 
 i 
 
 f 
 
 s 
 
 3 
 
 Vs 
 
 1 
 
 ^ sP 
 ^ ft^ 
 
 .716 
 .775 
 .856 
 .973 
 
 b^ 
 
 s 
 
 34 
 
 !a 
 
 Index of 
 Breadth. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 Dolichocephali 
 Orthocephali 
 Brachycephali 
 Much Flattened. . . 
 
 5 
 
 18 - 
 29 
 15 
 
 2 
 1325 
 6 
 
 1346 
 15 
 1284 
 
 7 
 1461 
 
 5 
 184 
 18 
 172 
 29 
 165 
 15 
 156 
 
 5 
 132 
 16 
 134 
 28 
 141 
 15 
 152 
 
 3 
 142 
 11 
 141 
 18 
 142 
 8 
 145 
 
 .775 
 .819 
 .865 
 .907 
 
 5 
 94 
 
 18 
 89 
 29 
 90 
 15 
 93 
 
 .730 and under. 
 .740 .800 
 .800 .900 
 .900 and over. 
 
174 MOUND CRANIA UNLIKE THOSE OF RED INDIANS. 
 
 Mr. Carr calls attention to the fact that while the classified 
 crania as a whole are brachycephali, still from twenty- three to 
 thirty-three per cent, of the whole cannot be considered as falling 
 within that group. Whether the five dolichocephali in the table 
 belonged to the same race cannot be determined. They were 
 buried together, for Prof. Putnam found a long and a short 
 skull side by side in the same grave. Mr. A. J. Conant (see 
 Commonwealth of Missouri, St. Louis, 1877, Svo, pp. 106-7) 
 discovered in a mound in South-eastern Missouri two crania 
 belonging to skeletons buried in regular order, with a large 
 number of other skeletons at the bottom of the mound, which 
 differed strangely from all others found in that locality. The 
 forehead was entirely wanting, and the contour of the top of one of 
 the skulls was almost flat. It closely resembles the Neanderthal 
 skull. Mr. Conant thought it at first to be an intrusive burial, 
 but careful examination proved it to have been placed in posi- 
 tion before the building of the mound, and to have been interred 
 with as much care as was bestowed upon any of the other occu- 
 pants of the mound. Vases, drinking vessels and food-pans 
 accompanied it as they did all the other skeletons. 
 
 Mr. Carr thinks such crania as he has pointed out belonged 
 to individuals who were conquered in war, or adopted or intro- 
 duced into the tribe by intermarriage. Mr. Conant considers 
 that the low type cranium which he discovered belonged to a 
 very ancient race, the predecessors of the Mound-builders, and 
 not far removed from the paleolithic races of Europe. 
 
 The mound skulls are readily distinguishable from those of the 
 Ked Indian. Only in the Davenport crania and the five dolicho- 
 cephali from Tennessee do we see any approximation as to form. 
 However, the remaining characteristics of the Davenport crania 
 establish the fact that they belonged to people of the mounds. 
 In our classification of Dr. Morton's measurements, it will be 
 observed that only two supposed mound skulls appear among 
 the dolichocephali (long skulls, A), and too much doubt is 
 attached to their genuineness to admit of their use in drawing 
 inferences. All the remainder belong to the savage tribes except 
 three Peruvians of the ancient race of the region of Titicaca. 
 
COMPARISON OF CRANIA. 175 
 
 In the table of br achy ceph all but few of the savage tribes are 
 represented, except those which practice artificial compression 
 to the extent of deformity. The mound skull as compared with 
 the Inca Peruvian presents few resemblances, except that both 
 generally belong to the brachycephalic class, and the singular 
 and important fact already mentioned that the Inca bone has 
 been found in North American mound crania. It is possible 
 that when more extensive research is made, this distinguish- 
 ing feature may lead to the conclusion that the races were 
 one or closely related. On the other hand, the massive bony 
 'structure of some of the mound crania does not correspond with 
 the facial bones of the Inca crania, which are very light and 
 delicate. Prof. Wilson has pointed out the additional fact that 
 the vertical diameter of the Peruvian short crania is not so great 
 as that of the mound and Mexican short skulls, but a reference 
 to the Professor's own tables shows that the mean difference 
 amounts only to thirty-seven-hundredths of an inch, altogether 
 too small a variation to serve as the basis for ethnic generaliza- 
 tions. 1 Few if any similarities can be traced between the doli- 
 chocephali of Peru and the brachycephalic Mound-builders, 
 the only resemblances being the heavy bony structure possessed 
 in common by both races. The crania of the dolichocephali of 
 Peru are pronounced of a Mongol cast and form, and are in every 
 respect unlike the mound crania. Turning our attention, how- 
 ever, to the ancient Mexican crania, we find, so far as we are 
 able to judge from the limited number of skulls which have 
 come into the possession of ethnologists, a parallelism in meas- 
 urements and resemblance in the various distinctive features, 
 such as flattened occiput, broad transverse diameter, retreating 
 forehead, strong bony structure, and a remarkable agreement in 
 vertical diameter with those of the mounds of the Mississippi 
 Basin, which point unmistakably to the closest relationship. 
 Seven Mexican brachycephali measured by Prof. Wilson in the 
 Boston and Philadelphia collections previously referred to, gave 
 a mean vertical diameter of 5.55 inches. 2 Four Mound-builder 
 
 1 Pre-Historic Man, vol. ii, chap, xx, pp. 145, 158, 165. 
 
 2 The Aztecs are represented in our museum by three skulls found in an 
 
176 COMPARISON OF CRANIA. 
 
 crania measured by the same investigation gave precisely the 
 same result, while the remaining measurements varied from each 
 other but slightly. In confirmation of this result it is worthy 
 of notice that the mean vertical diameter of the twenty-one 
 mound and stone grave crania from Tennessee varied from that 
 of the Mexican crania by only one one-hundredth of an inch (5.56). 
 When Dr. Morton began his investigations, he was disposed 
 to recognize the existence of distinct races, represented by the 
 dolichocephalic and brachycephalic crania of Peru. 1 But in 
 later years, and at a period subsequent to the issue of his justly 
 celebrated work, he concluded that the Peruvian elongated head 
 was the product of artificial compression and not the distinguish- 
 ing mark of an ancient race which long antedated the Incas. 2 
 Prof. Wilson has thoroughly discussed this subject, and from a 
 series of investigations, conducted on a much more extensive 
 scale than those of Dr. Morton, he has shown conclusively that 
 the distinguished craniologist was quite mistaken as to the facts 
 upon which he based his later views. 3 Much valuable informa- 
 tion was afforded Prof. Wilson by the researches and collections 
 of John H. Blake, Esq., made during that gentleman's residence 
 in Peru, as well as the extensive collection of Dr. J. C. Warren 
 of Boston. Prof. Wilson points out the essential difference 
 between the compressed and the naturally dolichocephalic cra- 
 nium in these words : " Few who have had extensive opportunities 
 of minutely examining and comparing normal and artificially 
 formed crania, will, I think, be prepared to dispute the fact that 
 the latter are rarely, if ever, symmetrical. The application of 
 
 ancient cemetery near Mexico, which was uncovered in digging intrenchments 
 to protect the Mexican capital against the armies of the United States. They 
 are remarkable for the shortness of their axis, large flattened occiput, obliquely 
 truncated behind, the height of the semicircular line of the temples, the short- 
 ness and trapezoid form of the parietal plane. They present an elevation or 
 ridge along the sagittal suture ; the base of the skull is very short, the face 
 slightly prognathic, as among the Mongol Kalmucs. (Retzius in Smithsonian 
 Report, 1859, p. 268.) 
 
 1 Crania Americana, p. 98. , 
 
 2 See Dr. Morton in Nott & Gliddon. 
 
 3 Pre-Historic Man, vol. ii, chap. xx. 
 
REVIEW OF THE FACTS. 177 
 
 pressure on the head of the living child can easily be made to 
 change its natural contour, but it cannot give to its artificial pro- 
 portions that harmonious repetition of corresponding develop- 
 ments on opposite sides which may be assumed as the normal 
 condition of the unmodified cranium. But in so extreme a case 
 as the conversion of a brachycephalic head averaging about 6.3 
 inches longitudinal diameter by 5.3 inches parietal diameter into 
 a dolichocephalic head of 7.3 by 4.9 inches diameter, the re- 
 tention of anything like the normal symmetrical proportions is 
 impossible. Yet the dolichocephalic Peruvian crania present 
 no such abnormal irregularities as could give plausibility to the 
 theory of their form being an artificial one, while peculiarities 
 in the facial proportions confirm the idea that it is of ethnic 
 origin and not the product of deformation." Besides these 
 differences there are peculiarities of a structural nature sufficient 
 in themselves to distinguish the Peruvian long from the short 
 crania. The former is small, narrow and decidedly long ; the 
 forehead is low and retreating, and two-thirds of the brain- 
 cavity lies behind the occipital foramen. The superior maxillary 
 is protruding and holds the incisor teeth obliquely. The weight 
 of the bony structure also exceeds that in the brachycephalic. 
 Though both classes are found artificially compressed, yet they 
 are always distinguishable from each other. One of the best illus- 
 trations of this fact, and one already used by Prof. Wilson, is 
 afforded in contrasting two dolichocephalic crania, both obtained 
 by Mr. Blake in his explorations of the ancient cemeteries of 
 Arica and Atacama. Both are evidently of children ; one is in 
 its normal condition, symmetrical, and when viewed from above 
 presents the outlines of a graceful oval form, while the other was 
 subjected to such compression as to throw the volume of the 
 brain backward and to greatly deform the frontal bone. 1 A 
 slight tendency to assume the dog-shaped head of the Chinooks 
 of the Columbia Kiver is manifest, where deformation is carried to 
 such an extent as to produce monstrosities. However, even then, 
 the normal brachycephalic type of skull of the Chinooks is not 
 
 1 See especially Eleventh Annual Report Pcabody Museum, pp. 294-304. 
 12 
 
178 ARTIFICIAL HEAD FLATTENING. 
 
 transformed to the dolichocephalic, since the base of the cranium 
 remains comparatively unaffected while distension takes place in 
 a posterior and upward direction. Mr. Squier in his Peru 
 (p. 580, Appendix), has shown that circular compression pro- 
 dftces a symmetrical effect in the same direction. 
 
 The custom of artificially flattening the head has, upon inves- 
 tigation, been shown not to be peculiar alone to the aborigines of 
 America, but to have been practised by many of the semi-civilized 
 peoples of antiquity in different parts of Europe and Asia. Hip- 
 pocrates, in his treatise De Aeris Aquis et Locus, has described 
 this savage practice among a people whom he calls MachrocepJicdi, 
 supposed to have inhabited the region near the Palus Maeotis, 
 in the vicinity of the Caucasus. He says, " The custom stood 
 thus : as soon as the child was born, they immediately fashioned 
 its soft and tender head with their hands, and by the use of 
 bandages and proper arts, forced it to grow lengthwise, by which 
 the spherical figure of the head was prevented and the length 
 increased." Strabo refers to a people occupying a portion 
 of Western Asia, who were addicted to the same custom and 
 had foreheads projecting beyond their beards. 1 Pliny places 
 them in Asia Minor, 2 while Pomponius Mela places the Machro- 
 cephali on the Bosphorus. 3 Blumenbach has figured in his first 
 decade, a compressed skull obtained by him from Russia and 
 probably originally from one of the tumuli of the Crimean 
 Bosphorus, where it is supposed to have been exhumed during 
 the Russian occupation. In 1843, Eathke figured and described 
 in Miiller's Archiv fur Anatomic, another example of the com- 
 pressed human crania, obtained from an ancient grave near 
 Kertsch in the Crimea. In 1820, Count August von Brenner 
 obtained on his estate at Fuersbrunn near Grafenegg in Austria, 
 a skull of similar characteristics. This was, upon examination, 
 decided to have belonged to an Avarian Hun. Prof. Retzius 
 described it in the Proceedings of the Royal Academy of 
 Sciences of Stockholm in 1844) adducing arguments to 
 
 1 Geography, book i, cliap. ii, 35, and book xi, chap, xi, 7. 
 
 2 Natural History, book vii, chap, iv. 
 
 3 De Situ OrVs, lib. i, chap, xix, 1. 73 (ed. 1782). 
 
HEAD FLATTENING. 179 
 
 
 strengthen that supposition. Dr. Tschudi, however, conceived 
 the idea that it might have been a Peruvian skull which had 
 been brought to Europe as a curiosity during the reign of 
 Charles V. and afterwards thrown aside. His communication 
 appeared in Muller's Archiv fur Anatomie. The opinion of the 
 learned traveller was, however, subsequently reversed by the dis- 
 covery at Atzgerrsdorf, near Vienna, of another and similar 
 cranium. More recently others have come to light at the 
 Village of St. Koman in Savoy, and in the Valley of the Doubs 
 near Mandense. Dr. Fitzinger has probably investigated this 
 subject with more thoroughness than any other writer, and lias 
 shown in his articles in the Transactions of the Imperial Academy 
 of Vienna, that this custom was native to the Scythian region 
 in the vicinity of the Mcetian Moor, and prevailed in the Cau- 
 casus and along the shores of the Black and Caspian seas and 
 the Bosphorus. Among the most interesting relics cited as sus- 
 taining his views is an ancient medal struck in commemoration 
 of the destruction of Aquileia by Attila the Hun in A. D. 452, 
 and bearing the bust of that " Scourge of God." The head 
 represented in profile is of precisely the same shape as those 
 of the other Avir skulls, having a flattened form in a vertical 
 and oblique direction. Thierry in his Attila has traced the 
 origin of the custom of flattening the skull, to the Huns, who, 
 descending from their home upon the steppes of Northern Asia, 
 left their remains upon many a field in Europe. One of these 
 deformed skulls was discovered in 1856 by J. Hudson Barclay, 
 in a large cavern near the Damascus Gate at Jerusalem. The 
 skeleton was of unusually large size and decayed, but the skull, 
 which was pretty well preserved, was brought to this country 
 and is preserved in the collection of the Academy of Natural 
 Sciences of Philadelphia. 1 Dr. J. Atkinson Meigs concluded, 
 upon careful examination, that its occiput had been flattened by 
 pressure during childhood. The testimony of Dr. Tschudi, ren- 
 
 1 Description of a Deformed Fragmentary Skull found in an Ancient 
 Quarry-cace at Jerusalem, by Dr. J. A. Meigs, Transactions of Philadelphia 
 Academy of Natural Sciences, 1859. 
 
180 HEAD FLATTENING. 
 
 dered undesignedly, amounts to the best of evidence of the 
 transition of this custom from the eastern shores of Asia to 
 Peru, and this isolated instance has been strengthened beyond 
 question or doubt by the abundant proof which has been brought 
 to light since attention was directed to the subject. 1 
 
 In referring to the methods by which artificial compression 
 was brought about in America, Prof. Wilson remarks : "Trifling 
 as it may appear, it is not without interest to have the fact 
 brought under our notice by the disclosures of ancient barrows 
 and cysts, that the same practice of nursing the child and carry- 
 ing it about, bound to a flat cradle-board, prevailed in Britain 
 and the North of Europe long before the first notices of written 
 history reveal the presence of man beyond the Baltic or the 
 English Channel, and that in all probability the same custom 
 prevailed continuously from the shores of the German Ocean to 
 Behring Straits." 2 Dr. L. A. Gosse testifies to the prevalence 
 of the same custom among the Caledonians and Scandinavians 
 of the earliest times, 3 and Dr. Thurman has treated the same 
 peculiarity of the early Anglo-Saxon. 4 It is a matter of no 
 little surprise to the inquirer in this field to learn that this 
 system of skull distortion introduced into Southern Europe by 
 the Asiatic hordes which overran it in the fifth century has been 
 perpetuated, though somewhat modified, and at present is in 
 
 1 We can no longer doubt, then, that this practice of giving an artificial 
 form to the skull has subsisted from a remote epoch among the Oriental nations. 
 As Thierry, moreover, pronounces it to be a Mongol usage, I have submitted the 
 question in the memoir before spoken of, whether this fact does not speak in favor 
 of an ancient communication between the old and the new world ? Such a com- 
 munication seems, indeed, to be now placed beyond doubt by the proofs which 
 have been accumulated from time to time, through the efforts of numerous and 
 zealous inquirers. It would seem likely that the usage in question has been 
 introduced by the Mongols into America, where it has become diffused even 
 among tribes not of the Mongol stock. (Retzius in Smithsonian Report, 1859, 
 p. 270 ; also the same author in Arch, des Sciences Naturelles, Geneva, 1860 ; 
 Proceedings of American Association for Advancement of Science, 1867, and 
 Edinburgh Phil. Journal, new series, vol. vii.) 
 
 2 Smithsonian Report, 1862, p. 286. 
 
 3 Essai sur les Deformations Artificielles du Crane, p. 74. 
 
 4 Crania Britannica, chap, iv, p. 38. 
 
HEAD FLATTENING. 181 
 
 vogue in the south of France. 1 The distinguished Dr. Foville, 
 in charge of the Asylum for Insane in the Department Seine- 
 Inferieure and Charendton, has figured this process in his work 
 on the Anatomy of the, Nervous System, as well as a number of 
 skulls which have striking Peruvian resemblances. The artificial 
 form in this case is produced by the use of peculiar head-dresses 
 or bandages. 2 The Egyptians placed a pillow under the neck 
 and not for the head ; hence the elongated crania characteristic 
 of the race, and it is not a little remarkable that the IJeejee 
 Islanders have the same custom at the present day. The Kan- 
 kas of the Sandwich Islands produce the flattened occiput by 
 supporting the infant's head always in the palm of the hand. a 
 The South Sea Islanders have a flattened occiput ; as Pickering 
 describes it, projecting but slightly beyond the line of the neck. 4 
 Prof. Wilson comments upon this fact as follows : " Traces of 
 purposed deformation of the head among the islanders of the 
 Pacific, have an additional interest in their relation to one possi- 
 ble source of the South American population by Oceanic migra- 
 tion, suggested by philological and other independent evidence. 
 But for our present purpose the peculiar value of these modified 
 skulls lies in the disclosures of influences operating alike unde- 
 signedly, and with a well-defined purpose, in producing the very 
 same cranial conformation among races occupying the British 
 Islands in ages long anterior to earliest history, and among the 
 savage tribes of America and the simple islanders of the Pacific 
 in the present day/' 5 It is a well-known fact that flattening the 
 skull has prevailed from the earliest times in most parts of the 
 American Continent, especially on the Pacific coast. From the 
 extreme north to Southern Peru, flattening the skulls was re- 
 garded as an artistic improvement on nature and was practised 
 
 1 Retzius, Smithsonian Report, 1859, pp. 269-70. 
 
 2 Prof. Wilson, Pre-Historic Man, vol. ii, p. 221, and Retsius in the Reviews 
 referred to in note 1, p. 180. 
 
 3 J. B. Davis in Crania Britannica, decade iii. 
 
 4 Races of Man (Bohn), p. 45 ; Dr. Nott in Types of Mankind, p. 436 ; 
 Wilson's Pre-Historic Man, vol. ii, p. 221. 
 
 5 Smithsonian Report, 1862, p. 291. 
 
182 
 
 AMERICAN HEAD FLATTENING. 
 
 with a maternal solicitude, if we judge from the customs of the 
 modern Chinooks, deserving of a higher aim. More centrally 
 and toward the Atlantic border the custom was not so carefully 
 and generally practised, unless we may except the case of the 
 Natchez, who carried it to almost the extreme reached at present 
 by the Columbia Kiver tribes. The object of this strange 
 transformation is believed to have been twofold, " to give," as 
 Torquemada supposes, in referring to the Peruvians, " a fierce 
 appearance in war," and to obtain the mark of a royal and domi- 
 nant ' race, a fashion which seems to have been transmitted 
 
 CHINOOKS (FLAT-HEADS), AFTER CATLIN. 
 
 without a variation, from its Mongol source. The Chinooks 
 consider it the mark of superiority, and will not permit the 
 tribes subject to them to practise it. Mr. Paul Cane, has 
 illustrated this subject with drawings made during his visit 
 to the Columbia and Vancouver's Island, while Dr. Picker- 
 ing, Mr. Hale and others, have described the hideous and 
 beastly aspect of the singular people practising the deformation. 
 Skull flattening among the American tribes may be classified 
 as intentional and unintentional. To the class of intentionally 
 
AMERICA^ HEAD FLATTENING. 183 
 
 flattened skulls we may assign those of the twenty or more 
 tribes of the North-west coast, the Natchez, the ancient Mayas, 
 the Peruvians, and some of the more central and eastern South 
 American tribes. The North-western flatheads subject the 
 head of a child during the first eight or ten months of its 
 life to pressure produced by means of a cradle or cradle-board, 
 provided with a board which rests upon the forehead and tied 
 down upon it by means of corcls extending to the foot of the 
 cradle, while the other end is connected to the head of the 
 cradle with a hingelike attachment. 
 
 The Natchez produced the artificial form by bandaging the 
 infant's head to a well-cushioned cradle-board by means of strips 
 of deer-skin. 1 The Caribs bandaged the head with pieces of 
 wool, and gave it a very quadrangular shape. The Choc taws 
 produced artificial compression by means of a bag of sand. 2 The 
 unintentional flattening of the skull arose from the quite general 
 use of the cradle-board without any board for pressure, or the 
 custom common among many American tribes of the mother 
 suckling the child over her shoulder, a practice widely prevalent 
 in Africa and among savage nations. In the former instance it 
 is but reasonable to suppose that the form of a tender and pliable 
 skull would be modified more or less by the shape of the hard 
 cradle-board, and by the position in which it was placed upon 
 its rest. This fact accounts for the slight occipital compression 
 of the mound skulls and also for the irregularity of the flattening 
 in many cases. The latter process, that of nursing the child 
 from its position on the shoulder or back would no doubt subject 
 the head to a slight pressure, perhaps in most cases in a lateral 
 direction. 
 
 The general prevalence of the unnatural custom of flattening 
 the skull on the eastern border-land of Europe and among the 
 numerous tribes of the western coast of America, together with 
 its presence in Polynesia as a connecting link, we think justifies 
 us in concluding that it originated among the wild hordes of the 
 northern steppes of Asia, from which centre it spread in lines of 
 
 1 Du Pratz's History of Louisiana, vol. ii, p. 162. 
 
 2 Adair's History of American Indians, p. 284. 
 
184 DISEASES OP THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 
 
 radiation until it reached the remote localities in which recent 
 research has found it. 1 This fact is suggestive of a remote inter- 
 course between peoples separated by seas and mountains, if it 
 does not serve as an argument for the unity and common origin 
 of the human family. 
 
 A careful examination of the remains of the pre-historic races 
 other than the measurement of crania has contributed largely to 
 our fund of information concerning their life and habits. Science 
 has rendered us pretty familiar with some of the diseases to which 
 they were subject. Dr. Farquharson has described a singular 
 manifestation of disease of the cervical vertebras, shown in a pecu- 
 liar roughening of the articular surfaces, and also by a true or 
 bony anchylosis of these points. He concludes that the people of 
 the mounds must have been possessed of a considerable degree of 
 civilization and facilities for the care of the sick during a long 
 period, in order to have effected the cure which the condition of 
 the bones indicate had taken place. 2 One of the most alarming 
 discoveries, however, is that which apparently shows the general 
 prevalence of syphilis. That this loathsome disease was common 
 
 1 On skull flattening, see Wilson's P re-Historic Man, vol. ii, chap. xxi. 
 Prof. Jones' Antiquities of Tennessee, Smithsonian Contributions, 1876, pp. 118 
 et seq. Landa's Relation, p. 181. Catlin's North American Indians, vol. ii, 
 p. 40 and other places. Townsend's Tour to the Columbia River, pp. 178 et seq. 
 Bancroft's Native Races as follows : I, 151, 158, 180, 210, 226-8, 256-7 ; Among 
 the Mexicans, I, 651 ; II, 231 ; Central Americans, I, 717, 754 ; II, 681-2, 731-2, 
 802 ; IV, 304, and the accompanying literary apparatus. 
 
 2 "This is certainly not a common disease now, and although rare, the 
 instances of cure by bony anchylosis (the only way in which a true cure can 
 take place), are even yet more rare. Nelaton, in his Pathologie Chirurgicale, 
 has only been able to note twenty-five recorded cases of such an event. Now, 
 as the space of one year is the shortest possible time allowed by authorities for 
 such a cure to take place, and as during all this time the parts must be kept 
 absolutely at rest, and the person so afflicted being entirely helpless, the infer- 
 ence is a strong one that these people were not in a savage state. They must 
 necessarily have been in such a state, in the progress of advancement in civili- 
 zation, as to be possessed of an accumulation of food, the requisite leisure of 
 persons nursing the sick, and of dwellings sufficiently comfortable to protect 
 them from inclemency of the weather in this latitude ; without those elements 
 of civilization those persons would inevitably have perished." Dr. Farquharson 
 in Proceedings of Am. Association for Advancement of Science, vol. xxiv, p. 314. 
 
PLATYCNEMISM. 185 
 
 among the various tribes of Equinoctial America is attested to by 
 the discoverers and their successors ; and has been much com- 
 mented upon, and held by some authors to have been of Amer- 
 ican origin. The most recent supporter of this view is Professor 
 Jones, to whom we have already referred. 1 He found in most of 
 the mounds which he explored in Tennessee bones bearing syphi- 
 litic nodes, and believes them to be the oldest traces of the disease 
 in existence. Dr. Farquharson made similar discoveries in the 
 Iowa and Illinois mounds. Prof. Putnam, however, attributes the 
 nodes to other diseases. That flattening of the leg-bone or tibia, 
 peculiar to pre-historic man in Europe, and perhaps the result 
 of rugged exertion in climbing mountains and traversing the 
 country with that rapidity which the chase required where the 
 horse is wanting, is more noticeable in the remains of some of 
 the Mound-builders than in any ofher people. This peculiarity 
 of the tibia called platycnemism, is probably a provision of 
 nature, securing a firmer and better defined process upon which 
 the muscles of the leg could fasten themselves, and its promi- 
 nence among the people of the mounds indicates the possession 
 of great pedestrian powers. 2 
 
 The singular custom of perforating the skull after death (and 
 
 1 Prof. Jones, Antiquities of Tennessee, gives a good summary of the discus- 
 sion from the first writers to the present time, p. 65 et seq. 
 
 2 ''This flattening of the leg-bone was of a degree unheard of I might 
 almost say undreamt of in any other part of this country or of the world. In 
 many of the more extreme cases of those flattened tibiae with sabre-like curva- 
 ture which I had exhumed at the Rouge, the transverse diameter was only 0.48 
 of the antero-posterior, less than half, while in that most marked and isolated 
 case recorded by Broca, from the cave at Cro-Magnon, France, it was 0.60. In 
 ths chimpanzee and gorilla the compression is 0.67. Shortly afterward, even 
 this extreme degree of compression was cast in the shade by my bringing to 
 light from a mound on the Detroit River, rich in relics, among a number of the 
 flattened tibia?, two specimens of this bone in which the latitudinal indices 
 were respectively 0.42 and 0.40." Henry Gillman in Proceedings American 
 Association for Advancement of Science, vol. xxiv, pp. 316-17. The Sixth 
 Annual Report of the Pedbody Museum of Archceology and Ethnology, Dr. 
 Jeffries Wyman. The American Journal of Arts and Sciences, 3d series, vol. vii, 
 January 1874. Gillman in Smithsonian Report- for 1873, and Dr. Farquharson 
 in Proceedings of A. A. A. S., vol. xxiv, p. 313. 1875. 
 
186 COLOR OF THE HAIR. 
 
 possibly during life) is shown to have been in vogue by the dis- 
 covery of a number of crania at the Kiver Kouge Mound in Michi- 
 gan with artificial apertures. No light as yet has been thrown 
 upon the significance of this strange practice. 1 The nearest ap- 
 proach to the natural condition and characteristic physiognomy of 
 the pre-historic inhabitants of this continent, is observable in the 
 Peruvian mummies collected in latitude 18 30' S., on the shore 
 of the Bay of Chacota, near Arica, by Mr. Blake ; and transferred 
 by him to Boston. Many others have since been exhumed, and 
 though embalmed and buried in a climate which preserves the 
 brightest colors of the garments with which they were enshrouded, 
 still the shrivelled condition of the corpses furnishes us the 
 assurance that their type of features can never be truly recovered 
 from nature. Dr. Morton has figured the head of one of these 
 mummies in Plate I of the Crania Americana, from which the 
 physiognomy may be partially restored by the aid of a vivid 
 imagination. Notwithstanding the temptation which presents 
 itself, and one which has been sufficiently indulged already, it 
 would certainly be idle to speculate as to what that type might 
 have been. However, one feature of the Peruvian mummies has 
 been preserved true to life, and is of the greatest value in deter- 
 mining ethnic relations. The silicious sand and marl of the 
 plain southward of Arica, where the most remarkable cemeteries 
 are situated, is slightly impregnated with common salt as well 
 as nitrate and sulphate of soda. These conditions, together with 
 the dry atmosphere rivalling that of Egypt, and in which fleshy 
 matter dries without putrefaction, the human hair has been per- 
 fectly preserved, and comes to us as one of the best evidences of 
 the diversity of the American races yet produced. In general 
 it is a lightish brown, and of a fineness of texture which equals 
 that of the Anglo-Saxon race. 2 Straight, coarse, black hair is 
 
 1 Gillman in American Naturalist for August, 1875, and Proceedings of 
 A. A. A. Science, 1875, p. 327. 
 
 2 Prof. Wilson has pathetically described the disinterment of a Peruvian 
 family, consisting of the father, mother and child, and has especially dwelt 
 upon the color and qualities of the hair as distinguishing them from the Red 
 Indians. (Pre-Historic Man, pp. 440 ct seq.} 
 
MOUND SCULPTURES. 187 
 
 universally characteristic of the Keel Indians, and is known to be 
 one of the last marks of race to disappear in intermarriage with 
 Europeans. The ancient Peruvians appear, from numerous 
 examples of hair found in their tombs, to have been an auburn- 
 haired race. Garcilasso, who had an opportunity of, seeing the 
 body of the king Yiracocha, describes the hair of that monarch 
 as snow-white. 1 Haywood has described the discovery at the 
 beginning of this century of three mummies in a cave on the 
 south side of the Cumberland Kiver, near the dividing line of 
 Smith and Wilson Counties in Tennessee. They were buried in 
 baskets, as Humboldt has described some of the Peruvians to 
 bury, and the color of their skin was said to be fair and white, 
 and their hair auburn and of a fine texture. 2 The same author 
 refers to several instances of the discovery of mummies in the 
 limestone and saltpetre caves of Tennessee with light yellowish 
 hair. 3 Prof. Jones supposes that the light color of these so-called 
 mummies of Tennessee and Kentucky was due to the action of 
 lime and saltpetre. 4 
 
 We have every reason to believe that the men of the mounds 
 were capable of executing in sculptures reliable representations 
 of animate objects. The perfection of the stone carvings, as well 
 as the terra-cotta moulded figures of animals and birds obtained 
 from the mounds, have excited the wonder and admiration of 
 their discoverers. It was evidently a favorite pastime for those 
 primitive artists to reproduce the human features, for effigies 
 and masks have often been exhumed together with other sculp- 
 tures. The perfection of the animal representations furnish us 
 the assurance that their sculptures of the human face were 
 equally true to nature. 5 The accompanying figures of sculpture 
 
 1 Commentaries Reales, book v, chap, xxix ; book iii, chap. xx. 
 
 2 Haywood's Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 191. 
 
 3 Haywood, op. cit., pp. 163-6, 169, 100, 148-9, 338-9. On the mummies of 
 Lexington, Kentucky, see At water's ArcJuzologia Americana, p. 318. Mam- 
 moth Cave, p. 359, et passim. 4 Antiquities of Tennessee, p. 5. 
 
 5 Squier and Davis' Ancient Monuments of Mississippi Valley, pp. 243 et seq. 
 Wilson's Pre-Historic Man, vol. i, pp. 365 et seq. Charles Rau, Smithsonian 
 Contributions No. 287, 1876, pp. 84, 55. Prof. Joseph Jones' Aboriginal Re- 
 mains of Tennesssee, passim, Smithsonian Contributions, No. 250. 
 
188 
 
 MOUND SCULPTURES. 
 
 MOUND SCULPTURES FROM TENNESSEE. 
 
 and masks together with those found in the sculpture of the 
 Mayas and Nahuas, shown in a future chapter, furnish us with 
 a twofold argument : first, that an American type of physiog- 
 nomy as such did not exist ; that, upon the contrary, it was as 
 variable and diversified as can now be found among the peoples 
 
COLOR OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. 189 
 
 of Europe or elsewhere ; second, that a strong resemblance 
 between some of the sculptures of the mounds and those of 
 Mexico exist. It is a remarkable fact that those of Palenque fur- 
 nish the most striking likeness to those of the Mississippi Valley. 1 
 There is, perhaps, no means of ascertaining of what color the 
 pre-historic Americans were, certainly not of the Mound-builders ; 
 but judging from the great variety of tints and shades that pre- 
 vail among the wild tribes of North America alone, we may 
 conclude that no argument in favor of an American race can be 
 based upon color. 2 
 
 The Menominees, sometimes called the "White Indians," 
 formerly occupied the region bordering on Lake Michigan, around 
 Green Bay. The whiteness of these Indians, which is compared 
 to that of white mulattoes, early attracted the attention of the 
 Jesuit missionaries, and has often been commented upon by 
 travellers. 3 While it is true that hibridy has done much to 
 lighten the color of many of the tribes, still the peculiarity of 
 the complexion of this people has been marked from the first 
 time a European encountered them. Almost every shade, from 
 the ash color of the Menominees, through the cinnamon red, 
 copper and bronze tints, may be found among the tribes formerly 
 occupying the territory east of the Mississippi the remnants of 
 some of which are now in the Indian Territory and others in the 
 North-west until we reach the dark-skinned Kaws of Kansas, 
 who are nearly as black as the negro. The Indians in Mexico 
 are known as the " black people," an appellation designed to be 
 
 1 Bryant's History of United States, vol. i, chap. ii. 
 
 2 Prichard, Researches into the Physical Hist, of Mankind, 4th ed., 1841, vol. i, 
 p. 289, after reviewing the question of the unity of the American race, remarks : 
 " It will be easy to prove that the American races, instead of displaying a uni- 
 formity of color in all climates, show nearly as great a variety in this respect 
 as the nations of the old continent ; that there are among them white races 
 with a florid complexion inhabiting temperate regions, and tribes black or of 
 very dark hue in low and inter-tropical countries ; that their stature, figure and 
 countenances are almost equally diversified. Of these facts I shall collect suffi- 
 cient evidence when I proceed to the ethnography of the American nations." 
 He fulfils this promise ably enough in vol. v, pp. 289, 874, 542, and other places. 
 We respectfully rofer the reader to the facts there accumulated. 
 
 3 Wilson's Pre-Historiz Man, vol. ii, p. 189. 
 
190 VARIETY OF LANGUAGES. 
 
 descriptive of their color. Viollet le Due is of the opinion that 
 the builders of the great remains in Southern Mexico and 
 Yucatan belonged to two different branches of the human family, 
 a light-skinned and dark-skinned race respectively. 1 The variety 
 of complexion is as great in South America as among the tribes 
 of the northern portion of the continent. 
 
 Probably one of the most incontrovertible arguments against 
 American ethnic unity is that which rests upon the unparalleled 
 diversity of language which meets the philologist everywhere. 
 The monosyllable and the most remarkable polysyllables known 
 to the linguist ; synthetic and analytic families of speech, sim- 
 plicity and complexity of expression, all seern to have sprung up 
 and developed into permanent and in some cases beautiful and 
 grammatical systems side by side with each other until the Babel 
 of the Pentateuch is realized in the indescribable confusion of 
 tongues. The actual number of American languages and dialects 
 is as yet unascertained, but is estimated at nearly thirteen hun- 
 dred, six hundred of which Mr. Bancroft has classified in his third 
 volume of the Native Races of the Pacific States. It is true that 
 the American languages present a few features quite peculiar to 
 themselves (which will be treated hereafter), but as language is 
 never constant, is not a pyramid with its unchanging architectural 
 plan, but is a plant which passes through such transitions in 
 the process of its growth as to lose entirely some of the elements 
 which it possessed at first, so we may as reasonably expect that 
 in the course of time certain peculiarities incident to certain 
 climatic conditions, certain phases of nature and certain types 
 of civilization, should develop themselves as distinguishing fea- 
 tures of the speech of the continent. The very fact that lan- 
 guage is unstable is a matter of growth renders the argument 
 that these peculiarities indicate unity of the American race 
 valueless ; while, on the other hand, the fact that here we have 
 a greater number and variety of languages than is to be found 
 in any of the other grand divisions of the earth, is strong evi- 
 dence of a diversity more radical than that which simply arises 
 
 1 Bee Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 262, note, where reference is made to Charnay, 
 Ruines Amer., pp. 32, 45, 97, 103. 
 
VIEWS OF HELLWALD. 191 
 
 from tribal affiliations. In view of the wide differences existing 
 between the native Americans themselves in every feature which 
 admits of being subjected to a scientific test, we are forced to 
 the conclusion, solely resting on the evidence in the case, that 
 the theory of American ethnic unity is a delusion, an infatuating 
 theory which served only to blind its advocates as to the plain 
 facts, and led them into grave errors which will become all the 
 more palpable as scientific investigation progresses. 
 
 As yet no substantial reason for considering the ancient 
 occupant of this continent as peculiar in himself, and as unlike 
 the rest of mankind, has been set forth. Nothing in the Amer- 
 ican's physical organization points to an origin different from 
 that to which each of the species of the genus homo may be 
 assigned. Whatever truth there may be in the diverse origin 
 of the black and white race, the separate creation theory, in so 
 far as it maintains that the Creator originated upon the soil of 
 this continent a peculiar and separate race of men, must in the 
 eyes of this age of criticism lack evidence, and be assigned to its 
 place with thousands of others which from time immemorial 
 have been contributing to the construction of a foundation reef 
 which will ultimately rise like a bold headland above the dark 
 waters of uncertainty into the realm of truth. 
 
 A few students of American Anthropology have solved the 
 question of the origin of the ancient population upon the hy- 
 pothesis of its having developed from a lower order in the animal 
 kingdom, itself indigenous to the Western Continent. One of 
 the most distinguished representatives of this school, perhaps, is 
 Frederick von Hellwald of Vienna, who states his views as 
 follows : " I am unable to give in my adhesion to the theory 
 which assumes that the original seat of the human races must 
 be sought in higher Asia or somewhere else, whence mankind 
 are supposed to have spread themselves gradually over the whole 
 globe ; an assumption which is contradicted in the most decisive 
 manner by the peopling of the new world. It is impossible to 
 enter here into all the hypotheses which have been framed for 
 the explanation of a fact so perplexing to the Biblical students 
 of the sixteenth century, and of course later times ; it is enough 
 
192 AUTOCHTHONIC ORIGIN OP THE ABORIGINES. 
 
 to say that thus far not one of them have been found to corres- 
 pond even approximately to the demands of science, and that 
 theory is probably in every point of view the most tenable and 
 exact which assumes that man, like the plant, a mundane being, 
 made his appearance generally upon earth when our planet had 
 reached that stage of its development which unites in itself the 
 conditions of man's existence. In conformity with this view, I 
 regard the American as an Autochthon." 1 This subject resolves 
 itself into two questions : (1) Is the origin of the human race 
 by the processes of development from a lower order of animal an 
 ascertained fact ? (2) If so, does the American continent fur- 
 nish any species of ape or any known fauna from which man 
 could have developed ? It is taken for granted that the reader 
 is fully familiar with Darwinism (the origin of species by means 
 cf natural selection, the joint result of the independent researches 
 of Darwin and Wallace) and Lamarckism (the theory of man's 
 descent from the ape), 2 both of which have been so enthusias- 
 tically advocated by Spencer, Huxley, Heeckel and many others. 
 Their works and the magnificent array of facts which their 
 patient researches have accumulated command our admiration, 
 even if full assent cannot be given to all their conclusions. 
 
 The first question : Is the origin of the human race ~by the 
 processes of development from a lower order of animal an 
 ascertained fact ? would at first seem to require a lengthy dis- 
 cussion at our hands. But in a special work on a subject 
 altogether foreign to the question, such a discussion would cer- 
 tainly be out of place. Even if this were not true, the above 
 question as stated requires no discussion. We believe that no 
 advocate of the hypothesis of evolution could be found so 
 sanguine or so unguarded, who would come forward and answer 
 the question in the affirmative. On the contrary, we believe the 
 question would call forth an honest negative from the great body 
 of scientists who hold to the hypothesis of evolution. Perhaps 
 
 1 The American Migration, by Frederick von Hellwald. Smithsonian Report 
 for 1866, pp. 329, 330. 
 
 2 Jean Lamarck, Philosophic Zoologique, etc., Paris, 1809, 2 vols., and Il'st. 
 Nat. des Animaux sans Vertebres, 1815. 
 

 AUTOCHTHONIC ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES. 193 
 
 it cannot be denied that the groups of facts which have been 
 brought to our knowledge, the occasional well-marked transi- 
 tional forms * which are turning up, the unquestionable tendency 
 in species to vary, and possibly of their varieties slowly to form 
 new species under modified surroundings, point to a principle, a 
 law in nature, which may be characterized as the law of develop- 
 ment or evolution. But on the other hand, the hypothesis that 
 such a law exists, or, if you please, the fact that it exists, does 
 not imply that it is universal in its application or that it has 
 extended through all the realm of nature. Indeed, pure justice 
 to the advocates of the hypothesis requires the statement that 
 they have never made such a claim. 2 The fact that such emi- 
 nent scientists as Mivart and Wallace deny the development of 
 man from a lower order, is sufficient evidence that the hypothesis 
 in its widest bearing is not accepted by all, much less an ascer- 
 tained " fact/' It appears, therefore, that the first question being 
 unsettled, and as yet incapable of solution, the argument turns 
 upon the second question : Does the American Continent furnish 
 any species of ape or any known fauna from which man could 
 have developed? Before answering the question in the light 
 of present knowledge, it will be of interest to note the reply 
 made by the late Professor Joseph Henry to the view of Freder- 
 ick von Hellwald, quoted on a preceding page. His estimate 
 of the probabilities of man developing from the lower orders of 
 animals in more than one locality on the globe is expressed as 
 follows : " The spontaneous generation of either plants or ani- 
 mals, although a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry, is as yet 
 an unverified hypothesis. If, however, we assume the fact that 
 a living being will be spontaneously produced when all the 
 physical conditions necessary to its existence are present, we 
 must allow that in the case of man, with his complex and refined 
 organization, the fortuitous assembly of the multiform conditions 
 
 1 See Hseckel, History of Creation, vol. ii, pp. 255-6, and Professor Huxley's 
 reference to the genus Equus (embracing the horse, ass and zebra from speci- 
 mens collected by Prof. Marsh). New York Lectures, September, 1876. 
 
 9 Dr. McCosh in Popular Science Monthly, November, 1876, p. 88 ; Darwin's 
 Descent of Man, vol. i, p. 192 (New York ed.). 
 13 
 
194 AUTOCHTHONIC ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES. 
 
 required for his appearance would be extremely rare, and from 
 the doctrine of probabilities could scarcely occur more than at 
 one time and in one place on our planet ; and further, that this 
 place would most probably be somewhere in the northern tem- 
 perate zone. Again, the Caucasian variety of man presents the 
 highest physical development of the human family ; and as we 
 depart either to the north or south, from the latitude assumed as 
 the origin of the human race in Asia, we meet with a lower and 
 lower type until at the north we encounter the Esquimaux, and at 
 the south the Bosjesman and the Tierra Fuegian. The deriva- 
 tion of these varieties from the original stock is philosophically 
 explained on the principle of the variety in the offspring of the 
 same parents, and the better adaptation and consequent chance 
 of life of some of these to the new conditions of existence in a 
 more northern or southern latitude." 1 As a direct answer to the 
 question, however, we can do nothing more than refer to the 
 opinions of the two greatest advocates of evolution. " In order 
 to form a judgment on this head," says Mr. Darwin, " with 
 reference to man, we must glance at the classification of the 
 Simiada3. This family is divided by almost all naturalists into 
 the Catarhine group, or old world monkeys, all of which are 
 characterized (as the name expresses) by the peculiar structure 
 of the nostrils, and by having four pre-molars in each jaw ; and 
 into the Platyrhine group or new world monkeys (including two 
 very distinct sub-groups), all of which are characterized by 
 differently constructed nostrils and by having six molars in each 
 jaw. Some other small differences might be mentioned. Now 
 man unquestionably belongs, in his dentition, in the structure 
 of his nostrils, and in some other respects, to the Catarhine or 
 old world division ; nor does he resemble the Platyrhines more 
 closely than the Catarhines in any characters, excepting in a few . 
 of not much importance and apparently of an adaptive nature. 
 Therefore, it would be against all probability to suppose that 
 some ancient new world species had varied, and had thus pro- 
 duced a man-like creature with all the distinctive characters 
 
 1 Smithsonian Report, 1866. 
 
THE AUTOCHTHONIC HYPOTHESIS GROUNDLESS. 195 
 
 proper to the old world division, losing at the same time all its 
 own distinctive characters. There can, consequently, hardly be a 
 doubt that man is an offshoot from the old world Simian stem, 
 and that under a genealogical point of view he must be classed 
 with the Catarhine division/' l Such was Mr. Darwin's opinion in 
 1871 ; and that the views of evolutionists have not changed since 
 that time as to this question, we call attention to the words of the 
 distinguished Professor Hgeckel in his History of Creation, which 
 are as follows : "Probably America was first peopled from North- 
 eastern Asia by the same tribe of Mongols from whom the Polar 
 men (Hyperboreans and Esquimaux) have also branched. This 
 tribe first spread in North America, and from thence migrated 
 over the isthmus of Central America down to South America, at 
 the extreme south of which the species degenerated very much 
 by adaptation to the very unfavorable conditions of existence. 
 But it is also possible that Mongols and Polynesians emigrated 
 from the west and mixed with the former tribe. In any case the 
 aborigines of America came over from the old world, and did 
 not, as some suppose, in any way originate out of American 
 apes. Catarhine or narrow-nosed apes never at any period 
 existed in America." 2 The same argument holds good if it be 
 ascertained that both man and apes developed from a common 
 ancestor. With these authoritative utterances from the most 
 celebrated representatives of the development school, we shall 
 rest the fanciful hypothesis of the autochthonic origin of the 
 ancient American population. Some who may not concur in our 
 opinion as to the question of man's development from lower 
 animal forms, may be willing to admit that the Americans had 
 an old world origin, which certainly, in the light of facts, is the 
 
 1 Descent of Man, vol. i, p. 188. Also, " The Simiadae then branched off into 
 two great stems, the new world and old world monkeys, and from the latter, 
 at a remote period, man, the wonder and glory of the universe, proceeded." 
 Descent of Man, vol. i, p. 204. Again, " We thus learn that man is descended 
 from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably 
 arboreal in its habits and an inhabitant of the old world." Descent of Man, 
 vol. ii, p. 372. 
 
 2 History of Creation, (N. Y. ed.), 1876, vol. ii, p. 318. 
 
196 UNITY OF STYLE IN SAVAGE ART. 
 
 only rational view. 1 The unity of the human family is a theory, 
 if not a fact, which is supported by a mass of testimony of the 
 most diversified character. The habits and customs, the sympa- 
 thies, the wants and fears, the simpler arts, as well as most 
 bodily proportions, point to a relationship which finds its easiest 
 explanation in a unity of origin. It is chiefly, however, in the 
 ruder arts that this correspondence of style or type is observable. 
 No better illustration of this offers itself than the similarity of 
 form or forms in which flint arrow-heads are found in all parts 
 of the world. It would be impossible for the most expert 
 archaeologists to assign a promiscuous collection of flint weapons to 
 the various quarters of the globe from which they may have been 
 gathered, simply on the ground of characteristic forms. 2 The com- 
 mon methods of producing fire by means of friction, employed with 
 but slight variation among people the most remotely separated, 3 is 
 an inexplicable fact, except on the ground of an early community 
 of residence or identical inventive genius. The universality of 
 certain architectural forms such as the pyramid, and the singular 
 fact that they have generally been used for places of sepulture, 
 offers an argument in the same direction. The fact indicates 
 either an early community of residence or identity of mental 
 organization. The physical resemblances of all races in certain 
 stable features which have never been known to change, indicate 
 a divergence from a common centre from one type. The slight 
 differences in the type of skull which characterize some nations 
 
 1 " Nowhere can lines of demarcation be so clearly drawn, so imperceptibly 
 do the families of mankind blend at their circumferences. The various classi- 
 fications which have been attempted are so many proofs of unity of origin ; and 
 their connection shows the fallacy of the theory of diversity. * * * * We 
 cannot admit that mankind can have diversity of origin while so united by one 
 great plan. If a species or variety of the genus homo sprang up in Europe and 
 another in America by agency of conditions existing in those localities, if, would 
 be beyond probability that they should both be formed on the same plan."- 
 H. Tuttle's Origin and Antiquity of Physical Man Scientifically Considered, 
 pp. 34-5. Boston, 1866, 12mo. 
 
 2 Darwin's Descent of Man, vol. i, p. 224, and Nilsson's Tlie Primitive In- 
 habitants of Scandinavia, Lubbock's trans., 1868, p. 104. 
 
 3 See Early History of Fire, by Prof. N. Joly of the Faculty of Toulouse in 
 Popular Science Monthly, November, 1876, p. 17 ; also Darwin, as above cited. 
 
DIFFERENCES IN COLOR AND THEIR ORIGIN. 197 
 
 from others, is no argument against original unity, since those 
 peculiarities are certainly of more recent origin than the un- 
 known events which at a remote period scattered men over the 
 face of the earth. 1 Probably no difference between the races of 
 men has been considered so essential as that of color, for none 
 has furnished such reasonable ground for the views of polygen- 
 ists as the marked contrast between the African and Caucasian 
 types. Years ago the view that color was the result of tropi- 
 cal climate was abandoned, 2 for the Eskimo and Lapps are 
 almost as dark as many Africans, and their residence under the 
 arctic circle has continued from a remote antiquity. Upon the 
 other hand every variation in color, from the darkest to the light- 
 est possible shades, exist among African tribes. The antiquity 
 of the negro type as we now see it, is unquestionably consider- 
 able. As proof of this we have the oft -referred to argument 
 from Egyptian paintings. In a temple at Beyt-el-Welee, in 
 Nubia, constructed in the reign of Barneses II, is a painting 
 which has been reproduced by Bonomi, in which a negro kneels 
 at the feet of Sethos I, father and predecessor of Eameses II. 
 All the peculiarities of the Negroid type are conspicuous ; the 
 blackness of the color, the thickness of lips, flatness of nose and 
 woolliness of hair which pertain to the African of to-day are 
 unquestionably present. 3 The painting representing this re- 
 markable ethnic fact is 3200 years old, dating from 1400 years 
 before Christ. The Duke of Argyll, on the authority of Prof. 
 Lepsius, states that in earlier representations of the negro, 
 referable to the " Twelfth Dynasty " or about 1900 B. c., the 
 negro color is strongly marked, but not the negro features. 4 It 
 is a question whether this fact indicates a transition from one type 
 to another, or whether the painting is a true representation of 
 
 1 Waltz's Anthropology, Eng. trans., pp. 226-28. 
 
 2 Pallas was the first to show the fallacy of the theory in A.ct. Academic St. 
 Petersburg, 1780, Part II, p. 69 ; followed by Rudolph! in his Beytrdge zur 
 Anthr apologia, 1812, and especially by Godron, De I 'Espece, 1859, vol. ii, p. 246 
 et seq. ; see Darwin's Descent, vol. i, p. 232. 
 
 3 Nott and Gliddon's Indigenous Races ; Duke of Argyll's Primeval Nan, p. 99. 
 
 4 Primeval Man, p. 100. 
 
198 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. 
 
 the Nubians, who are known not to have flat noses or projecting 
 lips. It is supposed also that the unskillfulness of the artists 
 may account for the absence of the typal lines. 1 Hieroglyphic 
 writings have been found dating about 2000 years B. c., in which 
 mention is made of the employment of Negro or black troops by 
 an Egyptian king in the prosecution of a great war. 3 At that 
 remote period, when Abraham was almost the sole representative 
 of the Jewish race, the negro type had multiplied and developed 
 into strong tribes, which were important factors in the military 
 contests of the oldest of powers the Egyptian. 
 
 Notwithstanding this seeming permanence of type, it is well 
 known that of all physical conditions, color is the most liable to 
 change in every organism. Many animals under domestication 
 change their color entirely. 3 In our Southern States it was 
 observed that house-slaves of the third generation presented 
 quite a markedly different appearance from field slaves. 4 This 
 was owing as much, no doubt, to different food and different 
 habits of life as to protection from the sun, though many dif- 
 ferent races have quite the same color while their habits of life 
 are as different as well could be imagined. Of this class, the 
 Eskimo, Chinese, and Fuegeans are examples. However, the 
 fact that color is variable even in a slight degree, indicates that 
 considerable if not radical changes might be brought about 
 during a great length of time. Mr. Darwin has furnished the 
 most rational solution of the question, which he describes briefly 
 
 1 " We ourselves, when visiting the famous cavern of Abou Simbel, were far 
 from finding all that the writings of certain anthropologists and partisans 
 of Egyptian art, such as GUiddon, Nott, etc., had promised us. Doubtless one 
 can perfectly distinguish certain types, that is indisputable ; but to desire to 
 find a people in each portrait Scythians, Arabs, Philistines, Lydians, Kurds, 
 Hindoos, Jews, Chinese, Tyrians, Pelasgians, lonians, etc. is it not to give too 
 great an influence to the Egyptian artists, who were copyists without skill, and 
 but clumsy inventors ? "Pouchet's Plurality of the Human Race, Eng. trans., 
 p. 50. London, 1864. 
 
 2 Duke of Argyll's Primeval Man, p. 101. 
 
 3 Darwin's Variation of Animals under Domestication, vol. ii, pp. 227-335, 
 and many places. 
 
 4 Harlan's Medical Researches, p. 532, and Quatrefanges (Unite de VEspece 
 Humaine, 1861, p. 128), cited by Darwin, Descent, vol. i, p. 237. 
 
ACCEPTED CHRONOLOGY FAULTY. 199 
 
 as follows : " Various facts which I have elsewhere given, prove 
 that the color of the skin and hair is sometimes correlated in a 
 surprising manner with a complete immunity from the action 
 of certain vegetable poisons and from the attack of parasites. 
 Hence it occurred to me that negroes and other dark races might 
 have acquired their dark tints by the darker individuals escaping 
 during a long series of generations from the deadly influence of 
 the miasmas of their native countries/' 1 This doctrine of the 
 survival of only the fittest, while all the weaker and perhaps 
 lighter complexioned individuals of a race gradually succumbed to 
 the deadly influence of climate, no doubt will explain the origin 
 of the dark races, known to enjoy a special immunity against 
 yellow and other fevers. 2 At all events, the formation of the 
 distinctive features of races requires a great lapse of time. The 
 geologist asks for time in which to account for the formation of 
 strata^ and the intelligent world now grants it to him without 
 limit, and just as reasonably may the ethnologist ask for time in 
 which to account for the formation of racial types. 3 Nor need 
 the most literal interpreter of Genesis object to this demand on 
 the ground of any conflict with the letter even of the historic 
 narrative of the Pentateuch. The accepted chronology, based 
 on Archbishop Usher's interpretation, is no part of the text of 
 Genesis. It is purely the product of his inadvertence and the 
 blindness of many others of his school of Biblical chronologists. 
 It is evident that the rules of interpretation applied to the tenth 
 
 1 Descent, vol. i, p. 233, Bradford (A. W. ) discusses the origin of color and 
 other racial peculiarities, and attributes to the tendency of a species to vary, and 
 cites the production of Albinoes, Xanthous, and Sedigidi or six-fingered indi- 
 viduals. " It must be admitted," he says, " that this theory is sufficiently sup- 
 ported by an irrefragable mass of testimony to establish the original unity of 
 the human race, and to indicate that varieties of mankind are descended from 
 the same primitive stock." American Antiquities, pp. 238-9. 
 
 2 See instances in Darwin's Descent, vol. i, p. 234 ; Nott and Gliddon's Types 
 of Mankind, p. 68, and especially Pouchet's Plurality of the Human Race 
 (trans.), p. 60. 
 
 3 " I doubt not that there will be found continuous and uninterrupted causes 
 which shall explain all the diversities of the different branches of the human 
 family without the necessity of resorting to independent creations." Foster's 
 Pre-Historic Races, p. 355. 
 
200 ACCEPTED CHRONOLOGY FAULTY. 
 
 chapter of Genesis, according to which the names of the descend- 
 ants of Noah's sons are taken to represent individuals only, can- 
 not hold. The probabilities are that they represent considerable 
 tribes or nations. This probability is an established fact in the 
 sixteenth and subsequent verses. In the fifteenth verse we 
 learn that Canaan, the grandson of Noah, "begat Sidon, his 
 first-born, and Heth." Here the writer seems to refer to indi- 
 viduals, but it is probable that he alludes even to the origin of 
 tribes. In the sixteenth verse we are not left in doubt on the 
 subject, for there he no longer speaks of individuals or genera- 
 tions but of the growth of nations. He immediately adds after 
 the above quotation, " and [begat] the Jebusite, and the Amor- 
 ite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the 
 Sinite," etc., etc. 1 The account makes no pretensions at chro- 
 nology or at furnishing data for any system, and the constructions 
 put upon its condensed account of the origin and growth of 
 nations during an indefinite lapse of time by short-sighted inter- 
 preters, are unwarranted and certainly do injustice to the oldest 
 of our histories. When we go back of the birth of Christ two 
 thousand years to the time of Abraham this is as far as we 
 can tread with certainty in the light of History. This period 
 has been aptly designated by the Duke of Argyll as u Time 
 absolute." But when we go back of 2000 B. c., we are compelled 
 to walk in a twilight glimmer, with only the dim rays from occa- 
 sional cuneiform inscriptions, and the condensed accounts con- 
 tained in Genesis, falling across our uncertain pathway. This 
 period the above able writer has chosen to call " Time relative," 
 and the probabilities are that its measure is double if not treble 
 that of the portion of "Time absolute" which precedes the 
 Christian Era. An additional fact in this connection which 
 strengthens the preceding is, that the three most ancient versions 
 of the Pentateuch the Hebrew, the Samaritan and the Septua- 
 gint vary considerably in their statements as to the ages of many 
 of the patriarchs at the birth of their sons. So wide is the differ- 
 
 1 See an excellent treatment of this subject by the Duke of Argyll, Primeval 
 Man, pp. 94 et seq. 
 
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PRECEDING. 201 
 
 ence in this respect between the Hebrew and Septuagint versions 
 that their chronologies cannot be reconciled at all, the latter 
 allowing a period of eight hundred years more than the former 
 from Adam to Abraham ; such being the case, it is impossible 
 to arrive at the time of the flood or the origin of the race. These 
 contradictions in versions, however, do not in any way impeach 
 the historic authority of the Pentateuch, since it is in no sense a 
 chronology any more than it is a work on geographic or astronomic 
 science. The known antiquity of Egypt and China, to say 
 nothing of the facts revealed by geology concerning man's an- 
 tiquity, can never be reconciled with Usher's system, which is 
 in no sense the true chronology of any known version of the 
 Pentateuch. 1 
 
 In this chapter we have seen that there is nothing to indicate 
 that the Americans owe their origin to a special act of creation, 
 and further, if they originated by the process of development 
 (for which there is no sufficient evidence), that it was not upon 
 the American continent. We are supported in these conclusions 
 by the most respectable writers on American Ethnology 2 and 
 
 1 When speaking in a former work of the distinct races of mankind, I 
 remarked that if all the leading varieties of the human family sprang originally 
 from a single pair (a doctrine to which then, as now, I could see no valid objec- 
 tion), a much greater lapse of time was required for the slow and gradual 
 formation of such races as the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Negro, than was 
 embraced in any of the popular systems of chronology." Sir Charles Lyell's 
 Antiquity of Man, p. 385. Dr. J^ P. Thompson says : " For such works 
 [alluding to Babel] and especially for founding such an empire as was ancient 
 Egypt, there was need of centuries for the growth of a population in numbers 
 and resources, equal to the gigantic structures that crown the banks of the Nile. 
 The less than two centuries between Archbishop Usher's date of the cessation 
 of the flood, and Piazzi Smith's calculation of the date of the great pyramid, was 
 far too short an interval for results upon a scale so magnificent. * * * Either 
 then we must place the flood much farther back upon the chronological scale, or 
 must admit not only that it was not universal in territorial extent, which is alto- 
 gether probable, but that it was not universal in the destruction of mankind, 
 which would seem to contradict both the letter and the spirit of the sacred 
 record." Man in Genesis and Geology, p. 100. New York, 1870. 12mo. 
 
 2 See Humboldt's Essai Polit., vol. i, p. 79, Paris, 1811. He considers not 
 only the Red Indians, but the Toltecs and Aztecs, to be of Asiatic Origin. See 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg's Nat. Civil. Ant., torn, i, p. 27. McCullough's Researches, 
 
202 CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 Antiquities. That the American population is of old world 
 origin there can be little doubt ; but from whence it came, and to 
 what particular people or peoples it owes its birth, is quite 
 another question. 1 That view seems open to least objections 
 which maintains that the Western Continent received its popu- 
 lation at a comparatively early period in the history of the race, 
 before the peoples of Western Europe and Eastern Asia had 
 assumed their present national characteristics or fully developed 
 their religious and social customs. 2 
 
 Phil, and Ant., pp. 175 et seq. Crowe, The Gospel in Central America, p. 61. 
 Bradford, American Antiquities, in chapter xii, gives liis reasons for declaring 
 the Americans to have been a "primitive and cultivated branch of the human 
 family." Mayer (Brantz) in Mexico as it Was, p. 260, expresses his agreement 
 with the opinion entertained by Bradford. Carver, in Travels through the Inte- 
 rior Parts of North America, repeats the opinion of Charlevoix, that the Amer- 
 icans are of old world origin. Tylor, AnaJiuac, London, 1861, p. 104, says : 
 " On the whole, the most probable view of the origin of the Mexican tribes 
 seems to be the one ordinarily held, that they really came from the old world, 
 bringing with them several legends, evidently the same as the histories recorded 
 in the book of Genesis." 
 
 1 La teoria de la diversidad especifica de razas es tan intenible, que sin mas 
 decir podemos, dejar esta cuestion, la cual ultimamente, en especial en Norte- 
 America, ha escitado alguna controversia. Quedanos, pues, un origen primor- 
 dial para toda la raza humana y entonces la cuestion es, saber de quo tronco 
 6 familia del antiguo continente se poblo el nuevo, 6 bien vice-versa, que tam- 
 bien es possible, aunque improbable, que del que llamamos nuevo se haya 
 poblado el viego continente." Ezequiel TTricoechea in Soc. Mex. Bol. 2d. ep. iv, 
 1854, p. 128. " For my own part I have long been convinced of the consan- 
 guinity between the brachycephala3 of America and those of Asia and the Pacific 
 islands, and that this characteristic type may be traced uninterruptedly through 
 the long chain of tribes inhabiting the west coast of the American Continent 
 from Behring Straits to Cape Horn." Retzius, Smithsonian Report, 1859, p. 267. 
 
 2 "The era of their existence as a distinct and isolated race must probably 
 be dated as far back as that time which separated into nations the inhabitants 
 of the old world, and gave to each branch of the human family its primitive 
 language and individuality." J. C. PricMrd's Natural History of Man, p. 356. 
 London, 1845. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE MAYA NATIONS. 
 
 Ancient Civilization of Tabasco and Chiapas The Tradition of Votan The 
 First Emigrants to America City of Nachan The Votanic Document 
 Ordonez Brasseur and Cabrera on the Tzendal Document The Empire of 
 the Chanes The Oldest Civilization The Earliest Home of the Mayas 
 The Quiches Their Origin Tradition The Quiche Cosmogony The Crea- 
 tion of Man The Quiche Migration Tulan Mt. Hacavitz Human Sacri- 
 fices instituted Four Tulans Association of the Mayas and Nahuas 
 Heroic Period of the Quiches Xibalba and its Downfall Exploits of the 
 Quiche Chieftains War of the Sects Xibalba and Palenque the same 
 Mayas of Yucatan and their Traditions Culture Heroes Zamna and 
 Cukulcan Christ Myth. 
 
 rpHE most ancient civilization on this continent, judging 
 from the combined testimony of tradition, records, and 
 architectural remains, was that which grew up under the favor- 
 able climate and geographical surroundings which the Central 
 American Kegion southward of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
 afforded. The great Maya family with its numerous branches, 
 each in time developing its own dialect if not its own peculiar 
 language, at an early date fixed itself in the fertile valley of the 
 Kiver Usumasinta, and produced a civilization which was old 
 and ripe when the Toltecs came in contact with it. Here in this 
 picturesque valley region in Tabasco and Chiapas we may look 
 for the cradle of American civilization. Under the shadow of the 
 magnificent and mysterious ruins of Palenque a people grew to 
 power who spread into Guatemala and Honduras, northward 
 toward Anahuac and southward into Yucatan, and for a period 
 of probably twenty-five centuries exercised a-sway which, at one 
 time, excited the envy and fear of its neighbors. We are fully 
 
204 THE TRADITION OF VOTAN. 
 
 aware of the uncertainty which attaches itself to tradition in 
 general, and of the caution with which it should be accepted in 
 treating of the foundations of history ; but still, with reference to 
 the origin and growth of old world nations, nothing better offers 
 itself in many instances than suspicious legends. The histories 
 of the Egyptians, the Trojans, the Greeks, and of even ancient 
 Kome rests on no surer footing. It is certain that while the 
 legendary history of any nation may be confused, exaggerated, 
 and besides full of breaks, still there are some main and funda- 
 mental facts out of which it has grown, and this we think is 
 especially true of the new world traditions. Clavigero says : 
 " The Chiapanese have been the first peoplers of the new world, 
 if we give credit to their traditions. They say that Votan, the 
 grandson of that respectable old man who built the great ark 
 to save himself and family from the deluge, and one of those 
 who undertook the building of that lofty edifice which was to 
 reach up to heaven, went by express command of the Lord to 
 people that land. They say also that the first people came from 
 the quarter of the north, and that when they arrived at Soco- 
 nusco, they separated, some going to inhabit the country of 
 Nicaragua and others remaining in Chiapas." 1 The tradition 
 of Votan, the founder of the Maya culture, though somewhat 
 warped, probably by having passed through priestly hands, is 
 nevertheless one of the most valuable pieces of information which 
 we have concerning the ancient Americans. Without it our 
 knowledge of the origin of the Mayas would be a hopeless blank, 
 and the ruins of Palenque would be more a mystery than ever. 
 According to this tradition, Votan came from the East, from 
 Valum Chivim, by the way of Valum Votan, from across the 
 sea, by divine command, to apportion the land of the new conti- 
 nent to seven families which he brought with him. It appears 
 that he had been preceded in America by two others named 
 Igh and Imox, if the researches of the Abbe Brasseur cle Bour- 
 bourg can be relied upon. In the Tzendal calendar, Votan's 
 name appears as that of the third day, while Igh and Imox are 
 
 1 Hist. Ant. del Messico (Eng. trans., 1807), vol. i. 
 
THE CITY OF NACHAN. 205 
 
 the first and second respectively. If, as is supposed, the names 
 represent the true succession of the Maya chiefs, there is some 
 ground for the Abbe's view. 1 The doubtful portions of the 
 tradition which may be interpolations are the ambiguous asser- 
 tions that he saw the Tower of Babel, and was present at the 
 building of Solomon's temple. Probably the remains only of 
 the former structure may be referred to. 
 
 With these contradictions we have nothing to do, as they do 
 not in any way affect the subsequent history of the Votanites, or 
 interfere with the probability of their old world origin. To at- 
 tempt to designate the point from which Votan started or the 
 means by which he reached the new world, would be the height 
 of folly. Votan is said to have made four journeys to the land 
 of his nativity. His achievements in the new world were, how- 
 ever, as great as those of any of the heroes of antiquity. His 
 great city was named " Nachan," (city of the serpents), from his 
 own race, which was named Chan, a serpent. This Nachan is 
 unquestionably identified with Palenque. The date of his jour- 
 ney is placed at 1000 years B. c. 2 The kingdom of the serpents 
 
 1 " Quoique Votan sort le veritable fondateur de la civilisation et de 1'empire 
 des Quiches, le Codex Chimalpopoca, attribue neanmoins la fondation de 1 'em- 
 pire a son Igh on Ik, appele par les Mexicains Ehecatl on Cipactonac, parceque 
 ce prince vint le premir amener une colonie sur le continent americain. Cipatonac 
 est compose de Cipactli, et de Tonacayo. Le premir vient de ce un, Ipan, sur 
 ou au-dessus, et tlactli, qui est le corps liumain, c'est-a-dire, Un homme superieur 
 aux autres Jiommes, ou encore de notre race, toutes choses qui convennent par- 
 faitement au pere de la race des chanes. Tonacayo, vent dire notre chair ou le 
 corps humain, le mot tout cutier Cipactonac ayant la signification suivante : 
 ' Celui qui est sorti du premier de notre race.' Ehecatl est en mexicain 1'air, 
 ou le souffle, Igli ou Ik, en langua maya et tzendale. Dans les calendriers 
 d'Oxaca, Soconusco, Chiappas et d'Yucatan, il suit immediatemet le nom de 
 Nin, Imos ou Imox, comme celui d'Ehecatl suit dans le mexicain celui de 
 Cipactli." Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, note, p. 71. He then proceeds to 
 sustain his conclusions by citing analogies between the name and its signifi- 
 cance among the Egyptians. 
 
 2 Chimalpopoca, MS., Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh., p. Ixxxviii ; see 
 also Memorias para la Historia del Antigito, Reyno de Guatemala, por Franc, 
 de Paula Garcia Pelaez (Guatemala, 1851). Pelaez states that Votan founded the 
 ancient Culhuacan, now known as Palenque, in the year 3000 of the world and 
 in the tenth century B. c. 
 
206 THE VOTANIC DOCUMENT ORDONEZ. 
 
 flourished so rapidly that Votan founded three tributary mon- 
 archies whose capitals were Tulan, Mayapan, and Chiquinrula. 1 
 The former is supposed to have been situated about two leagues 
 east of the town of Ococingo ; Mayapan is well-known to have 
 been the capital of Yucatan, and Chiqimula is thought to have 
 been Copan in Honduras. 2 One of the great works of this hero 
 was the excavation of a tunnel or e snake hole ' from Zuqui to 
 Tzequil. He also deposited a great treasure at Huehuetan, in 
 Soeonusco, which he left under the vigilant care of a guard, 
 directed by one of the most honorable women of the land. 
 Finally, he wrote a book in which he recorded his deeds and 
 offered proof of his being a Chane (or serpent). This ancient 
 document, which is claimed to have been written by one of 
 Votan' s descendants, of the eighth or ninth generation and not 
 by himself, 3 was in the Tzendal language, a dialect or branch 
 of the Maya, spoken in Chiapas and around Palenque. Its 
 history is, however, quite checkered, and the information which 
 it contained comes very indirectly. For generations the Votanic 
 document was scrupulously guarded by the people of Ta- 
 coaloya, in Soconusco, but was finally discovered by Francisco 
 Nunez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas. In the preamble of his 
 Constituciones, xxx, 4 he claims to have read this document, but 
 it is probable that only a copy, still in the Tzendal language but 
 written in Latin characters, had come into his possession. 5 He 
 fails to give any definite information from the document except 
 the most general statements with reference to Votan's place in 
 the calendar, and his having seen the Tower of Babel, at which 
 each people was given a new language. He states that he could 
 have made more revelations of the history of Votan from this 
 
 1 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol VuJi., p. Ixxxx, on the authority of Ordonez. 
 
 2 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 1 59. 
 
 3 Ordonez, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. Ixxxvii. 
 
 4 Constituciones Diocesanes del OUspado de Chiappas. Rome, 1702. 
 
 5 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 160: "It is not altogether improbable 
 that a genuine Maya document similar to the Manuscript Troano or Dresden 
 Codex, preserved from early times, may have found a native interpreter at the 
 time of the Conquest, and have escaped in its disguise of Spanish letters the 
 destruction which overtook its companions." 
 
NUNEZ DE LA VEGA. 207 
 
 document but for bringing up the old idolatry of the people and 
 perpetuating it. With the zeal of a true Vandal, the bishop 
 committed the dangerous documents, together with the treasure 
 which he claims Votan to have buried in the dark-house, to the 
 flames in 1691. There seems to have been other copies, however, 
 of this remarkable manuscript, for about the close of the eighteenth 
 century, Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera was shown a document in the 
 possession of Don Kamon de Ordonez y Aguiar, a resident of 
 Ciudad Keal in Chiapas, which purported to be the Votanic 
 memoir. 1 Ordonez, at the time, was engaged upon the compo- 
 sition of his work on the " History of the Heaven and Earth." * 
 It appears that Cabrera was admitted to the confidence of Ordo- 
 nez, and availed himself of a few facts communicated to him by 
 the latter, which he supplemented by drawing from his imagi- 
 nation for the rest of his account. 3 Brasseur de Bourbourg 
 accuses Cabrera of seriously misrepresenting Ordonez and of 
 warping his account. 4 The following, which is Cabrera's ac- 
 
 1 " The memoir in his possession consists of five or six folios of common 
 quarto paper, written in ordinary characters in the Tzendal language, an evident 
 proof of its having been copied from the original in hieroglyphics, shortly after 
 the Conquest. At the top of the first leaf, the two continents are painted in 
 different colors, in two small squares, placed parallel to each other in the angles ; 
 the one representing Europe, Asia and Africa is marked with two large S'S 
 upon the upper arms of two bars drawn from the opposite angles of each square, 
 forming the point of union in the centre ; that which indicates America has two 
 S'S placed horizontally on the bars, but I am not certain whether upon the 
 upper or lower bars, but I believe upon the latter. When speaking of the 
 places he had visited on the old continent, he marks them on the margin of each 
 chapter with an upright S and those of America with a horizontal S. Between 
 these squares stands the title of his history : ' Proof that I am Culebra 
 (a Snake)/ which title he proves in the body of the work by saying that he is 
 Culebra because he is Chivim." Cabrera, Teatro Critico Amer., pp. 33-4. 
 
 2 Title of Ordonez in brief : Historia de la Creadon del Cielo y de la Tierra* 
 Conforme al Sistema de la Gentilidad Americana. 
 
 3 See his Teatro Critico Americano, p. 32 et seq., in Rio's Description of 
 the Ruins of an American City. London, 1822, quarto. 
 
 4 " Mais il y defigura completement 1'ouvrage d'Ordoiiez qu'il ne connaissait 
 pas assez et auquel il ajouta des opinions extremement hasardees. D. Ramon se 
 plaignit amerement de ce plagiat et des fausses idees que Cabrera donnait de 
 son travail, obtint contre lui un jugement, ou le plagiaire fut condamne par le 
 tribunal de I'audiencs royale de Guatemala, le 30 Juin, 1794. Mais Cabrera, 
 
208 BRASSEUR AND CABRERA ON TZENDAL DOCUMENT. 
 
 count may be of interest to the reader : " He (Yotan) states that 
 he conducted seven families from Valum Votan to this continent 
 and assigned lands to them; that he is the third of the Votans; 
 that having determined to travel until he arrived at the root 
 of Heaven, in order to discover his relations, the Culebras, and 
 make himself known to them, he made four voyages to Chivim 
 (which he expressed by repeating four times from Yalum Votan 
 to Valum Chivim, from Valum Chivim to Valum Votan); that 
 he arrived in Spain, and that he went to Koine ; that he saw the 
 great house of God building ; that he went by the road which 
 his brethren, the Culebras, had bored ; that he marked it, and 
 that he passed by the houses of the thirteen Culebras. He 
 relates that in returning from one of his voyages he found seven 
 other families of the Tzequil nation who had joined the first in- 
 habitants, and recognized in them the same origin as his own, 
 that is, of the Culebras. He speaks of the place where they 
 built the first town, which, from its founders, received the name 
 of Tzequil ; he affirms the having taught them refinement of 
 manners in the use of the table, table-cloth, dishes, basins, cups, 
 and napkins; they taught him the knowledge of God and of his 
 worship ; his first ideas of a king and of obedience to Him ; that 
 he was chosen captain of all those united families." It is not 
 necessary for us to point out the hand of the interpolator in this 
 account ; it is sufficiently apparent. However, its obnoxious 
 prominence need not destroy our faith in the general facts of the 
 account. The interpretation of the document we submit to the 
 reader with the simple reminder that the symbol of life and 
 power among the Central Americans and Mexicans has ever 
 been a serpent, a fact which may have derived its significance 
 from the meaning of the name of the Votanites together with 
 the power attained by Palenque. 1 Votan's followers were called 
 
 tout en pillant les idees du savant antiquaire, n'cn rendait pas moins justice a 
 son talent et a son merite." Brasseur de Bourbourg on Ordonez MS. Cartas, p. 8. 
 1 The explanation given by Cabrera is as follows : " Let us suppose then, 
 with Calmet and other authors whom he quotes, that some of the Hivites who 
 were descendants from Heth, son of Canaan, were settled on the shores of the 
 Mediterranean Sea and known from the most remote parts under the name of 
 
KINGDOM OF THE CHANES OR SERPENTS. 209 
 
 Tzsquites by their predecessors, probably by the descendants 
 of Igh and Imox, the signification of which term is c men with 
 petticoats/ The Tzendal traditions refer always to the city of 
 Nachan as the capital of the kingdom of the Chanes or Serpents, 
 and the most significant feature of the traditional names of this 
 people is the fact that the name Culhua, applied by the Nahua 
 nations and especially by the Toltecs to a powerful people who 
 had preceeded them at the south, is the exact equivalent of 
 Chanes ; the same is true of Culhuacan. 1 The Abbe Brasseur 
 de Bourbourg obtained a copy of the fragmentary MS. of Ordo- 
 nez, which he informs us was written in two separate parts in 
 quarto, at different times. The first or mythological part exists in 
 a copy owned by the Abbe. 2 The second or historical part, if ever 
 written, has never reached the light, and from the description 
 
 Hivim or Givim, from wliicli region they were expelled, some years before tlie 
 departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, by the Caphtorirns or Philistines, who, 
 according to some writers, were colonists from Cappadocia, others considering 
 them to be from Cyprus, and more probably, according to a third opinion, from 
 Crete, now Candia ; that to strengthen their native country Egypt, and to pro- 
 tect themselves from all assault, they built five large cities, viz.: Accaron, 
 Azotus, Ascalon, and Gaza [fifth wanting in account], from whence they made 
 frequent sallies upon the Canaanite towns and all their surrounding neighbors 
 (except the Egyptians, whom they always respected), and carried on many wars 
 in the posterior ages against the Hebrews. The Scriptures (Deuteronomy ? 
 chap, ii, verse 23, and Joshua, chap, xiii, verse 4) inform us of the expulsion 
 of the Hivites (Givim) by the Caphtorims, from which it appears that the latter 
 drove out the former, who inhabited the countries from Azzah to Gaza. Many 
 others were settled in the vicinity of the mountains of Eval and Azzah, among 
 whom were reckoned the Sichemites and the Gabaonites ; the latter by stratagem 
 made alliance with Joshua, or submitted to him. Lastly, others had their 
 dwellings about the skirts of Mount Hermon, beyond Jordan to the eastward of 
 Canaan (Joshua, chap, ii, verse 3). Of these last were Cadmus and his wife 
 Hermione or Hermonia, both memorable in sacred as well as profane history, as 
 their exploits occasioned their being exalted to the rank of deities, while in 
 regard to their metamorphosis into snakes (Culebras) mentioned by Ovid, 
 Metam., lib. 3, their being Hivites may have given rise to this fabulous trans- 
 mutation, the name in the Phoenician language implying a snake, which the 
 ancient Hebrew writers suppose to have been given from this people being ac- 
 customed to live in caves under ground like snakes." Cabrera, Teatro Critico, 
 pp. 47-8. On p. 95 he reaches the conclusion that the Votanites were Cartha- 
 ginians. 
 
 1 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 163. 2 Cartas, p. 12. 
 
 14 
 
210 KEY TO THE ORIGIN OF THE OLDEST CIVILIZATION. 
 
 of its contents found in the first part, we should think that the 
 author might have made a rather imaginative historian. 1 While 
 some of the details of the Votanic tradition are not worthy 
 of a moment's consideration, it is quite certain that in the 
 general facts we have a key to the origin of what all American- 
 ists agree in pronouncing the oldest civilization on this continent, 
 one which was gray and already declining when the Toltecs 
 entered Mexico. There is not the slightest evidence that it 
 originated in any other place than in Chiapas, where it is found, 
 and extended itself into Guatemala, Yucatan, and possibly 
 branched northward in a colony as remote as Culhuacan. Sr. 
 Orozco y Berra has found fifteen languages or dialects to be re- 
 lated to the Maya language, a fact which indicates the age and 
 extent of that remarkable civilization. 2 Sr. Orozco is convinced 
 from linguistic and other researches, that the inhabitants 
 of Cuba and others of the West India Islands were Mayas, and 
 points out the intermediate location of Cuba between Florida 
 and Yucatan. He thinks the earliest home of the Mayas on this 
 
 1 The description of its contents drawn by Brasseur de Bourbourg from tlie 
 part in his possession is briefly as follows : The second volume of Ordonez com- 
 prised the history of the ancestors of Votan, a descendant of Shem by the 
 Hivo-Pho3nician line; of their emigration from the Eastern Continent to the 
 Occident ; of their voyage with their first legislator by the Usuraasinta River 
 and its affluents to the Plain Palenque ; the foundation of the great monarchy 
 of the Quiches as well as that of Nachan, which was the capital ; of the found- 
 ing of the three royal cities of Mayapan, Tulha, and Chiquimula. The Abbe 
 finds allusion to this work in Torquemada, Juarros, Cogolludo, Lizana, and par- 
 ticularly in Sahugun, book iii of his Hist. Gen., where it is claimed to treat of the 
 original inhabitants of Palenque. He then states that the work was written in 
 Guatemala at the close of the eighteenth century, and was sent to Spain or taken 
 thither by its author for publication. In 1803 it was found in the hands 
 of Sr. Gil Lemos of Madrid, where it had been left for publication. Its con- 
 tents becoming known to the Council of the Indias, it was suppressed like many 
 others on the early history of America. Ordonez, who for ten years afterwards 
 was canon of the Cathedral at Ciudad Real, died without seeing his work pub- 
 lished. See Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, p. 12 et seq. 
 
 2 These are as follows : Chontal, Quiche, Zutugil, Kachiquel, Mam, Pokoman, 
 Pokonchi, Caichi Coxoh, Ixil, Tzendal, Tozotzil, Choi, Huaxteco, and Totonaco ; 
 besides those of the islands of Cuba and Hayti, Borquia and Jamaica. 
 Geografia de los Linguas, p. 98. Mexico, 1864, 4to. 
 
FORMER HOME OF THE MAYAS. 211 
 
 continent was on the Atlantic coast of the United States, 
 from whence they emigrated to Cuba and thence to Yucatan. 1 
 Though we are not fully satisfied that the Mayas ever occupied 
 Florida, it is quite likely that the islands of the Gulf were in- 
 habited by them at an early day. The culture hero Votan is a 
 mystery, and to arrive at his true character or office is simply an 
 impossibility. For those disposed to speculate, there is abun- 
 dant opportunity. 2 The most interesting traditionary history 
 which has been discovered is that of the Quiches of Guatemala. 
 By the name Quiche, in this immediate connection, we do not 
 mean to speak of that people after they became amalgamated 
 with the Nahua nations from Central Mexico, but as a branch 
 of the great Maya monarchy, in all probability located at first 
 at Tulha or Tula, which, it is believed, was situated near 
 Ococingo. At first, we think, the Quiches developed their own 
 institutions, dialects, etc., as one of the allied powers asso- 
 ciated with the capital city Nachan, but gradually assumed an 
 individuality which became distinctive, until a rivalry between 
 the capital and its allied neighbor sprang up, which ultimately 
 ended in the overthrow of the former. Sr. Pimentel, on the 
 authority of an ancient author, states that the name Quiche was 
 applied to the first empire of Palenque and signified many trees. 
 It was employed by the " innumerable families of different 
 nations which composed it, to symbolize its various branches." 3 
 The tradition of their origin states that they came from the far 
 East, across immense tracts of land and water ; that in their 
 former home they had multiplied considerably and lived without 
 civilization, and with but few wants ; they paid no tribute, spoke 
 a common language, did not bow down to wood and stone, but 
 lifting their eyes toward heaven, observed the will of their 
 
 1 im, p. 128. 
 
 2 " II y a plus d'un trait de ressemblance entre le personnage mysterieux qui 
 
 parut a Carthage et le Votan des Tzendales. Les chemins souterraines ou celui- 
 ci fut admis, lesquels traversent le terre pour arriver a la racine du ciel,indiquent 
 une suite d'epreuves qui rappellent les initiations figyptiennes et dont on trouve 
 des traces jusqu'a 1'epoque meme de la conquete dans les epreuves de la 
 clievalerie Mexicaine." Brasscur de Bourbourg, Popol Vult, p. cviii. 
 
 3 Lenguas Indigenas de Mexico, torn, ii, p. 124. Mexico, 1865, 8vo. 
 
212 QUICHE ORIGIN TRADITION. 
 
 Creator, they attended with respect to the rising of the sun, and 
 saluted with their invocations the Morning Star; with loving 
 and obedient hearts they addressed their prayers to Heaven for 
 the gift of offspring. " Hail, Creator and Maker ! regard us, at- 
 tend us. Heart of Heaven, Heart of the Earth, do not forsake us, 
 do not leave us. God of Heaven and Earth, Heart of Heaven, 
 Heart of Earth, consider our posterity always. Accord us re- 
 pose, a glorious repose, peace and prosperity, justice, life and our 
 being. Grant to us, Hurakan, enlightened and fruitful, Thou 
 who comprehendest all things great and small." l In the Popol 
 Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiches, we are enabled to arrive 
 more closely at the cosmogony and worship of that remarkable 
 people. 2 The reader may not be prepared for the irreconcilable 
 contradictions and for the obscure and figurative language in which 
 
 1 MS. Quiche de Cliichicastenango in Brasseur de Bourbourg's Hist. Nat. 
 Civ., vol. i, pp. 105-6. See also Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 21. 
 
 2 The Popol Vuh was first published by Dr. Scherzer in Vienna, in 1857, 
 under the title of Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de esta Promnda de 
 Guatemala, traducidas de la Lengua Quiche al Castellano para mas Comodidad 
 de los Ministros del 8. Evangelic, por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenez, cura 
 doctrinero por el real patronato del Pueblo de S. Thomas, Chuila, Exacta- 
 mente segun el texto espanol del manuscrito original que se halla en la biblio- 
 teca de la Universidad de Guatemala, publicado por la primera vez, y aumentado 
 con una introduccion y anotaciones por el Dr. C. Scherzcr. Father Ximinez, a 
 Dominican and curate of Chichicastenango of Guatemala, wrote about 1720, and 
 subsequently. His work, because of its condemnation of the oppression of the 
 Indians, was suppressed, but was finally discovered in June, 1854, in the library 
 of the University of San Carlos, in Guatemala, by Dr. Scherzer. Father 
 Ximinez describes the work as a literal copy of an original Quiche book, made 
 in Roman letters by Quiche copyists, after the introduction of Christianity into 
 Guatemala. The copy is stated ambiguously to have been made to replace the 
 original Popol Vuh national book which was lost. How a book which had 
 been lost could be copied literally, the Father fails to tell us. Internal evidence, 
 however, sustains the claim that it was written by native Quiches. In 1860, 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg undertook a new translation of the Popol Vuh, from the 
 Ximinez document (containing the Quiche and Spanish). This he did among 
 the Quiches and with the aid of the natives, and as a result it is believed that 
 a much more literal translation than that made by Ximinez was obtained. In 
 our examination of Quiche history we have compared both translations and 
 shall draw from them directly, but shall also take advantage of the excellent 
 condensations and renderings which Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft has made. See 
 Native Races, vol. iii, p. 42, note, for the leading facts as we have stated them. 
 
THE QUICHE COSMOGONY. 213 
 
 this work abounds ; but with the remembrance that all nations of 
 antiquity delighted in the use of figures, parabolic disguises and 
 personifications under which the truth was couched, we may be 
 able to profit by even the seeming foolishness and confusion of the 
 Quiche record. The strange, wild poetry of the Quiches, can only 
 be fully enjoyed by pursuing the unabridged accounts for which 
 we regret we have not space. 1 In the order of the Quiche creation, 
 the heavens were first formed and their boundaries fixed by the 
 Creator and Former, by whom all move and breathe, by whom 
 all nations enjoy their wisdom and civilization. At first there 
 was no man or animal or bird or fish or green herb nothing but 
 the firmament existed, the face of the earth was not yet to be 
 seen, only the peaceful sea and the whole expanse of heaven. 
 Silence pervaded all ; not even the sea murmured ; there was 
 nothing but immobility and silence in the darkness in the 
 night. 2 The Creator, the Former, the Dominator the feath- 
 ered serpent those that engender, those that give being, moved 
 upon the water as a glowing light. Their name is Gucumatz, 
 heart of heaven God. " Earth," they said, and in an instant it 
 was formed and rose like a vapor cloud ; immediately the plains 
 and mountains arose and the cypress and pine appeared. Then 
 Gucumatz was filled with joy, and cried out, " Blessed be thy 
 coming, Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, thunderbolt ! " 3 Animals 
 were next formed, but because they could not praise their 
 Maker they were doomed to become objects of prey. Four crea- 
 tions of men then followed. The first man was made of clay, 
 but he had no intelligence and he was consumed in the water. 
 Upon a second trial a man and a woman were made of a sort 
 of pith, but they too were unsatisfactory experiments ; though 
 they had life and peopled the earth, they were very inferior, 
 
 1 We must refer the reader either to the originals or to that treasure-house 
 of American traditional lore, Mr. Bancroft's third volume, which is a repository 
 of poetic renderings as well. Nor have we endeavored in every instance to avoid 
 the use of that author's incomparable terminology, so expressive of the spirit 
 of the original. 
 
 2 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 7 ; Ximinez, Hist. Ind. Guat, 
 pp. 5-6 ; Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, p. 44. 
 
 3 Mr. Bancroft's rendering, Native Races, vol. iii, p. 45. 
 
214 FOUR CREATIONS OF MAN. 
 
 living like beasts and forgetting the Heart of Heaven. The 
 Creator then destroyed them with a flood of resin, allowing only 
 a few to escape, that now exist as little apes in the woods. The 
 persons of the Godhead, enveloped in the darkness which en- 
 shrouded a desolated world, counseled concerning the creation 
 of a more perfect order, and as a result they formed four perfect 
 men named : Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi- 
 Balam. These men were miraculously formed of white and yel- 
 low maize, and the Creator was content with his labors. " Verily, 
 at last, were there found men worthy of their origin and their 
 destiny; verily, at last, did the gods look upon beings who could 
 see with their eyes and handle with their hands and understand 
 with their hearts, grand of countenance and broad of limb, the 
 four sires of our race stood up under the white rays of the 
 morning star sole light as yet of the primeval world stood up 
 and looked. Their great clear eyes swept rapidly over all; they 
 saw the woods and rocks, the lakes and the sea, the mountains 
 and the valleys, and the heavens that were above all ; and they 
 comprehended all and admired exceedingly. Then they returned 
 thanks to those who had made the world and all therein was : 
 we offer up our thanks, twice yea, verily, thrice ; we have re- 
 ceived life, we speak, we walk, we taste, we hear and understand, 
 we know both that which is near and that which is far off, we 
 see all things, great and small, in all the heaven and earth. 
 Thanks, then, Maker and Former, Father and Mother of our 
 life, we have been created we are." 1 These four creatures were 
 considered too perfect by the gods, and in order that their omni- 
 science might be destroyed, they breathed a cloud of mist over 
 their vision. To each of these men wives were made while they 
 slept. A fourth creation seems to have taken place by which 
 the ancestors of other races were formed. 
 
 The account which the Popol Vuh furnishes of the migra- 
 tions of the ancient Quiches is somewhat confused, and it is 
 scarcely possible to hope that the locations named should ever 
 be fully identified. Their worship was at first purely spiritual. 
 
 1 Mr. Bancroft's graceful and truly poetic rendering, Native Races, vol. iii, 
 pp. 47, 48. 
 
MT. HACAVITZ. 215 
 
 " Only they gazed up into heaven, not knowing what they had 
 come so far to do." In their original home, wherever that might 
 have been, they grew weary of this kind of service of watching 
 for "the rising of the sun" by which it seems- they meant the 
 coming of temporal power. The four men then forsook their 
 abode and journeyed to Tulan-Zuiva, the seven caves or seven 
 ravines. Here they found gods ; to each of the four men a 
 different deity was assigned. To Balam-Quitze the god Tohil 
 was given ; to Balam-Agab the god Avilix ; and to Malmcutah, 
 the god Hacavitz ; and though the fourth man Iqi-Balam 
 also received a god, no special account is taken of him, since 
 the latter of the four men left no progeny. The journey to 
 Tulan is said to have been a very long one. Doubtless in this 
 account we have an allusion to one of those modifications in 
 religious notions which seems to have often attended a change 
 of residence in early times. The abstract worship of the Creator 
 is supplanted by the more material and ceremonial worship of 
 intermediate deities (demi-gods). Tulan is described as a much 
 colder climate than the eastern and tropical land which they had 
 forsaken, and the god Tohil came to their relief by the creation 
 of fire. But incessant rains, accompanied with hail, extinguished 
 all their fires, which were again kindled repeatedly by the fire- 
 god. Tulan was an unfavorable locality for permanent abode 
 rains, extreme cold, dampness, famine prevailed, and the peculiar 
 misfortune of the confusion of tongues there befell them. No 
 longer were the brother propagators of the race able to communi- 
 cate with each other. " At Tulan there was as yet no sun," is 
 the significant but perplexing language of the narrative. At 
 last Tulan, the mysterious land of the " seven-caves," was for- 
 saken, and under the leadership of Tohil the people began a 
 migration which was attended with indescribable hardships and 
 famine itself. Their way led through dense forests, over high 
 mountains, a long sea passage, and by a rough and pebbly shore. 
 We are, however, told that the sea was parted for their passage. 
 Their tribulations were at an end when at last they arrived at a 
 beautiful mountain, which they named after their god Hacavitz. 
 Here they were informed that the sun would appear, and, as a 
 
216 HUMAN SACRIFICES INSTITUTED. 
 
 consequence, the four progenitors of the race and all the people 
 rejoiced. Here was everything beauteous and gladdening. The 
 morning star shed forth a resplendent brightness, and the sun 
 itself at last appeared, though then it had not the warmth which 
 it possessed at a later day. Before the light of the sun, how- 
 ever, the gods Tohil, Avilix and Hacavitz, together with the tiger 
 and lion and reptiles, were changed into stone. To interpret 
 this paragraph, which is greatly condensed, is a difficult under- 
 taking, still there are certain facts which seem to serve as 
 the basis of intelligent speculation. The language is extremely 
 figurative throughout the entire narrative, and especially so here. 
 Their worship of the morning star at an early period seems to 
 connect them with the Mediterranean peoples of the old world. 
 The allusions to the sun not yet having come may be retro- 
 spective, indicating that the worship of the sun had not been 
 adopted at that early day, or it may indicate that the period of 
 national strength had not dawned. The fact that the morning 
 star shone more brilliantly on Mt. Hacavitz than at Tulan (the 
 seven caves), may mean either that the worship of the star was 
 more splendidly celebrated, or it may have reference to an astro- 
 nomical fact, that the star itself was more luminous, and furnish 
 evidence in harmony with the statements of the narrative that 
 Mt. Hacavitz was a more southern location than the tempestuous 
 Tulan. The petrifaction of the three tribal gods may have been 
 the result of an age of peace and prosperity which offered an 
 opportunity for developing their cultus ; or, upon the other 
 hand, if the coming of the sun refers to the advent of a new 
 religion, that which is known to have prevailed among the 
 Nahuas, the old gods may have been sculptured in stone, that 
 their national character and deeds might not be forgotten before 
 the increasing importance of the new faith. There they insti- 
 tuted sacrifices of beasts to the three stone gods Tohil, Avilix 
 and Hacavitz ; they even drew blood from their own bodies 
 and offered it to them. Finally, not content with these, the 
 first four men, led by Balam-Quitzc, instituted human sacri- 
 fices. Captives were taken from neighboring tribes, kidnapping 
 was practised extensively, until the hostility of their neighbors 
 
THE FOUR TULANS. 217 
 
 broke forth into open war. The contest, however, resulted favor- 
 ably to the Quiches, and the surrounding tribes became subject 
 to the victorious power. In Hacavitz they composed a national 
 song called the Kamucu (" we see ") a memorial of their mis- 
 fortunes in Tulan a lament for the loss of so many of their 
 people in that unfortunate locality. This loss is described as 
 occasioned by a portion of their race being left behind, rather 
 than as the result of the misfortunes which attended them there. 
 At last, at the noon-day of their national glory, it came to pass 
 that the ancestors of their race, Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, 
 Mahucutah and Iqi-Balam, died the men who came from the 
 east, from across the sea, died and their remains were enveloped 
 in a great bundle and preserved as memorials of the ancestors of 
 the race. 1 Then the Quiches sang the sad Kamucu, and mourned 
 the loss of their leaders and that portion of their race which they 
 left behind them in Tulan. 
 
 The definite location of Tulan is almost out of the question ; 
 it may only be conjectured. We have already stated, on the 
 authority of Ordifiez, that there was a Tulan near Ococingo. 2 
 The Cakchiquel MS., known only through the writings of Bras- 
 seur de Bourbourg, but evidently a document containing the 
 same facts as those stated in the Popol Vuh, gives the following 
 information concerning Tulan : "Four persons came from Tulan, 
 from the direction of the rising sun that is one Tulan. There 
 is another Tulan in Xibalbay, and another where the sun sets, 
 and it is there that we came ; and in the direction of the setting 
 sun there is another, where is the god ; so that there are four 
 Tulans ; and it is where the sun sets that we came to Tulan, 
 
 \ See Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, p. 54. Brasseur de Bourbourg, 
 Nouvelles Annales des Voyages 1858, tome iv, p. 268, and Hist, de Tlaxcallan in 
 the same, tome xcix, 1843, p. 179, where reference is made to these bundles. 
 
 2 Popol Vuh, p. Ixxxv, note, et Ibid, p. ccliv. The Abbe places that Tulan 
 among the ruins of the valley of Palenque near the modern town of Comitan in 
 the state of Chiapas. He adds : " Siege principal des princes de la race Nahuatl, 
 cette ville aurait ete fondee a une epoque contemporaine de la capitale des 
 Xibalbides, plusieurs siecles avant le ere chretienne, et au rapport de touts les 
 traditions, elle aurait rivalise constamment avec sa metropole dont elle cherchait 
 a se rendre independante." 
 
218 THE FOUR TTJLANS. 
 
 from the other side of the sea where this Tulan is ; and it is 
 there that we were conceived and begotten by our mothers and 
 our fathers." 1 From this it appears that two of these Tulans 
 were not upon the continent at all ; one in the east across the 
 sea, the birthplace of the race ; another an imaginary locality 
 somewhere toward the region of the setting sun, where the deity 
 dwells ; another Tulan is pretty certainly located in Chiapas 
 near the capital of Xibalba ; with this place, however, they do 
 not state that they had any relationship, but another Tulan 
 where the sun sets is designated as the locality to which they 
 came from across the sea. Mr. Bancroft confounds the Tulan 
 of their misfortunes with that which was located near Xibalba ; 
 but this view is plainly wrong, since the climatic surroundings 
 of the Chiapan Tulan are quite the opposite of those described 
 as prevailing at that Tulan where fire was so necessary. In the 
 Tulan to which they journeyed they suffered from cold, and their 
 god Tohil, whom they received there, gave them fire. Seiior 
 Orozco y Berra quite positively identifies this Tulan with the 
 Toltec capital Tollan, north of Anahuac, and certainly with 
 reason. 2 There their tongues were changed, there the Nahua 
 language was encountered. No doubt that in the first period 
 of the Toltec power in Tollan, the Maya-Quiches who had 
 migrated northward from some locality in the Usumacinta region 
 and intermingled with the Nahuas, sharing in their worship 
 and appropriating certain elements of language, migrated south- 
 ward to the elevated regions of Yera-Paz and founded a Quiche 
 power in Guatemala. 
 
 Upon the downfall of the Toltec monarchy in the eleventh 
 century, no doubt many noble Toltec families forsook the unfor- 
 tunate and fallen capital and founded in Guatemala the Quiche- 
 Cakchiquel monarchy, composed of Maya and Toltec elements, 
 which spread itself southward in colonies and branches into 
 various parts of Central America, and flourished with such 
 
 1 Popol Vuh, notes, pp. xci-ii. We have used Mr. Bancroft's rendering of 
 the passage. 
 
 2 Geografia de las Linguas Mexicanas, pp. 96-8 and pp. 127-29. A linguistic 
 argument. 
 
QUICHES AND NAHUAS AS NEIGHBORS. 219 
 
 power and fame at the time of the Conquest. It is not the 
 province of this work to take up the annals of this or any other 
 people, but only to treat of their most primitive period. The 
 gap in Quiche history between that which we have been treating 
 and the period of the Annals is considerable, and no document 
 has yet been discovered which will fill it with the wanting record. 
 Mr. Bancroft has placed the annals within the reach of the 
 English reader in his fifth volume. Mt. Hacavitz was the point 
 at which the scattered tribes collected and formed the nucleus 
 of the subsequently powerful monarchy in Guatemala of which 
 Utatlan was the capital. The two places may have been iden- 
 tical. Several facts point to the early association of the ances- 
 tors of the Quiches with the Nahuas who subsequently figure so 
 conspicuously as Toltecs and Aztecs. The tribes which migrated 
 northward were called Yaqui (according to the Popol Vuh), and 
 the name ethnographically has the same meaning as Nahuatl. 1 
 The Quiches applied the name to the inhabitants of Mexico. 
 The god Tohil was called by the Yaqui tribes Yolcuat Quitzal- 
 cuat while the Quiches were in Tulan. Quetzalcoatl, of whom 
 we shall speak more fully hereafter, was the greatest of the 
 Nahua divinities. 2 The Aztecs and Toltecs as well as the Quiches 
 came from the " Seven Caves," that Tulan which seems to have 
 been the early home of the two great families speaking radically 
 different languages the Maya and the Nahua. The statement 
 so often met with that Tulan was across the sea is perplexing. 
 Can we look for it upon some of the islands of the Gulf or 
 Caribbean Sea ? or are we to look upon the reference to the sea 
 passage as an earlier event in the history of both peoples, which 
 because of the lack of records has been confounded with some of 
 the adventures of the march toward the northern Tulan, which 
 was undertaken at least by the Mayas and possibly by the 
 Nahuas from their common home in the Usumacinta valley ? 
 We are inclined, in the light of a large margin of testimony, to 
 accept the latter view, and consider the Tulan of the Chiapan 
 region to have been the early home of both peoples the primi- 
 
 1 Brasseur de Bourbourg is the authority cited by Mr. Bancroft, vol. v, p. 188. 
 
 2 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 188. 
 
220 XIBALBA AND ITS POWER. 
 
 tive one of the Mayas and the adopted one of the Nahuas after 
 leaving Hue Hue Tlappalan, the accidental centre to which in 
 their wanderings they converged, and in which they met ; here 
 in an age of simpler manners they lived in the enjoyment of 
 peace, preserving each their own institutions and language, 
 though considerably influencing each other's customs. The 
 Tulan of this Central American region may have been con- 
 founded in name and characteristics with the original home of 
 each race " across the sea." 
 
 The Quiche record furnishes us with the account of an epoch 
 in the early Quiche history which we are justified in character- 
 izing as their heroic period. It occupies the same place in their 
 history as the Trojan war in the history of Greece. The tradition 
 of the fall of Xibalba, the terror of its neighbors, the power which 
 by its enemies was called infernal, is a heroic composition founded 
 on a combination of events as mysterious and wonderful as those 
 contained in the Iliad itself. To locate the events in their 
 proper place, to assign them their true period, is attended with 
 as many difficulties as attend the Homeric history. The author- 
 ities differ as to the proper chronologic order of the record. The 
 Popol Vuh, both in the Ximinez and Brasseur editions, give the 
 narrative to which we have reference immediately after the 
 destruction of the men made of pith or wood the result of the 
 first creation. Mr. Bancroft is somewhat indifferent about the 
 order and follows the narrative. Brasseur de Bourbourg, how- 
 ever, considers that chronologically the narrative follows the 
 third creation, that of the four founders of the Quiche race. 1 If 
 we look upon the so-called creations as simply tribal origins and 
 not as mythical accounts of the origin of man, there is room for 
 the heroic period before the days of the four ancestors of the 
 Quiches ; but if, on the contrary, the two creations preceding 
 that of Balam-Quitze and his associates are mythical, are the 
 legendary accounts of a fancied order in creation and not the 
 origin of tribes, the view taken by the Abbe is the only one 
 which can be accepted. The question cannot at present be 
 definitely settled. If we resort to the latter view, that of the 
 1 Popol Vuh, p. 195. Bancroft, vol. v, 172-80. 
 
EXPLOITS OF THE QUICKC CHIEFTAINS. 221 
 
 Abbe, it is necessary for us to suppose that the long reign of 
 Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah and Iqi-Balam is that 
 of a line, a dynasty, and not of individuals which is altogether 
 probable. Brasseur supposes the time of which the tradition 
 speaks to have been about fifteen centuries before the Spanish 
 conquest, and thinks Copan was the capital of a province called 
 Payaqui (" in the Yaqui," which we have seen was the name of 
 the Nahuas), and that this capital, otherwise known as Chiqui- 
 mula, owed its origin to a warrior known as Balam, who intro- 
 duced human sacrifices. His authority is the Isagoge Historico 
 MS. cited by Pelaez, to whose work we have already referred. 1 To 
 attempt to determine upon the time definitely would be a hope- 
 less undertaking. The mysterious tradition with its confused 
 statements and allegorical allusions we will attempt to condense 
 into intelligible shape. This has already been accomplished by 
 Mr. Bancroft, and his version greatly facilitates our efforts in the 
 same direction. 
 
 The second division of the Popol Vuli contains the account 
 of two attempts at the overthrow of the great Xibalban mon- 
 archy, founded by Votan. The first of these proved unsuccess- 
 ful and fatal to the enemies of the great power; the second, 
 undertaken by the descendants of the defeated chieftains, resulted 
 in the downfall of the empire of the Serpents or Yotanites, and 
 in the revenge of the death of the unsuccessful warriors. The 
 account is provokingly figurative ; different allies of each of the 
 powers being spoken of as owls, wild beasts, rabbits, deer, rats, 
 lice, ants, etc., a custom which has always prevailed among 
 savage and semi-civilized nations. Savages of the forests are 
 usually referred to as wild beasts in early tradition. Xibalba is 
 so hated by its enemies that its usual title is the "infernal 
 regions." 2 Torquemada refers to it as Jidl^ and its king as the 
 king of the " shades." 3 The hatred was intense, and the worst 
 
 1 Popol Vuh, p. cclvi. Bancroft, vol. v, p. 545. The Abbe has largely drawn 
 upon his imagination in this instance as in some others, and the opinion is only 
 interesting because of its authorship. 
 
 2 Las Casas, Hist. Apologetica, MS., torn, iii, cap. cxxiv et cxxv. 
 
 3 Torquemada, torn, ii, pp. 53-4. Ximinez renders the word Xibalby " Inferno." 
 
222 HUNAHPU AND XBALANQUE. 
 
 invectives were mild in the estimation of the enemies of the no 
 doubt oppressive power. We have already given the account 
 of creation in which G-ucumatz (the Plumed Serpent) figured 
 conspicuously. He, however, is seen to have acted at the word 
 of Hurakan ("Heart of Heaven"). The closing paragraphs of 
 the first division of the Popol Vuli give some of the exploits of 
 the young heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who figure as the 
 defendants of the worship of the Heart of Heaven. A certain 
 Vucub-Cakix, who assumed to be the sun and god of the people, 
 and who in his pride offended the Heart of Heaven, fell at their 
 avenging hands. His sons Zipacna and Cabrakan, whose pride 
 was as offensive to Hurakan as had been their father's, shared 
 the same fate ; though the brothers lost four hundred of their 
 allies in the undertaking, by Zipanca toppling over a house upon 
 them while they were rejoicing at his supposed death in a pit in 
 which they had buried him. 
 
 The second division of the account reverts to events which 
 preceded those in the closing paragraphs of the first division by 
 one or more generations. The exploits of the ancestors of the 
 brothers are narrated. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, grandparents 
 of the sun and moon, had two sons, Hunhunahpu and Vukub 
 Hunahpu. The former of these sons married, and to him were 
 born also two sons, Hunbatz and Hunchouen, who grew up to 
 be wise and skillful and great artists. With all these persons 
 Hurakan, the Heart of Heaven, communicated through his 
 messenger Voc. At last Hunhunahpu and Yukub Hunahpu 
 undertook a journey toward Xibalba, playing ball as they went, 
 by which we understand that they set out upon a march of con- 
 quest. Upon hearing of their approach, Hun Came and Yukub 
 Came, kings of Xibalba, sent them a challenge to a game of ball 
 by four messengers who were called owls. From the ball-ground 
 of Nimxab Carchah (now the name of an Indian town in Vera 
 Paz), they followed the messengers down the steep road to 
 Xibalba, crossing rivers and ravines and a bloody stream. After 
 arriving at the royal palace, and during the process of arranging 
 for the contest in which their strength should be tried, they were 
 so unfortunate as first to be made the subjects of ridicule for the 
 
THE CONQUERORS OF XIBALBA. 223 
 
 whole court, then put to torture, and afterwards were cruelly 
 and it seems treacherously murdered. The head of Hunhunahpu 
 was hung upon a tree, which at once became overgrown with 
 gourds so as to hide the head of the unfortunate chief. Not- 
 withstanding the royal decree that no one should approach the 
 tree, Xquiq, a virgin princess, a Xibalban, determined to taste 
 its forbidden fruit, and in an hour of solitude was in the act of 
 reaching forth to pluck it, when Hunhunahpu spat into her 
 hand and she immaculately conceived. Her condition was dis- 
 covered by her father, who delivered her to the owls, the royal 
 messengers, to be put to death. By bribing her executioners she 
 escaped and went to the dwelling of the old grandmother Xmucane, 
 who upon the death of Hunhunahpu' s wife had taken charge of 
 his sons, the youthful Hunbatz and Hunchouen. Xquiq, by 
 miraculous performances, satisfied Xmucane that Hunhunahpu 
 was the father of her unborn children, and was received into her 
 home. The Xibalban virgin brought forth twin sons in the 
 house of the enemies of her country. These she named Hunahpu 
 and Xbalanque. From the very first their lot with their great- 
 grandmother was a hard one. Their half-brothers Hunbatz and 
 Hunchouen treated them harshly, but in time the twins revenged 
 themselves by changing the former into monkeys, and succeeding 
 to their artistic skill and musical fame. 
 
 Various exploits of the twin brothers are narrated, chiefly 
 as we would interpret the figurative language with the more 
 savage tribes of the forests and mountains. From one of their 
 captives whom they call a rat, they learned of the expedition of 
 their father and uncle, and were brought into possession of their 
 ball implements. The old ball-ground (probably battle-ground) 
 of their fathers was resorted to by Hunahpu and Xbalanque, and 
 when the Xibalban monarchs, Hun Came and Yukub Came, 
 heard of their purposes, they were angered and sent a challenge 
 to them as they had done to their ancestors. The message was 
 delivered at the great-grandmother's home, and the two chief- 
 tains, upon being acquainted with the news, returned to bid both 
 mother and grandmother farewell. Before taking final leave, 
 they planted in the centre of the house (probably the court) each 
 
224 THE CONQUERORS OF XIBALBA. 
 
 a cane, which was endowed with the singular attribute of reveal- 
 ing to the family the fortunes of each of the brothers. The life 
 and fate of each cane was inseparably connected with that 
 of Hunahpu and Xbalanque. On their route to Xibalba the 
 bloody river was passed and a stream called Papuhya ; but, more 
 wise than their predecessors, they took cunning precautions not 
 to be deceived and sacrificed by the Xibalban monarchs. For 
 this purpose, it is said, they sent an animal called Xan before 
 them, equipped with a hair from Hunahpu' s leg, with which he 
 pricked the princes and by their exclamations learned their names. 
 Thus they detected the artificial wooden men whom we are told 
 deceived their ancestors and made them the objects of ridicule. 
 
 By this strange personification we think we may understand 
 that the father and the uncle of the two young heroes had treated 
 with a couple of irresponsible Xibalbans who had been sent out 
 to meet them, with the pretence that they were the kings, and 
 when they had induced their enemies to enter the city, the true 
 monarchs seized them and repudiated the action of the so- 
 called wooden men, avowing no responsibility for their pledges. 
 Hunahpu and Xbalanque avoided two other artifices of which 
 their ancestors were the victims ; one of these was a seat on a 
 red-hot stone under the pretence that it was the seat of honor ; 
 the other was an ordeal in the " House of Gloom/' 1 The angry 
 Xibalban kings then met them in a game of ball, but suffered a 
 defeat. Hun Came and Yukub Came then requested the victors 
 to give them four bouquets of flowers, which request was granted, 
 the fortunate brothers themselves bearing them to the defeated 
 kings. At their instance, however, the guards of the royal gar- 
 dens committed Hunahpu and Xbalanque to the house of 
 lances the second of five ordeals common at Xibalba. Scarcely 
 had this been done before a swarm of ants allies of the brothers 
 came to their rescue, entered the royal gardens, bribed the 
 lancers, released their leaders and punished the owls guards of 
 the Xibalban kings by splitting their lips. The defeated 
 
 1 It will be remembered that Votan deposited Ms treasure in the " house of 
 gloom " or " darkness." 
 
THE FALL OF XIBALBA. 225 
 
 monarchs began to realize the seriousness of the contest which 
 was being waged against them. Hunahpu and Xbalanque were 
 then subjected to ordeals in the houses of cold, of tigers, and of 
 fire respectively, but without suffering harm. As we proceed, 
 the account becomes more figurative than ever. In the next 
 ordeal in the house of bats, we are told that Hunahpu's head 
 was cut off by the ruler of the bats, who, it seems, was recog- 
 nized as of super-terrestrial origin. Strange to say, this violent 
 proceeding did not prove fatal to Hunahpu ; the animals assem- 
 bled, came to the heroes' relief, and by the strategic skill of the 
 turtle and rabbit, at a great game of ball, the brothers came out 
 of all the Xibalban ordeals unharmed. 
 
 The next act was designed as the beginning of the end of the 
 great struggle. Xibalba had failed because the brutes were not 
 its allies. The brothers were determined to show the haughty 
 rival their personal greatness, and resorted to the use of their 
 magical arts. After proper instructions to their sorcerers, Xulu 
 and Pacam, Hunahpu and Xbalanque mounted a funeral pyre 
 and endured a voluntary death. But their ashes and bones which 
 were thrown into a river, rose instantly into life, assuming the 
 shape of young men. Five days subsequent to this wonderful 
 event they appeared in the form of man-fishes ; and on the day 
 following, the sorcery was complete, for the brothers now pre- 
 sented themselves in the form of "ragged old men, dancing, 
 burning and restoring houses, killing and restoring each other to 
 life, and performing other wonderful things. They were induced 
 to exhibit their skill before the princes of Xibalba, killing and 
 resuscitating the king's dog, burning and restoring the royal 
 palace. Then a man was made the subject of their art. Hu- 
 nahpu was cut in pieces and brought to life by Xbalanque. 
 Finally the monarchs of Xibalba wanted to experience perso- 
 nally the temporary death ; Hun Came the highest was first 
 killed, then Yukub Came, but life was not restored to them." 1 
 The twin sons of the unfortunate Xibalban virgin, an outcast 
 from her home, triumphed, their father and uncle were avenged, 
 the warlike Xibalbans the fierce, frightful-looking, owl-like, 
 
 1 Mr. Bancroft's rendering of the paragraph. Vol. v, p. 179. 
 
 15 
 
226 A WAR OF RELIGION. 
 
 faithless, hypocritical tyrants, black and white, and with painted 
 faces, as they are described were overthrown forever. The 
 ancestors of the victorious chieftains were then deified and given 
 places in the sun and moon ; while their allies, the enemies of 
 Xibalba, were made stars in the firmament. 
 
 To interpret fully this figurative account requires further 
 knowledge, which it is hoped ultimately may come to light. 
 The beheading of Hunahpu in the house of bats may signify the 
 loss of the most important division of his army ; for when the 
 " animals" came to his relief by which we understand the less 
 civilized tribes of the country he obtained a victory. The 
 closing paragraphs of the account indicate that a long and tire- 
 some warfare brought the brothers repeated victories, but not the 
 entire overthrow of Xibalba ; and that stratagem was resorted 
 to a stratagem no more improbable or difficult to understand 
 than that of the wooden horse said to have been used by the 
 Greeks at Troy. The stratagem was at last successful, and 
 Xibalba, of the Votanites we suppose the empire of the Chanes 
 fell. The war seems to have been one of religion in part, for 
 Hurakan, " Heart of Heaven," inspired the contest, and Gucu- 
 matz, " the Plumed Serpent," one of his associate though minor 
 deities, was the god of Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The wicked 
 Xibalbans were puffed up against the Heart of Heaven, would 
 not accept the true faith, and hence their overthrow before the 
 advancing power of a new religion. 1 It is certain that the con- 
 querors of Xibalba (which was no doubt Palenque) were near 
 neighbors, who had been closely allied to the great power. Ban- 
 croft is of the opinion that they were the Tzequiles, who arrived 
 during Votan's absence and introduced new ideas of government 
 and religion among his people. 2 Garcia Pelaez, in his Memorias, 
 agrees with Juarros in calling them Carthaginians, and states 
 that they arrived in that region about four hundred years before 
 Christ, founded Tulan, the present Ococingo, and overthrew 
 ancient Culhuacan or Palenque. 3 Brasseur de Bourbourg says 
 
 1 See Bancroft, vol. v, p. 184 2 Ibid, vol. v, p. 187. 
 
 3 Memorias para la Historia del Antigua Reyno de Guatemala. Guatemala, 
 1857. 
 
THE ENEMIES OF XIBALBA. 227 
 
 that the Nahuas, coming into Mexico by sea at the south 
 [i. e. 3 in the south central region] slowly moved toward the 
 north, to the regions bordering on California, and also spreading 
 their civilization across the Usumacinta Kiver, went into Yucatan 
 and even Guatemala. This he thinks occurred in the year 174 
 of our era ; Xibalba was at the height of her power, but was 
 overthrown in the revolution and conquest. 1 While we do not 
 attach much certainty to the Abbe's date, still we think that 
 the fall of Xibalba was due to Nahua influences brought to bear 
 upon the ancestors of the Quiches. The old religion and civil- 
 ization of the Votanites were compelled to yield to the vigorous 
 and warlike power which brought with it a religion which has 
 ever commended itself to the senses and impulses of semi- 
 civilized peoples. The worship of the sun-symbol of the Heart 
 of Heaven was destined to supplant all other faiths. 
 
 It will be remembered that Quetzalcoatl was the leader and 
 deity of the Nahuas, and that in their language his name signi- 
 fied " plumed serpent," while Gucumatz, leader and patron deity 
 of the Xibalban conquerers has precisely the same significance 
 in the Quiche language: Utatlan upon the Guatemalian high- 
 lands was doubtless the point from which the allied forces under 
 the brothers descended the precipitous road to the Usumacinta 
 region below. It is probable that the Nahuas had lived for some 
 time in the country, had reached it in their migrations by water 
 along the Gulf coast, and spread their population to quarters 
 
 1 Nations Civilisees, torn, i, p. 126. Also see the following from the Popol 
 Vuh, p. clx : " Quant aux evenements dont Tulan fut la theatre a cette epoque, 
 on ne saurait se dissimular, en comparant 1'ensemble des details qu'on trouve 
 dans ce chaos, qu'il ne se fut opere alors nn vaste mouvement parmi les popu- 
 lations de 1'empire de Xibalba, mouvement cause sans doute par les efforts d'une 
 caste souveraine pour garder le pouvoir et par 1'invasion de races nouvelles, 
 sorties des memes con trees, septentrionales, d'ou etaient venus les Nahuas, ou 
 des regions plus sauvages du nord-ouest ; barbares ou civilisees, il y eut 
 naturellement de leurs essaims qui s'amalgamerent aux nations soumises a 
 1'empire, tandis que d'autres, continuant leur route vers I'Amerique meridionale, 
 y porterent, sinon les institutions entieres des Quinames et des Nahuas, au 
 moins les symboles qui les avaient le plus frappes au passage ou qui convenaient 
 davantage a leur genie." 
 
228 XIBALBA AND PALENQUE THE SAME. 
 
 both north and south of the point at which they entered. They 
 may have been permitted to settle in the country without moles- 
 tation, and in time to have united their forces with the rivals of 
 Xibalba for the overthrow of a power which was the dread of the 
 entire Central American region. The crumbling though wonder- 
 ful ruins of Palenque are the sole vestiges which are left to us of a 
 grand capital and noble empire, and these offer us nothing but the 
 sealed histories which are graven in hieroglyphics upon its walls. 
 Subsequently the Maya-Quiche nations divided and extended 
 their language in three directions ; one division journeyed toward 
 Guatemala, another toward Mexico, and another into Yucatan ; 
 the latter region has ever remained a peculiarly Maya country. 
 Las Casas states that some of the Guatemalans had a legend 
 of their origin, to the effect that a divine pair of beings had 
 thirteen sons (but by comparison with other authors, namely, 
 Roman in Garcia, and Bancroft, vol. iii, pp. 74-5, it is clear that 
 the writer designed to write three tres instead of thirteen 
 trece), or rather three sons. The eldest was puffed up in his 
 own conceit, and attempted to create man against the will of his 
 parents, but failed, except that he was able to produce vessels 
 of the meaner sort. The younger sons, who exhibited quite a 
 different spirit, were granted the privilege, and after creating 
 the sun and moon and stars, created the first man and woman, 
 the progenitors of the human race. 1 Las Casas adds, " They 
 
 1 " De la creacion, pues, tenien esta opinion. Decien que antes de ella ni habia 
 cielo ni tierra ni sol, ni luna ni estrellas. Ponian que liubo un marido y una 
 muger divinos que lamaron Aeliel Atcamma. Estos habian tenido padre y 
 madre los cuales engendaron trece liijos, y que el mayor con algunos con el se 
 ensoberbecieron y guiso liacer criaturas contra la voluntad del padre y madre ; 
 pero no pudieron por que lo que liicieron fueron unos vasos viles de servicio como 
 jarros y ollas y semejantes Los hijos menores que se llamaban Huncheven 
 hunahan, pidieron licencia a su padre y madre para liacer creaturas, y con- 
 cedreronsela, diciendoles que salarian con ello por que se habian humillado. 
 E asi lo primero liicieron los Cielos y Planetas, luego Ayre, Agua y Tierra. 
 Despues dicen que de la tierra formaron al hombre y a la muger. Los otros que 
 fueron soberbios presumiendo liacer criaturas contra la voluntad de los padres 
 fueron en la inferno lanzados." Las Casas, Historia Apologetica, MS., cap. 235. 
 p. 324; see also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii, p. 53-4; Help's 
 
MAYAS OF YUCATAN. 229 
 
 have among them knowledge of the flood and of the end of the 
 world. They call it ( butic/ a name which signifies a flood of 
 many waters. They also believe that another ' butic ' and judg- 
 ment will come, not of water but of fire. They hold that 
 certain persons who escaped from the flood populated their 
 land ; these were called the Great Father and Great Mother/' 1 
 In Yucatan the origin traditions point directly to an eastern and 
 foreign source for the population. The early writers report that 
 the natives believed their ancestors to have crossed the sea by a 
 passage which was opened for them. 2 It was also believed that 
 part of the population came into the country from the West. 
 Lizana says that the smaller portion of the population, the 
 " little descent/' came from the East, while the greater portion, 
 " the great descent," came from the West. 3 Cogolludo disagrees 
 with this view and considers the eastern colony as the largest ; 
 a view which is not likely to be true. The author himself is 
 not quite certain as to what he thinks upon the subject, and con- 
 tradicts himself squarely on the same page, as to the direction 
 from which Zamna, the Yucatanic culture-hero, is said to have 
 come. 4 Senor Orozco y Berra, thinks that the Yucatanic popu- 
 lation came from the northeast (from Florida), by way of Cuba 
 and the islands adjacent. 5 The culture-hero, Zamna, the author 
 of all civilization in Yucatan, is described as the teacher of 
 letters and the leader of the people from their ancient home, 
 His relation to the people and his office of priest and deity com- 
 bined the fact that he was the leader of a colony from the East, 
 that he named all the divisions of the land, all the towns, coasts, 
 bays and rivers identifies him with Yotan or rather with one 
 of his disciples or associates. Cogolludo's statement, first that 
 
 Conquest, vol. ii, p. 140 ; Garcia, Origen de los Indios, p. 519, Valencia ed., 1607, 
 and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civil., torn, ii, pp. 74-5. 
 
 1 Historia Apologetica, MS., cap. 235, p. 327. 
 
 - Landa's Relation, p. 28, and Herrera, Dec. iv, lib. x, cap. ii. 
 
 " Y antiguamente dezian al oriente cen-ial, pequena-baxada, y al puniente 
 nolien-ial, la grande-baxada." Lizana's Devocionario, p. 354, in Landa's Relation. 
 
 4 Cogolludo's Historia de Yucatan, lib. iv. cap. iii, p. 178. 
 
 5 Geografia de las Linguas, p. 128. 
 
230 CULTURE-HEROES-ZAMNA AND CUKULCAN. 
 
 he came from the West ; may be true of the direction from which 
 he came into Yucatan ; and the statement that he came from 
 the East, may refer to the original migration by which he in 
 company with Votan reached Chiapas and from thence entered 
 the peninsula on the north-east. He was the founder of the 
 capital city of Mayapan, and after a long life died and was buried 
 at Izamal. 1 This became a shrine for pilgrims and was visited 
 for centuries afterwards by religious devotees in large numbers. 
 Zamna is supposed to have founded the oldest royal house in 
 Yucatan that of the Cocomes. 2 The second culture-hero, of 
 whom mention is made by all the early writers, was Cukulcan 
 (meaning plumed serpent, precisely the same as Quetzalcoatl), 
 who entered the country from the West and settled at Chichen- 
 Itza. 3 Landa is not certain whether he preceded or followed the 
 Itzas. His celibacy, general purity of morals, and the ad- 
 vanced character of his teachings, seem to identify him with the 
 Nahua culture-hero, Quetzalcoatl, and it is believed, with reason, 
 that he appeared in Yucatan after his mysterious disappearance 
 in the province of G-oazacoalco. For some unknown reason, 
 Cukulcan left Chichen-Itza after a residence there of ten years. 
 Herrera states that he had two brothers who remained in 
 Chichen-Itza, while Cukulcan went to Mayapan. He describes 
 all as practising the purest asceticism. After the disappearance 
 of Cukulcan, temples were erected to his memory and he was 
 worshiped as a god. 4 The date of his residence in Yucatan is 
 a matter of considerable dispute, Cogolludo placing it in the 
 twelfth century, Herrera in the ninth, Brasseur de Bourbourg in 
 the eleventh, and Bancroft in the second. To fix dates on no 
 
 1 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 618. 
 
 2 Bancroft, vol. iii, p. 463 ; Lizana in Landa's Relation, p. 356 ; Cogolludo's 
 Hist, de Yuc., p. 197; Brasseur de Bourbourg's Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i, p. 76 } 
 torn, ii, pp. 10-13. 
 
 3 Landa, pp. 35-9, and 300-1. 
 
 4 See Brasseur de Bourbourg's Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii, p. 18 ; Torquemada's 
 Monarq. Ind., torn, ii, p. 52 ; Herrera's Hist. Gen. Dec., iv, lib. x, cap. ii ; Landa's 
 Relation, pp. 35-9, 300 et seg.; Echevarria y Veitia, MS., cap. 19, p. 116 et seq., 
 and Las Casas' Hist. Apologetica, MS., cap. cxxiii. 
 
CHRIST MYTH FROM LAS CASAS. 231 
 
 better data than such legends is folly. It is probable, however, 
 that Cukulcan was the culture-hero Quetzalcoatl, who was the 
 teacher of the Nahua nations and figured as the introducer of 
 the fine arts, of purity of morals, of confessional ceremonies 
 and a humane and enlightened system of religion at Cholula, 
 and afterwards disappeared toward the East upon the waters 
 of the Gulf. With the rule of the Cocomes and the annals 
 of that remarkable branch of the Chiapan family, composed of 
 Maya and Nahua elements known as the Tutul Xius, we have 
 nothing to do in this work. 1 Las Casas, in examining the doc- 
 trine of Hunab Ku, "the only God" among the Yucatecoes, 
 who is described as the father of Zamna, discovered a most 
 striking Christ myth ; one which conforms so closely to the 
 gospel account of Christ's birth and ministry that we must con- 
 clude that either some foreigner must have been cast upon the 
 coast after the Christian era began, bringing the gospel with him, 
 or that one of two views is true, namely, that the Fathers fabri- 
 cated the story, or that the natives, expecting favor of their 
 conquerors, endeavored to harmonize their belief with that 
 which was being taught them. Las Casas tells us of their belief 
 in a Trinity consisting of Izona, the Father ; Bacab, the Son, 
 and Echuah, the Holy Ghost. 2 The Son was born of the Vir- 
 gin Chibirias, and was rejected of men, was scourged and cruci- 
 fied on a tree with cross-arms ; he descended into the regions 
 of the dead, but rose again on the third day, and finally ascended 
 to heaven. In fact the story is the Apostles' Creed without the 
 " Credo," and is probably as much the work of the credulous 
 and imaginative Spanish Fathers as of the designing natives. 
 The story ought to be repudiated without question. It only 
 remains for us to submit the question to the reader, whether the 
 Maya peoples are not of transatlantic origin, as we believe the 
 facts in this chapter indicate. 
 
 1 See for those annals the Perez document in Stephen's Yucatan, vol. ii, 
 pp. 465-9 ; Brasseur de Bourbourg in Landa, pp. 120-9, and Bancroft, vol. ii, 
 pp. 762-5, and vol. v, p. 624 et seq. 
 
 2 Las CasaP, Hist. Apolofletica, MS., cap. cxxiii, p. 10, Cogolludo's Hist. 
 Yuc., p. 190 ; Torquemada's Monarq. Ind., torn, iii, p. 133. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE NAHUA 
 NATIONS. 
 
 The Early Inhabitants of Mexico Quinames Miztecs and Zapotecs Totonacs 
 and Huastecs Olmecs and Xicalancas The Nahuas The Cholula Pyra- 
 midIts Origin Explained in the Duran MS. No Relation to a Flood 
 Ixtlilxochitl's Deluge Tradition The first Toltecs The Codex Chimal- 
 popoca Account The Discovery of Maize Sahagun's Origin of the Nahuas 
 They came from Florida Their Settlement in Tamoanchan Their 
 Migrations Hue Hue Tlapalan Its Location, according to the Sources 
 Not Identical with Tlapallan de Cortes Not in Central America Probably 
 in the Mississippi Valley Beginning of the Toltec Annals The Chichimecs 
 not Nahuas The Nahuatlacas The Aztecs Aztlan As Described by 
 Early Writers Aztec Migration Aztec Maps Senor Ramirez on Migra- 
 tion Maps The Seven Caves Three Claims for the Location of Aztlan 
 The Culture Hero Quetzalcoatl. 
 
 IN considering the origin of the Nahua nations, especially of 
 the Toltecs and Aztecs, it is common to look upon the former 
 as the first inhabitants of Mexico. Such a conclusion is, how- 
 ever, erroneous, since the Toltecs were preceded in Central- 
 Southern Mexico, and even in Anahuac, both by people of dif- 
 ferent extraction from themselves and by scattering tribes of 
 their own linguistic family, the Nahua. Of the former class, the 
 most conspicuous are the so-called Quinametin (or Quinames), 
 otherwise known as giants. These fierce and powerful people 
 were encountered by the Olmecs, the first Nahuas to colonize 
 the region north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. All the early 
 writers refer to them in terms which indicate that they were 
 disposed to accept the existence of a race of giants as a fact. 
 Veytia and Clavigero, however, are convinced that the report is 
 not to be accepted literally. The widest possible difference of 
 opinion as to their origin and relationship to existing tribes pre- 
 
MIZTECS AND ZAPOTECS. 233 
 
 vails with diifereDt authors. All agree ; however, that they 
 were the first inhabitants of the country. These cruel monsters, 
 addicted to the most disgusting vices, the terror of the immi- 
 grating peoples, at last met their fate, according to Ixtlilxochitl, 
 in a great convulsion of nature which shook the earth and caused 
 the mountains and volcanoes to swallow up and kill them. 1 It 
 is prohable that this account was figurative. Duran says they 
 were destroyed by the Tlascaltecs while eating. 3 Veytia attrib- 
 utes the destruction to the Olmec chiefs, who made a feast for 
 their enemies and when they were stupid and drunken fell upon 
 them and slew them. We think that in this allusion to the 
 giants, " the first inhabitants of the land," we see the Votanic 
 colonists from Xibalba that are supposed to have penetrated 
 Anahuac at an early day. They may not have carried any 
 special degree of refinement with them from their old home, and 
 if they did, they probably lapsed into a state of semi-barbarism. 
 Their power as a people, their enmity to the immigrants, and 
 their traditional connection with the hated and all-powerful 
 Xibalba, may have won for them the name of giants because of 
 the fear that was entertained of them ; or, as Mr. Bancroft 
 thinks, they may not have been savages at all, but a civilized 
 branch of the Xibalbans, carrying on the warfare in the North 
 which had been waged farther South. 3 It is quite probable that 
 we have here a figurative allusion, from a Nahua standpoint, to 
 the fall of the Xibalban power itself the new-world Babylon, 
 which, like the old, may have met its fate during a drunken 
 revel. 4 
 
 1 Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. ix, 
 p. 322. 
 
 2 Historia Antigua, MS., torn, i, cap. ii. 
 
 3 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 199. 
 
 4 Ixtlilxochitl fixes the date of the destruction in the year 229 A. D., Veytia 
 in 107. See further on the Quinames, Echevarria y Veitia, Historia del Origen 
 de Gentes, MS., torn, i, p. 33, and Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., vol. viii, cap. iii, 
 p. 179. Mendieta's Hist. Eccl., p. 96, Mexico, 1870. Pineda in Soc. Mex. Geog. 
 Boletin, torn, iii, p. 346. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol. Vuh, pp. Ixviii, and 
 Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i, p. 66. Oviedo's Hixt. Gen., torn, iii, p. 539. Clavigero, 
 Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, i, p. 125. Boturini, Idea de Una Nueva Historia, 
 
234 OLMECS AND XICALANCAS. 
 
 To the tribes which figured conspicuously in Mexico prior 
 to the Toltecs and not related to the Nahuas, we may add the 
 Miztecs and Zapotecs, whose language, though not Maya ; is in 
 some respects similar to it, while the architectural remains and 
 traditional origin of this people associates them with the Nahuas. 
 Their civilization in Oajaca rivalled that of the Aztecs in its 
 degree of advancement. 1 The Totonacs were formerly, according 
 to Torquemada, of Nahua extraction ; but the authority in the 
 face of linguistic difficulties is doubtful. 2 According to Torque- 
 mada' s claim, they were the builders of the temple of the sun 
 and moon at Teotihuacan near Lake Tezcuco. 3 The Huastecs 
 of northern Vera Cruz were a Maya branch of the power at the 
 south ; they mark the most northern point reached by the Maya 
 tongue. Of the Nahua predecessors of the Toltecs in Mexico 
 the Olmecs and Xicalancas were the most important. They were 
 the forerunners of the great nations which followed. According 
 to Ixtlilxochitl, these people which are conceded to be one 
 occupied the new world in the third age ; they came from the 
 East in ships or barks to the land of Potonchan, which they com- 
 menced to populate, and on the shores of the Eiver Atoyac, 
 between the Ciudad de los Angeles and Cholula, they found 
 some giants who had escaped the calamity which overtook that 
 race in the second age of the world. 4 Here then comes the 
 destruction of the giants referred to above. The first settlement 
 of the Olmecs and Xicalancas in Mexico is supposed to have 
 been on the site of the ancient city of Xicalanco at the point 
 which still bears the name, at the entrance of the Laguna de 
 Terminos, while a second city, built probably a little later, was 
 
 pp. 130-5. Huraboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, p. 205, and Orozco j Berra, 
 Geografia de las Lenguas, pp. 119-24. 
 
 1 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., lib. iii, cap. vii. Bancroft, vol. v., p. 206. 
 Orozco j Berra, Geografia, pp. 120, 125, 133. Brasseur de Bourbourg's Hist. 
 Nat. Civ., torn, i, p. 154. 
 
 2 Orozco y Berra, Geografia, p. 127. Pimentel, Lenguas Indigenas de 
 Mexico, torn, i, p. 223. Bancroft's Native Paces, vol. v, p. 204. 
 
 3 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i, p. 278. Brasseur de Bourbourg's Hist. 
 Nat. Civ., torn, i, pp. 151-61. 
 
 4 Eistoria CJiichimeca, cap. i, in Kingsborough's Hex. Ant., vol. ix, p. 205. 
 
CHOLULA THE MEXICAN BABEL. 235 
 
 situated on the coast a short distance below Vera Cruz ; the 
 entire region bore the name of Anahuac Xicalanco, 1 The first 
 great exploit of the Olmec chiefs, the destruction of the giants, 
 we observe was performed at some distance from their earliest 
 settlement. The state of Puebla became their chosen ground, 
 and quite soon after the above achievement they undertook the 
 building of the famous tower of Cholula, which is so closely 
 allied in its traditional history with the Tower of Babel. Several 
 authors state that the erection of the pyramid of Cholula was 
 done in memory of the erection of the tower of Babel, at which 
 it is claimed the ancestors of the Olmec chiefs were present. 
 Boturini is probably one of the most sanguine advocates of this 
 view. 2 Others consider that the knowledge which the ancestors 
 of this people transmitted to them with reference to Babel, in 
 time became associated with the Cholula edifice and confounded 
 with its history. 
 
 The Toltecs possessed a deluge tradition, which we will 
 notice hereafter, which unquestionably had reference to a very 
 general and devastating flood ; perhaps the scriptural one, but 
 it is clear, as we think we have the authority to show, that 
 the Cholula pyramid and its origin had no relation to that tradi- 
 tion, though so often confounded with it and the tower referred 
 to by the Nahua chroniclers. The generally accepted origin of 
 the pyramid is as follows : from the great cataclysm which 
 destroyed the giants, seven of that race of monsters escaped by 
 shutting themselves up in a mountain cavern. After the waters 
 subsided, Xelhua, one of their number, went to Cholula and 
 began the construction of this pyramid "to escape a second 
 flood, should another occur/' according to Kingsborough, or as 
 a " memorial of the mountain called Tlaloc which had sheltered 
 
 1 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 196, and vol. ii, p. 112. Torquemada, 
 Monarq. Ind., torn, i, p. 32. Mendieta's Hist. Eccl., p. 146. 
 
 2 " Celebraron assimismo los Indios su diclio origen en antiguos cantares, y 
 tuvieron tan viva la memoria de la torre de Babel, que la quisieron imitar en 
 America con varies monstruosos edificias." He then cites the Pyramid of 
 Cholula as having been built in commemoration of the Tower of Babel. See 
 Boturini, Idea de Una Nueva Historia, p. 113. 
 
236 CHOLULA LEGEND FROM DURAN'S MS. 
 
 him," according to Pedro de los Kios. The bricks which were 
 manufactured at the foot of the Sierra de Cocotl were transported 
 to Cholula by being passed through the hands of a file of men 
 extending between the two localities. But the angered gods 
 seeing the presumption of mortals, smote both the tower and its 
 architects with thunderbolts and stopped their work. 1 Lord 
 Kingsborough so intimately connects the erection of the tower 
 with the Toltec deluge legend as to derive Xelhua, the builder 
 of the tower, from the Toltecs rather than from the race of giants, 
 by claiming that he escaped from the deluge with Paticatle the 
 Mexican Noah in an ark, and adds that when the tower was 
 destroyed and the tongues of the builders confounded, Xelhua 
 led a colony to the new world. This last will serve as a speci- 
 men of how the Cholula legend has been misunderstood and 
 confounded with the tower of Babel. Father Duran in his MS., 2 
 Historia Antigua de la Nueva H/qpafta, 1585 A. D., quotes from 
 the lips of a native of Cholula, over an hundred years old, a 
 version of the legend which assigns quite a different object for 
 building the Pyramid, one which shows that it never was erected 
 as a memorial of Babel nor ever had any reference to an escape 
 from any flood either past or in anticipation. It is as follows : 
 "In the beginning before the light of the sun had been created, 
 this land was in obscurity and darkness and void of any created 
 thing ; all was a plain without hill or elevation, encircled in 
 every part by water without tree or created thing ; and imme- 
 diately after the light and the sun arose in the east, there 
 appeared gigantic men of deformed stature, and possessed the 
 land, who desiring to see the nativity of the sun as well as his 
 Occident, proposed to go and seek them. Dividing themselves 
 into two parties, some journeyed toward the West and others 
 toward the East ; these travelled until the sea cut off their road, 
 whereupon they determined to return to the place from which 
 
 1 Boturini's Idea, p. Ill et seq. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, i, 
 pp. 129-31, et torn, ii, p. 6. Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., especially voL vi, p. 401, 
 and Spiegazione delle Tawle del Codice Mexicano, tav. vii, in Mex. Ant., vol. v, 
 pp. 164-5, and Bancroft's Native Eaces, vol. iii, p. 67 ; vol. v, p. 200 et seq. 
 
 2 A portion of the work lias been printed at Mexico. 
 
CHOLULA NOT CONNECTED WITH A FLOOD. 237 
 
 they started, and arriving at this place (Cholula), not finding the 
 means of reaching the sun, enamored of his light and beauty, 
 they determined to build a tower so high that its summit should 
 reach the sky. Having collected material for the purpose, they 
 found a very adhesive clay and bitumen, with which they speedily 
 commenced to build the tower, and having reared it to the 
 greatest possible altitude, so that they say it reached to the sky, 
 the Lord of the Heavens, enraged, said to the inhabitants of the 
 sky, ' Have you observed how they of the earth have built a high 
 and haughty tower to mount hither, being enamored of the 
 light of the sun and his beauty ? Come ! and confound them; 
 because it is not right that they of the earth, living in the flesh, 
 should mingle with us/ Immediately at that very instant the 
 inhabitants of the sky sallied forth like flashes of lightning ; 
 they destroyed the edifice and divided and scattered its builders 
 to all parts of the earth." l This account, the most ancient on 
 record, makes no reference to a flood, and is quite distinct from 
 the Mexican deluge tradition. Its value as an interpreter of 
 the tendency of the American tribes not only of the United 
 States and Mexico, but of both Americas, to erect mounds and 
 truncated pyramids is not inconsiderable, since it confirms the 
 opinion long entertained that they were connected with sun- 
 worship. The great culture-hero, Quetzalccatl, the white saintly 
 personage from the East, said to have been the leader of the 
 Nahuas, appeared during the Olmec rule, and to his honor the 
 Cholulans erected a temple upon the pyramid which their coun- 
 trymen or predecessors had failed to complete. 2 Quetzalcoatl 
 was, however, no tribal hero, but was so intimately identified with 
 the institutions and civilization of the entire Nahua race that we 
 purposely defer a consideration of his character at present in order 
 that we may hasten to the traditional origin of the Toltecs. 
 
 1 Historia Antigua de la Nueva Espana, MS., torn, i, cap. i, pp. 6-7. 
 
 2 Alcedo . (Diccionario Oeografico Historico, torn, iii, p. 374) says that the 
 Olmecs subsequently migrated southward and settled Guatemala. While this 
 statement may be true in part, still it is not probable that any general migration 
 took place, and Guatemala was certainly populated long before the Olmec power 
 existed. 
 
238 THE SEVEN ORIGINAL TOLTEC CHIEFS. 
 
 It is not our purpose to go back to the several traditions of 
 the creation of man, preserved in as many localities in Mexico, 
 each with its own variations, but simply to take up tradition 
 where it first relates to the Toltec families. We are fully aware 
 of the wide range of opinion with reference to what properly 
 constitutes this tradition, and of the irreconcilable variations in 
 dates and numeric details among the several Spanish writers. 
 Probably all will agree that the native writer Ixtlilxochitl, who 
 inherited the rich collection of royal archives and hieroglyphic 
 paintings belonging to his ancestors (and which fortunately 
 escaped the wholesale vandalism of the conquerors), though both 
 contradictory and negligent, has furnished us the most reliable 
 narrative which has yet been brought to light. Without at- 
 tempting to correct or unravel his chronology, we simply trans- 
 late his account of the origin of the Toltecs. Speaking of the 
 first age of the world, the pre-diluvial period, he says : " It is 
 found in the histories of the Toltecs that this age and first world 
 as they call it, lasted 1716 years ; that men were destroyed by 
 tremendous rains and lightning from the sky, and even all the 
 land without the exception of anything, and the highest moun- 
 tains, were covered up and submerged in water ' caxtolmoletlti/ 
 orffteeu cubits, and here they add other fables of how men came 
 to multiply from the few who escaped from this destruction in a 
 ' toptlipetlacali/ that this word nearly signifies a close chest ; and 
 how after men had multiplied they erected a very high zacuali/ 
 which is to say a tower of great height, in order to take refuge 
 in it, should the second world (age) be destroyed. Presently 
 their languages were confused ; and not able to understand each 
 other, they went to different parts of the earth. The Toltecs, 
 consisting of seven friends with their wives, who understood the 
 same language, came to these parts, having first passed great 
 land and seas, having lived in caves, and having endured great 
 hardships in order to reach this land, which they found good and 
 fertile for their habitation ; and relate that they wandered one 
 hundred and four years through different parts of the world 
 before they reached Hue hue Tlapalan, which was in Ce Tecpatl, 
 five hundred and twenty years after the flood. Seventeen hun- 
 
SCRIPTURAL ANALOGIES. 239 
 
 dred and fifteen years after the flood, there was a terrible hurri- 
 cane that carried away trees, mounds, houses and the largest 
 edifices, notwithstanding which many men and women escaped 
 principally in caves and places where the great hurricane could 
 not reach them. A few days having passed, they set out to see 
 what had become of the earth, when they found- it all covered 
 and populated with monkeys. All this time they were in dark- 
 ness without seeing the light of the sun nor the moon that the 
 wind had brought them. The Indians invented a fable which 
 says that men were changed into monkeys. * * * One hun- 
 dred and fifty-eight years after the great hurricane and 4994 from 
 the creation of the world, there was another destruction of this 
 land, which was of the Quinametin, giants who lived in New 
 Spain, which destruction was a great trembling of the earth, 
 which swallowed up and killed them, the mountains and vol- 
 canoes burst upon them, that for a certainty none should escape. 
 At the same time many of the Toltecs perished and the Chichi- 
 mecs their neighbors. That was in the year Ce Tecpatl ; and 
 this age they call Tlachilonatnip, that is to say, sun [or age] of 
 earth/' 1 Here follows an account of the construction of the 
 calendar by the assembly of Lords in Hue hue Tlapalan in the 
 year 5097 of the creation of the world and 104 after the destruc- 
 tion of the giants. 
 
 The singular agreement of this account with the Mosaic 
 description, in some of its details, such as the height attained 
 by the waters above the mountains, the escape of certain per- 
 sons in an ark, and the erection of a high tower, together with 
 the subsequent confusion of tongues, Lord Kingsborough is con- 
 vinced furnishes proof that the Toltecs were of Jewish descent. 2 
 While we are not prepared to believe the sanguine speculations 
 of that eminent author in this case, still one of two views must 
 be true : either the Toltecs were of old world origin, and at a 
 remote period treasured up among their traditional histories 
 notices of the Mosaic deluge, traditions of which are so generally 
 
 1 Ixtlilxccliitl, Reladones, in Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., vol. ix, pp. 321-2. 
 
 2 Kingsbo rough's Mex. Ant., vol. viii, p. 25. 
 
240 IXTLILXOCHITL'S CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 current among the Asiatic nations, or the Mexican traditions of 
 local inundation were warped by the teachings of the Spanish 
 priests in a degree beyond any precedent in history or reasonable 
 expectation, and that within a comparatively few years after the 
 conquest. Our authority in this case is a native of Tezcuco, a 
 son of the queen ; and because of his acquaintance with both the 
 hieroglyphic writings and the Castilian, served as interpreter to 
 the viceroy. His Edacious were composed from the archives v of 
 his family and compared with the testimony of the oldest and 
 best informed natives. It does not seem to us that the sense of 
 historic integrity cultivated to so nice a point at Tezcuco, where 
 the censorial council, just prior to the advent of the conquerors, 
 punished with death any who should willfully pervert the truth, 
 could have so sadly degenerated that Ixtlilxochitl and the 
 venerable natives who were conscious of the representations con- 
 tained in his work, should proclaim a falsehood which would not 
 meet with contradiction. 1 We are aware that this author's 
 chronology is an inextricable maze of contradictions which can- 
 not be unravelled or reconstructed. The Toltec families, seven 
 in number, are, however, said to have reached Hue hue Tlapalan 
 five hundred and twenty years after the flood. The journey, 
 however, occupied only one hundred and four years of that time. 
 Their wanderings, attended with severe experiences, nakedness, 
 and hunger and cold, were over many lands, across expanses of 
 sea and through untold hardships. 2 
 
 The date of the migration to Hue hue Tlapalan cannot be 
 approximated from available data, but it is evident that Ixtlil- 
 xochitl fixes it at 520 years after the flood, or 2236 years after 
 the creation a period which must have antedated the Christian 
 era by a score of centuries or more, even if we accept his chro- 
 nology, which (on p. 322 of his Relations), implies that more than 
 five thousand years elapsed between the creation and the birth 
 
 1 See Prescott's Conq. Mexico, vol. i, p. 171, on the Censorial Council; also 
 Ixtlilxochitl, Clavigero and Veytia as cited by him. 
 
 2 Echevarria y Veitia, Hist. Gentes, MS., torn, i, p. 29, and Kingsborough, 
 vol. viii, p. 176. Panes, Fragmentos de Historia, MS., p. 3 (copy in Congres- 
 sional Library, Washington), as well as several other authorities. 
 
CODEX CHIMALPOPOCA ACCOUNT. 241 
 
 of Christ. The Codex Chimalpopoca, a Nahua record written 
 in Spanish letters, which occupies probably the same relation to 
 early Mexican history that the Popol Vuli does to the Maya 
 history, has been made known to us through the writings of 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg, but as yet it has not been published. 
 Ixtlilxochitl was the copyist of this document, and of course 
 used it in composing his Edacious . Mr. Bancroft has attempted 
 to collect from scattered passages, taken from the Codex Cltimal- 
 popoca and found in Brasseur's writings, a continuous narrative, 
 but with little success. " The division of the earth," by the 
 sun, " six times four hundred, plus one hundred, plus thirteen 
 years ago to-day, the twenty-second of May, 1558;" in other 
 words, in the year 955 B. c., is a date obtained which seems to 
 refer to the division of the land among the followers of Votan. 1 
 In the Popol Vuli, Gucumatz (whose name signifies plumed 
 serpent) is described as going in search of maize, while the Codex 
 Chimalpopoca describes Quetzalcoatl, whose name is identical in 
 meaning with that of Gucumatz, as entering upon the same 
 undertaking, though under somewhat different circumstances, 
 and states that when he had found it, he brought it to Tamoan- 
 chan. 2 We shall see hereafter that Sahagun locates Tamoanchan 
 in Tabasco, a fact of considerable value in studying the Toltec 
 migration. The reader will not, however, associate Quetzalcoatl 
 with the above date, since such is not the purport of the record. 
 The Chimalpopoca implies that Quetzalcoatl afterwards becom- 
 ing obnoxious to his companions forsook them, a statement noted 
 by Mr. Bancroft, though its full value does not seem to have 
 been observed by that author. 3 The account clearly refers to 
 the role of Quetzalcoatl among the Quiches, when he was known 
 as Gucumatz, and prior to his appearance among the Olmec 
 (Nahua) tribes. It indicates that the Codex Chimalpopoca 
 account of the discovery of maize is purely Quiche, and has no 
 reference to the Nahuas whatever. The search for maize by the 
 
 1 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, pp. 193-5. 
 
 2 Codex Chimalpopoca in Brasseur's Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i, pp. 53, 71. 
 
 3 Codex Chimal. in Brasseur's H'.st. Nat. Civ., torn, i, p. 117, and Bancroft's 
 Native Races, vol. v, p. 194. 
 
 16 
 
242 QUETZALCOATL'S DISCOVERY OF MAIZE. 
 
 plumed serpent, call him by either his Quiche or Nahua name 
 if you wish, was prior to the advent of that remarkable person- 
 age among the Nahuas. The reputed discovery we consider 
 nothing more than a figurative allusion to the introduction 
 of agriculture by this culture-hero, the knowledge of which he 
 afterwards communicated to the Nahuas at Tamoanchan. If 
 these inferences are true, the Codex Chimcdpopoca, so far as we 
 are acquainted with its contents, can render us no assistance 
 with reference to the question in hand. We will now return to 
 the beginning of the subject and cite additional authorities, 
 chief among them Sahagun. In the introduction to his His- 
 toria General, in speaking of the origin of this people, he 
 expresses the opinion that it is impossible to definitely deter- 
 mine more than that they report "that all the natives came 
 from seven caves, and that these seven caves are the seven ships 
 or galleys in which the first populators of the land came/' He 
 adds, " The first people came to populate this land from towards 
 Florida, and came coasting and disembarked at the port of 
 Panuco, which they called Panco, which signifies a place to 
 which they come who pass the water. This people came in 
 quest of the terrestrial paradise, and were known by the name 
 Tamoanchan, by which they mean, ' we seek our home/ They 
 settled around the highest mountains that they found. In com- 
 ing toward the midday to find the terrestrial paradise, they did 
 not err, because it is the opinion of the knowing that it is under 
 the equinoctial line/' 1 The above account is rendered more 
 definite in the following passage from his third volume: 2 
 "Countless years ago the first settlers arrived in these parts 
 of New Spain which is nearly another world coming with 
 ships by sea, approached a port at the North, and because they 
 disembarked there, it is called Panutla or Panaoia, place where 
 they arrive who come by the sea ; at present it is corruptly 
 called Pantlan. From that port they commenced to journey by 
 
 1 Sahagun, Historia General de las Cosas de Nue'oci Espana, p. xviii, torn, i, 
 Mexico, 1829. 
 
 Hist. Gen., torn, iii, lib. x, p. 139 et seq. A translation and summary of 
 facts is also given by Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 189 et seq. 
 
THE TOLTECS IN TAMOANCHAN. 243 
 
 the shores of the sea, ever beholding the snow-capped Sierras 
 and the volcanoes, until they came to the province of Guatemala, 
 being guided by their priest who carried with him their god, 
 with whom he always counseled concerning what he should do. 
 They settled down in Tamoanchan, where they were a long 
 time, and never ceased to have their wise men or prophets, 
 called Amoxoaqui, which signifies ' men learned in the ancient 
 paintings/ who, although they came at the same time, did not 
 remain with the rest in Tamoanchan, for leaving them there, 
 they re-embarked and took with them all the paintings of the 
 rites and mechanic arts which they had brought." The account 
 continues by stating that the priests informed their companions 
 before leaving them, that their God had made them masters 
 of the land, and that they should inhabit it and await his 
 return. The priests then departed towards the East with their 
 idol wrapped in blankets. Whereupon the people invented 
 judicial astrology and the art of interpreting dreams. They 
 there also constructed the calendar which was followed during 
 the time of the Toltecs, Mexicans, Tepanecs and Chichimecs. 
 The first migratory movement was to Teotihuacan, where they 
 erected two mountains in honor of the sun and moon. Here 
 they elected their rulers and buried their princes, erecting 
 mounds over their graves. This seems to have become their 
 holy city. The main power which had remained for a long 
 time in Tamoanchan was changed to Xumiltepec. From this 
 latter place they, however, at the instance of their priests, started 
 again on their migrations. First going to Teotihuacan in order 
 to choose their wise men. Notwithstanding the remarks of 
 Sahagun that the seven caves were the seven ships in which the 
 first settlers came to New Spain, he here affirms that in the 
 course of their migration they came to the valley of the seven 
 caves. How long they remained in this national centre we 
 have no means of knowing, but eventually their god told them 
 to retrace their steps, which they did, going to Tollancingo 
 (Tulancingo) and finally to Tulan (Tollan). Ixtlilxochitl, if he 
 can be relied upon (and if he is unreliable we might as well give 
 up the task of tracing the early history of this or any other 
 
244 THEIR MIGRATIONS HUE HUE TLAPALAN. 
 
 Mexican people) shows clearly that the ancestors of the Toltecs 
 were possessed of certain traditions which point to an Asiatic 
 origin ; that at a remote period they set out from that common 
 home of so many peoples, possessing the same traditions, in 
 search of a suitable country in which to live ; that after one 
 hundred and four years occupied in traversing broad lands and 
 seas, they arrived in a country called Hue hue Tlapalan. This 
 event, according to his chronology, must have occurred upwards 
 of twenty centuries before Christ. He tells us also that in Hue 
 hue Tlapalan, the Toltecs regulated their calendar. Sahagun 
 says that countless years ago the first inhabitants of the country 
 (Mexico) came by sea from the direction of Florida on the 
 North, and landing at Panuco, journeyed down the coast to 
 Guatemala (which is supposed to have embraced Chiapas and 
 perhaps Tabasco, though' such is only the conjecture of an ear- 
 nest advocate of the Southern location of Hue hue Tlapalan, i. e., 
 Mr. Bancroft) where they established a city called Tamoanchan 
 there the calendar was regulated or corrected. Whether this 
 was the same construction of the calendar referred to by Ixtlil- 
 xochitl as having taken place in Hue hue Tlapalan is ques- 
 tionable. If positive proof of the identity of these occurrences 
 could be produced, the identity of Tamoanchan and Hue hue 
 Tlapalan would be complete, and the disputed location of the 
 latter would be fixed in the Chiapan region or the country of the 
 Xibalbans. The fact that Quetzalcoatl brought maize to Ta- 
 moanchan seems to indicate a comparative proximity of that 
 country to the Southern region where that culture-hero figured 
 so conspicuously under the Quiche name of Gucumatz. If no 
 other testimony need be introduced the disputed locality might 
 be fixed as above indicated. However, the contradictory records 
 of Ixtlilxochitl, which we are now about to cite, unsettle this 
 conclusion. The Toltec migration from Hue hue Tlapalan is 
 briefly as follows : Three hundred and thirty-eight years after 
 Christ a revolt occurred among the Toltecs in Hue hue Tlapa- 
 lan, in which two rebel princes attempted to depose the legiti- 
 mate successor to the throne. These rebel chiefs, named 
 Chalcatzin and Tlacronihtzin respectively, were unsuccessful, and 
 
THE TOLTEC MIGRATION. 245 
 
 together with five other chiefs and their numerous allies and 
 people, were driven out of their city Tlachicatzin in Hue hue 
 TLipalan. After a journey of sixty leagues, they arrived at a 
 place which they called Tlapallanconco, or Little Tlapalan. 
 Their departure from their old home did not occur till they had 
 withstood a contest of eight years or, according to Veytia, 
 thirteen years duration. 1 At Tlapallanconco they lived three 
 years, at the end of which time there arose among them a great 
 astrologer, named Hueman or Huematzin, who counseled them 
 to forsake the land of their misfortunes and journey toward the 
 rising sun, where there was a happy land formerly occupied by 
 Quinames, but now depopulated. This advice seeming good 
 they set out on their journey at the end of the three years, or 
 eleven years after leaving Hue hue Tlapalan. After traveling 
 twelve days and accomplishing seventy leagues they arrived at 
 Hueyxalan, and remained there four years. From thence a 
 twenty days journey toward the East, or according to Veytia, 
 toward the West, and of one hundred leagues in length, brought 
 them to Xalisco, near the sea-shore. Here they remained eight 
 years. Twenty days journey and 100 leagues more brought 
 them to Chimalhuacan on the coast opposite certain islands, 
 where they resided five years. Eighteen days or 80 leagues 
 traversed toward the East, and they arrived at Toxpan, where 
 they dwelt five years more. Proceeding eastward twenty days 7 
 journey or 100 leagues, they came to Quiyahuitztlan Anahuac, 
 
 1 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 211, in a note lias summarized the dates 
 of departure from Hue hue Tlapalan, as given by different authors, with the 
 following result : Date of departure according to Veytia (torn, i, p. 208), 596 A.D. ; 
 Clavigero (torn, iv, p. 43), 544 A. D.; but in the 1st torn., p. 126, he gives 596, 
 agreeing with Veytia ; Muller (Reisen, torn, iii, p. 94 et seq., 439 A. D.; Brasseur 
 de Bourbourg (Popol Vuh, p. civ), last of the fourth century ; Cabrera (Teatro, 
 pp. 90-1), 181 B. c. The commonly accepted date is that of Clavigero 544 A. D. 
 "But after comparing these authors and considering the grounds upon which they 
 base their calculations, we are convinced that it is useless to attempt to arrive 
 at the true date, just as it is impossible to determine any date with certainty in 
 all the ancient American chronology. We will not go so far as Mr. Bancroft, 
 who says that " the departure from Hue hue Tlapalan seems to have taken 
 place in the fifth or sixth century." The claims for the fourth century, we 
 think, are just as good as for the others, if not better. 
 
246 THE TOLTEC MIGRATION. 
 
 situated on the coast. Here they were obliged to pass inlets of 
 the sea in boats. During a six years' sojourn at this point, they 
 suffered many hardships. An eighteen clays' journey or 80 
 leagues brought them to Zacatlan where they dwelt seven years. 
 From thence they journeyed eighty leagues to Totzapan and 
 dwelt there six years. They next journeyed to Tepetla, distant 
 twenty-eight days, or 140 leagues, where they dwelt seven years. 
 Eighteen days' journey or 80 leagues brought them to Mazatepec, 
 where they remained eight years, and a similar journey brought 
 them to Ziuhcohuatl where they tarried also eight years. Turn- 
 ing northward from this unknown point, they journeyed twenty 
 days or 100 leagues and halted at Yztachuexucha, where they 
 dwelt twenty-six years. At last, after a journey of eighteen days 
 or eighty leagues, they arrived at Tulancingo (Tulantzinco, 
 or Tollantzinco) a name already familiar to us. Here the 
 Toltecs emerge from what has been to us an unknown wilder- 
 ness without geographic guide-post or even a polar star by 
 which to reckon. Their itinerary, full of so many gaps and in- 
 consistencies, its frequent omission of the directions traversed, 
 with its starting-point so indefinitely located, is meaningless and 
 confusing, and so far as the reader is concerned, practically begins 
 nowhere and ends in nothing. At Tulancingo they remained 
 eighteen years, living in a house sufficiently large to accommo- 
 date them all. Their knowledge of architecture must have been 
 quite advanced to have enabled them to construct such an 
 edifice. The third year after their arrival at Tulancingo, marked 
 a Toltec age of 104 years from the time they left their home in 
 Hue hue Tlapalan. Finally, eighteen years having elapsed, 
 they transferred the capital to Tollan, afterwards the centre 
 of the Toltec empire. Tollan is stated to have been eastward 
 of Tulancingo (in all probability a mistake). 1 In this migration 
 
 1 On the migration see Ixtlilxochitl's Relations, in Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., 
 vol. ix, pp. 321-4 ; Brasseur de Bourbourg's Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i, p. 100, 136, 
 and Popol Vuh, p. civ, clix-xi : Veytia's Hist. Ant. Mej. Tom. 1st passim ; 
 Clavigero'a Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, i, p. 426 ; torn, iv, pp. 46, 51 ; Miiller's 
 Reisen in den Verinigten-Staaten, Canada und Mexico, Bd. iii, ss. 91-7, Leipzig, 
 1864 ; Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, pp. 192-223. 
 
CONFUSION OF THE DISCUSSION. 247 
 
 we have a distance of 1150 leagues traversed ; the first two 
 moves, aggregating 130 leagues, is in an unknown direction ; the 
 next advance is 100 leagues in an easterly direction, according 
 to one author, and westerly according to another ; however, it 
 is agreed that the point was on the sea-shore. The next move 
 of 100 leagues is still along the sea-shore, but the direction is 
 not stated. We then have two advances amounting to 180 
 leagues, in an easterly direction. The confusion is completed in 
 the following advances, aggregating 460 leagues in unknown 
 directions. Of the remaining 180 leagues, 100 were traveled in a 
 northern direction, while the remaining 80 leagues were taken 
 toward an unknown quarter. It is quite plain to any one, that 
 the distances traversed in the directions stated could not be 
 traced consistently with the geography of Mexico and Central 
 America, upon the assumption that Tanioanchan and Hue hue 
 Tlapalan are identical and situated in the Rio Usumacinta 
 region. The itinerary would carry the emigrants far out upon 
 the Gulf of Mexico. It is evident that a broader territory than 
 that of Southern Mexico and Central America is required for 
 the realization of such distances. The account of the migration 
 is no doubt faulty ; but even if we disregard the gaps, it pre- 
 sents insuperable difficulties when applied to the South-Mexican 
 region. It is manifest that Sahagun and Ixtlilxochitl refer to 
 different migrations. The former to the Olmecs, who came by 
 sea to Panuco and thence to Tabasco, from which they migrated 
 north to Teotihuacan. The latter narrates the wanderings of the 
 Toltecs who subsequently came into Mexico by land. If this dis- 
 tinction is borne in mind, much of the obscurity attending the 
 subject is cleared away. We are inclined to think that the ac- 
 counts of the two distinct migrations have become confused, and 
 the details of one substituted for the details of the other. Every 
 one familiar with the study of traditional histories is aware 
 of this danger, or even more, this tendency among semi-civilized 
 peoples. No better illustration of this fact can be presented 
 than the sad confusion which has been wrought by nearly every 
 writer who has attempted to describe the two distinct personages 
 in Mexican history, known by the name of Quetzalcoatl. Only 
 
248 INDEFINITENESS OF THE ACCOUNTS. 
 
 Sahagun of all the early writers has seemed to have any clear 
 conception of their individual and independent attributes. The 
 demi-god, and the Toltec king, and the achievements of each, 
 have been made to change places so often by Spanish writers, 
 that the result has, with each new treatment of the subject, 
 been confusion worse confounded. Sahagun's account of the 
 arrival of the Nahuas in ships, from the direction of Florida, 
 their landing in Panuco, their journey toward Guatemala, their 
 residence in Tamoanchan (probably somewhere in the Chiapan 
 region) and their subsequent migration northward to Teotihua- 
 can with its well-known pyramids, and finally their removal to 
 Tollan, north of the City of Mexico, by the way of Tolancingo, 
 is a straightforward account which finds support in the best 
 of evidence, both of a material and linguistic character. Sr. 
 Orozco y Berra has clearly shown by linguistic testimony that 
 the Nahua nations entered the country somewhere between the 
 nineteenth and twenty-first degrees of north latitude, on the 
 Gulf coast, migrated southward to a point seventeen and one- 
 half degrees north latitude, almost to the Chiapan region, and 
 then retracing their steps northward, almost to a point opposite 
 Vera Cruz, they crossed Mexico to the Pacific coast, along which 
 they extended their language northward nearly to the twenty- 
 seventh degree north latitude. 1 Sahagun says nothing of Hue 
 hue Tlapalan in his account of the migration from Tamoanchan 
 to Tollan or from Chiapas to Anahuac, for his account refers to 
 the Olm ecs, the first Nahuas to reach Mexico. 
 
 Mr. John H. Becker, of Berlin, in an able paper addressed to 
 the Congress de Americainistes at Luxembourg (Compte Rendu 
 de la Seconde Session, torn, i, pp. 325-50), after offering plau- 
 sible arguments for the identification of Tulan Zuiva of the 
 Quiches, Hue hue Tlapalan of the Toltecs, Amaquemecan of 
 the Chichimecs, and Oztotlan of the Aztecs, with the region 
 of the upper Kio Grande del Norte and Rio Colorado the 
 land of the ravines, of grottoes, and of cafions attempts to 
 
 1 See Geografia de las Lenguas de Mexico, the Cartel ethnografica affixed, and 
 the text, pp. 1-76. 
 
MR. BECKER ON THE MIGRATION. 249 
 
 trace the Toltec migration as given by Ixtlilxochitl. His in- 
 teresting solution of the difficult problem is as follows: "The 
 Toltecs driven out of Hue hue Tlapalan by civil wars (towards 
 the end of the fourth century of our era ?) move in a westerly 
 direction sixty leagues to Tlapalanconco (northern Sinaloa and 
 Sonora on the Rio Yaqui, where distinct traces of the Nahua 
 language exist ?) ; thence, after eleven years, they go to Huey- 
 xal;m, severity leagues distant (perhaps the northern part of 
 Durango, where the Tepehuana language shows strong Nahua 
 affinities) ; thence to Xalisco on the coast, one hundred leagues 
 distant ; thence to Chimalhuacan Atenco on the coast opposite 
 some islands, one hundred leagues (opposite the islands in the 
 southern end of the Gulf of California) ? In that case they did 
 undoubtedly suffer a reverse in Xalisco (where they touched 
 upon the more thickly populated and civilized country, and by 
 which they were forced to retire) ; thence eastward eighty 
 leagues to Toxpan (in the neighborhood of the Laguna de 
 Tlahuila and on the upper Sabina River). In that country 
 there is even now a tribe of Tochos, and the Tarahumara lan- 
 guage there spoken, shows distinct affinities to the Nahua 
 tongue ; thence eastward one hundred leagues to Quahuitzlan 
 Anahuac, on the coast with inlets the coast-land of the state 
 of Tamaulipas, on the Gulf of Mexico ? About this locality 
 there can scarcely be a doubt, since this eastern coast country 
 and the eastern plateau bore the general name Quetzalapan or 
 Huitzilapan, until the Nahuas took possession of them, when 
 the plateau was designated as Huitznahuac, and the name above 
 given would be the natural one to apply to the coast, since while 
 naliuac (an) means simply the Nahualand, Anahuac (an) means 
 the ' Nahua land on the water/ while Quahuitzlan is the old 
 name retained in order to distinguish this Anahuac on the Gulf 
 coast from the Anahuac around the Mexican lakes. Here they 
 'suffered great hardships/ and finally went westward eighty 
 leagues to Zacatlan (the northern part of the State of Zacatecas?); 
 from there eighty leagues to Totzapan, probably again in the 
 neighborhood of Toxpan before mentioned (where the Tusanes 
 are located even to-day) ; thence one hundred and forty leagues to 
 
250 MR. BECKER OX THE MIGRATION. 
 
 Tepetla (the extraordinary distance shows that at last they gained 
 a decisive victory, and broke through the frontier of the more 
 civilized country which they had hitherto felt). Tepetla, moun- 
 tainland, must consequently be sought in the neighborhood of the 
 high mountains of Anahuac ; thence eighty leagues to Mazatepec 
 (the mountain of the Mazahuas, skirting the valley of Mexico 
 towards north and west) ; thence eighty leagues to Ziuhcohuatl, 
 where they probably suffered another defeat, for they move full 
 one hundred leagues northward to Yztachuechucha, and stop 
 there twenty-three years, a sufficient time to raise another gen- 
 eration of warriors ; thence eighty leagues to Tollantzingo, and 
 then finally to ' Tollan/ the capital of their future empire, which 
 if Ixtlilxochitl's dates can be trusted, they built about 500 p. c., 
 oa the site of a former city of the Otomis." This ingenious and 
 thoughtful review of the route commends itself to all who are 
 interested in this subject. Mr. Becker considers that one great 
 argument for the correctness of the starting-point which he has 
 chosen is "the fact that even the distances as given by Ixtlilxo- 
 chitl agree with the actual situation of the various localities here 
 indicated." Ixtlilxochitl, obscure as he is, gives in another part of 
 his work an additional account, besides the one we have already 
 quoted, which greatly strengthens our conviction that the Toltecs 
 came into Mexico from the north, and confirms the investigations 
 of both Mr. Becker and of Sr. Orozco. The account is as follows : 
 " In this fourth age there came to this land of Anahuac, which 
 is at present called New Spain, those of the Toltec nations who, 
 according to the accounts of their histories, were expelled from 
 their land, and after having navigated and coasted on the South 
 Sea along various lands as far as the present California, they came 
 to what is called Huitlapalan, that which at present they call 
 after Cortes. This locality they passed in fhe year called Ce 
 Tecpatl, which was in the year 387 of the incarnation of our 
 Lord. Having coasted the land of Xalisco, and all the coast of 
 the south, they set out from the port of Huatulco, and went 
 through various lands as far as the province of Tochtepec, 
 situated on the coast of the North Sea, and having traversed 
 and viewed it they came to stop in the province of Tulantzinco, 
 
HUE HUE TLAPALAN AND TLAP ALLAN DE CORTES. 251 
 
 having left some people in most of their stopping-places in order 
 to populate them/' 1 
 
 It will be observed that in this migration part of the same 
 general route above referred to, along the Pacific coast nearly 
 opposite the extremity of the California peninsula, and then 
 returning southward and inland, is clearly marked out. The 
 Pacific ocean, called the South Sea, seems to have facilitated 
 their movements northward. Xalisco was coasted, and the 
 entire width of Mexico traversed, the Gulf of Mexico reached 
 (Sea of the North), and finally Tolancingo chosen as a suitable 
 home. It will ba observed that the Huitlapalan named above 
 is not identical with Hue hue Tlapalan, the earliest home of 
 the nations. Mr. Bancroft has apparently confounded the two 
 names, and endeavors to find in the Tlapallan de Cortes (so 
 named because of Cortes 7 expedition to a Tlapallan) the ancient 
 Hue hue Tlapalan. 2 The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg attempts 
 precisely the same thing. The investigations of both these 
 writers on this point are interesting, though without any result, 
 unless unintentionally to strengthen the above distinction be- 
 tween Huitlapalan and Hue hue Tlapalan. Substantially the 
 facts are as follows : Pedro de Alvarado, writing from Santiago 
 or old Guatemala to Cortes in 1524, refers to Tlapallan as fifteen 
 days march inland, and Mr. Bancroft thinks that the name must 
 have been applied to a region corresponding to either Honduras, 
 Peten or Tabasco. Cortes' name was affixed to a Tlapallan said 
 to lie towards Ihueras or Ibueras, the former name of Honduras, 
 because of his expedition to that country. The Abbe says the 
 name was applied to a region between the tributaries of the Bio 
 Usumacinta and Honduras. Finally, the fact that the second 
 Quetzalcoatl, when he embarked on the Gulf coast near the 
 Goazacoalco Kivcr, announced his intention of going to Tlapallan, 
 is cited as proof that the name was applied to a southern locality. 3 
 
 1 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, cap. ii. Kingsborough, Mex. Ant., vol. ix, 
 p. 206. On page 450 see also another and different account. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. v, p. 214. 
 
 3 See Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, pp. 214-15 ; Brasseur de Bourbourg, 
 Popol Vuh, pp. Ixiv, cxii, cxxvi-viii, clix ; Ixtlilxocliitl in Kingsborough 's 
 
252 FOUR TLAPALANS. 
 
 The entire argument is perfectly satisfactory in locating a Tla- 
 pallan in the Usumacinta region, but it does not have the slightest 
 value in proving that Hue hue Tlapalan was identical with that 
 locality. On the other hand, Cabrera, in referring to the ancient 
 country of the Toltecs, calls it Hue Hue Tlapalan, and states 
 that the simple name was Tlapallan, but that it was called Hue 
 hue old to distinguish it from three other Tlapalans which 
 they founded in the new districts which they came to inhabit. 
 This statement is confirmed by Torquemada. 1 It is therefore 
 probable that Bancroft's and Brasseur's investigations were all 
 expended on one or more of these three Tlapalans. The un- 
 doubted residence of a tribe of the Nahuas (Olmecs) in the 
 Tabasco region for a considerable period one which is measured 
 relatively in the language of Sahugun between the " countless 
 years ago when they arrived from towards Florida" and their 
 departure towards Anahuac in the fourth or fifth century has 
 led many writers to suppose that they were of southern origin, 
 notwithstanding the statement of Sahagun, Ixtlilxochitl and all* 
 the early writers to the contrary. Supposing that the sweeping 
 assumption of the northern origin so persistently adhered to by 
 native and Spanish writers is nothing but a priestly fabrication, 
 be admitted, simply that our attention may be turned to other 
 testimony, still the evidence is against the southern origin theory. 
 The material relics of Honduras and Nicaragua absolutely dis- 
 prove the positive supposition that they were ever the work of 
 the people who figured in Anahuac, and no transition from one 
 style of sculpture to the other has ever been discovered, nor 
 could be imagined. An examination of the first few chapters of 
 Mr. Bancroft's fourth volume and the works from which it has 
 been drawn will fully satisfy the reader of this fact. The evi- 
 dence from the linguistic standpoint is even more satisfactory, 
 since the Nahua language as spoken in Central America, in the 
 states of San Salvador and Nicaragua, is dialectic, indicating a 
 fragmentary migration southward. 2 
 
 Hex. Ant., vol. ix, p 446 ; Alvarado in Ternaux-Compans Voy., serie i, torn, x, 
 p. 147. ] Baldwin's Ancient Am., p. 202. 
 
 2 See E. Q. Squier, Nicaragua, its People, Scenery, etc. Archaeology and 
 
HUE HUE TLAPALAN PROBABLY THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 253 
 
 It has been the common custom of Spanish writers and those 
 who followed them down to the middle of this century, to locate 
 Hue hue Tlapalan on the Californian coast. Vater and Hum- 
 boldt from their standpoints of investigation fell in with this 
 view. The former, basing his convictions on seeming linguistic 
 affinities in the north-west, which, while they are quite signifi- 
 cant, indicative of Nahua influences if not of Nahua residence, 
 are too few to prove any lengthy sojourn. Humboldt based his 
 opinion chiefly on the traditions and certain ethnological and 
 geographical facts. Buschman l has completely overthrown the 
 arguments of Yater in his series of works on American languages, 
 while Mr. Bancroft has shown conclusively that there are no 
 material remains assignable to the Toltecs to be found on the 
 Californian coast or the adjoining region. 2 When he asserts, 
 however, that there are no remains farther north than California, 
 he overlooks a well-known fact. We refer to the mounds of 
 Oregon and their extension eastward into the Yellowstone and 
 North Missouri River region. The most reasonable conjecture 
 as to the locality of Hue hue Tlapalan is that which places it 
 in the Mississippi Yalley, and assigns the works of our Mound- 
 builders to the Nahua nations. In previous chapters we have 
 shown the close resemblance of the mound crania to the ancient 
 Mexican, and have pointed out the gradual transition from the 
 rude and simple mounds of the north to the truncated pyramid 
 of the south, constructed on strict geometrical principles, having 
 one or more graded ways, and so closely resembling the Mexican 
 teocallis. Besides the testimony of Sahagun that the first 
 settlers of Mexico came from towards Florida, and the universal 
 report of a northern origin prevalent among the Aztecs at the 
 time of the conquest, there are other evidences of a racial identity 
 common to Mound-builders and Mexicans, such as pottery, sculp- 
 
 Ethnology of Nicaragua, part i, vol. iii, Trans, of Am. Eihnol. Soc., and Notes 
 on Cent. Am., chap. xvi. 
 
 1 Buscliman (Joliann Carl Ed.), especially liis Die Spur en der Aztekischen 
 Sprachen im Nordlichen Mexico und Hohern Amerikanischen Norden. Berlin, 
 1859. Quarto. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 688 et seq. ; vol. v, p. 213, and numerous places. 
 
254 BEGINNING OF TOLTEC HISTORY. 
 
 tured portraitures of the facial type, indications of commercial 
 intercourse between the two countries, such as the discovery of 
 Mexican obsidian in the mounds of the Ohio Valley, and the 
 probability that both worshipped the sun and offered human 
 sacrifices. 1 
 
 With the Toltec annals proper we have nothing to do ; only 
 the most primitive period of the growth of this people concerns 
 us here, and that period is conceded to have closed with the 
 establishment of the great capital at Tollan, on the site of the 
 present village of Tula, thirty miles northwest of the city of 
 Mexico. Seven years after the arrival of the Toltecs in Tollan, 
 the government was a theocratic republic, with the seven chiefs 
 who had conducted them thither acting as their rulers, under 
 the advice of the venerable Huemen. Finally, in the beginning 
 of the eighth century, somewhere between 710 and 720 A. D., the 
 republic was changed into a monarchy and the throne given to 
 the son of their dreaded enemies and former neighbors, the war- 
 like Chichimecs, as a peace-offering, on condition that the 
 Toltecs should always be a free people and in no way tributary 
 to the Chichimecs. The history of the Toltec monarchy during 
 the three and a half centuries of its duration to the final over- 
 throw of Tollan (1062 A. D.) as well as the power of the remark- 
 able people who built the ancient capital, has often been sketched, 
 and for us to repeat what has been recorded in almost every 
 language of modern Europe, would add nothing to the cause of 
 science. This part of ancient American history, so replete with 
 the romantic and marvellous, so confusing at times, because of 
 our ignorance of many geographic and archaeologic features 
 entering into it (which, in time, will probably be brought to 
 light), so saddening because of its stories of wholesale mis- 
 fortunes to a people whose civilization rivalled that of Europe 
 in the middle ages ; and yet, after all, so fresh and novel, must 
 
 1 " All around the lakes of Mexico there are traces of ancient potteries, and 
 I noticed that the bits of broken red earthenware scattered about them are 
 identical in composition and color with those I have picked up in the valley of 
 the Mississippi, and supposed to be relics of the ancient Mound-builders." 
 Evens (A. 8.), Our Sister Republic, p. 330. Hartford, 1870. Octavo. 
 
INCURSIONS OF THE CHICHIMECS. 255 
 
 continue to receive increased attention, if only as a means of 
 recreation to the student of history, wearied with the beaten 
 paths from Home to Greece, and from Greece to Eome. Mr. 
 Bancroft has given an excellent resume of the annals of the 
 Toltec period, accompanying it with an ample literary apparatus 
 in the notes. During the last century of the Toltec power, 
 Auahuac was overrun by the incursions of a fierce and dreaded 
 people the Chichimecs. These semi-barbarians, taking advan- 
 tage of the internal dissensions in the Toltec monarchy, became 
 a powerful factor, either on their own part or in the hands of 
 the enemies of Tollan, in the overthrow of the empire. In the 
 Toltec traditions we read of the Chichimecs being their neigh- 
 bors in Hue hue Tlapalan. 1 In the annals as given in Ixtlil- 
 xochitl, Torquemada and many writers, the Chichimecs are 
 represented as having pursued and annoyed the Toltecs, to have 
 followed them up in their wanderings. This probably is not 
 literally true, but their arrival upon the borders of Anahuac, 
 soon after its occupation by the Toltecs, is quite certain. It has 
 been common to consider the Chichimecs as a Nahua people, 
 and even so critical a writer as Mr. Bancroft adopts this popu- 
 lar error. As long ago as 1855, Sr. Francisco Pimentel under- 
 took to show the mistake into which many had fallen, and in 
 his Lenguas Indigenas de Mexico (published in 1862), has 
 furnished conclusive proof that the Chichimecs originally spoke 
 a different language from the Nahua nations, but subsequently 
 adopted the Nahua tongue, on the principle set forth by Balbi : 
 " It is not the language of the conquering people that invariably 
 dominates, but that which is most regular and cultured." On 
 the testimony of Torquemada, 2 Ixtlilxochitl 3 and Juan Bautista 
 Pomar, 4 Sr. Pimentel shows that the Chichimec language was 
 once distinct and different from the Nahua, and that these people 
 came under the civilizing influences of the Toltecs during their 
 golden age, but in their declining period availed themselves 
 
 1 Ixtlilxochitl's Reladones, Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. ix, p. 322. 
 
 2 Mbnarq. Ind., lib. i, cap. 19. 
 
 3 Rdaciones, in many places, and in Hist. Chichimecs, cap. 13. 
 
 4 Relation, MS. written 1582 in Sr. Icazbalceta's collection. 
 
256 THE CHICHIMECS. 
 
 of the opportunity of possessing their country and advanced 
 civilization. 1 If the Chichimecs were the neighbors of the 
 Toltecs in Hue hue Tlapalan, it is reasonable to expect some 
 light on the situation of that disputed locality in the Chichimec 
 traditions ; but in this expectation we are disappointed. There 
 is no mention of that ancient home of the Nahuas, nor of any 
 route pursued in their migrations. Amaquernecan is the only 
 name which is applied to their most primitive land or history ; 
 one of the cities which they occupied at some remote period 
 seems to have borne the name. When the Toltecs sent to the 
 Chichimecs for their first king, they were, according to Ixtlil- 
 xochitl, in the neighborhood of Panuco. Panes describes them 
 as having passed the sea, and, according to their reckoning, in 
 the year Five Tolti to have arrived at the seven caves. Thence 
 they journeyed to Amacatepeque, and certain persons left that 
 province to go to Tepenec, which is to say " the Mountain of 
 Echo." 2 Ixtlilxochitl and some other authors derive them from 
 Chicomoztoc, a rendezvous of the nations, which has been located 
 by Clavigero at about twenty miles south of Zacatecas but is 
 considered by Duran and Acosta as identical with Aztlan in the 
 region of Florida. 3 It is impossible to determine either the 
 starting-point or route of this people, who subsequently became 
 amalgamated with the scattered Toltecs after the fall of Tollan, 
 and whose rule in Anahuac may properly be dated from the (1062) 
 middle of the eleventh until nearly the middle of the fifteenth 
 (1431) century. 
 
 A few years after the Chichimec power was established there 
 came from the North (at least their last move is admitted to 
 have been from that quarter) six tribes of Nahuatlacas, who 
 arrived in the country adjoining Tollan. There were altogether 
 seven tribes, namely, the Xochimilcos, Chalcas, Tepanecs, Tlahui- 
 cas, Acolhuas, Tlascatecs and Aztecs or Mexicans. The latter 
 people, however, had separated themselves from the remaining 
 
 1 Lenguas Tndigenas de Mexico, torn, i, p. 154. 
 
 2 Frajmentos de Historia de Nueba Espafta, MS., p. 45, Library at Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 3 Duran's Historia Antigua, torn, i, cap. i, p. 9, MS. 
 
THE NAHUATLACAS. 257 
 
 six tribes at Chicomoztoc and did not reach Anahuac until 
 about 1196 A. D. These people all acted as tributary to the 
 Chichimecs at first ; and of the seven tribes, two eventually arose 
 to great political importance, the Tlascatecs who founded an 
 independent republic, and the Aztecs whose empire has been the 
 wonder of students of antiquity and the subject of histories as 
 romantic as the purest fiction. Some authors add a number of 
 tribal names to those already given as belonging to fragments 
 of the Nahuatlaca family, but the probability is that these minor 
 and unimportant tribes were offshoots from the others, after their 
 arrival on the central plateau. The representative branch of all 
 the Nahuatlacas was the Aztec nation, who separated from their 
 brethren in Chicomoztoc, and whose arrival at the Lake region 
 of Mexico, is dated subsequent to that of the other tribes. All 
 of these tribes are said to have come from the unknown Aztlan, 
 their early home. The question of its locality has been as much 
 a subject of controversy as the location of Hue hue Tlapalan, 
 since, in fact, the question is possibly one and the same, for the 
 Nahua speaking people who migrated into Mexico at intervals, 
 extending over a period of a thousand years, must have had a 
 common origin. Aztlan is described by Duran as a most attract- 
 ive land and the presumption is that the Nahuas were forcibly 
 driven from their fair heritage by the gradual encroachments of 
 their enemies. The account of this delightful country given by 
 Cueuhcoatl to the elder Montezuma, is as follows : " Our fathers 
 dwelt in that happy and prosperous place which they called 
 Aztlan, which means " whiteness." In this place there is a 
 great mountain in the middle of the water, which is called 
 Culhuacan, because it has the point somewhat turned over to- 
 ward the bottom, and for this cause it is called Culhuacan, 
 which means " crooked mountain." In this mountain were some 
 openings, or caves or hollows, where our fathers and ancestors 
 dwelt for many years ; there, under this name Mexitin and 
 Aztec, they had much repose ; there they enjoyed a great plenty 
 of geese ; of all species of marine birds and water fowls ; en- 
 joyed the song and melody of birds with yellow crests ; enjoyed 
 many kinds of large and beautiful fish; enjoyed the freshness 
 17 
 
258 A DESCRIPTION OF AZTLAN. 
 
 of trees that were upon those shores, and fountains enclosed 
 with elders, and savins (jumpers) and aldertrees, both large and 
 beautiful. They went about in canoes, and made furrows in 
 which they planted maize, red-peppers, tomatoes, beans and all 
 kinds of seed that we eat." 1 The location of Aztlan is not a 
 philosophical question for our consideration, since scarcely 
 sufficient data of a definite character are available on which to 
 base a process of reasoning. The report common among the 
 Aztecs was that they had come from the North, and this was no 
 doubt true of the final move prior to their settlement in Ana- 
 huac, but whether it was true of their starting-point and the 
 general course of the Aztec migration, is a question which can- 
 not be satisfactorily answered. Most Spanish writers and others 
 of the earlier school, locate Aztlan directly north of the present 
 boundary line of Mexico, 2 others again California, 3 while some 
 favor the Northwestern Mexican States. 1 A recent school of 
 Americanists assign Aztlan a southern location, placing it in 
 the Central American region. 5 Duran and Brasseur de Bour- 
 
 1 Duran's Historia Antigua, MS., torn, i, cap. 27 ; also cited in the Spanish by 
 Bancroft, vol. v, p. 306. Aztlan, translated " whiteness " above, may be rendered 
 " colorless " with equal propriety. Hue hue Tlapalan, on the contrary, is trans- 
 lated ancient red-land, or land of color, just the opposite of Aztlan, a fact which 
 may ssrve to prove that they were two quite different localities. 
 
 2 Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, i, pp. 156-9 (north of Colorado 
 River) ; Humboldt, Vues, ii, p. 179, and Essai Pol., torn, i, p. 53 (north of 42 
 north latitude) ; Orozco y Berra, Geografia, pp. 81-2, and 136-7 ; Prichard's 
 Nat. Hist of Man, vol. ii, pp. 514-16 (Arazonia) ; Pimentel, Lenguas Indig. Mex., 
 torn, i, p. 158. Most writers indefinitely assign the name to a region in the 
 North, without attempting to designate the locaity. 
 
 3 Acosta, Hist, de las Ind.,-p. 454; Schoolcraft's Archives of Ab. Knowledge, 
 vol. i, p. 68 ; M. Aubin places it in Lower California ; Brasseur de Bourbourg's 
 Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii, p. 292 ; Pickering's Races in U. 8. Ex. Ex., vol. ix, 
 p. 41. 
 
 4 Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 144 (Xalisco); Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej. (Sonora); 
 Mollhausen, Reisen in d. Felsengelirge N. Am., torn, ii, p. 143 et seq. 
 
 5 Chief among these we may cite : Squier's Notes on Central Amer , p. 349 ; 
 Waldeck's Voy. Pitt., p. 45, and Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, pp. 221, 305-6, 
 322-5 ; Muller, Geschichte der American ischen Urreligionen, pp. 530-4, the 
 latter, though inclined to assign Aztlan to a southern locality, still recognizes 
 the fact that the Nahua family was originally a northern people. 
 
THE AZTEC MIGRATION. 259 
 
 bourg, both celebrated authorities, on the other hand locate 
 Aztlan in the United States ; the former in Florida, by which 
 we are to understand the region of the Gulf States, 1 while the 
 latter simply expresses the conviction that Aztlan was situated 
 to the north-east of California. 2 
 
 The Aztec migration and the itinerary as generally accepted 
 demands consideration before forming any judgment on the loca- 
 tion of Aztlan. In this primitive abode we are told that each 
 year the Aztecs crossed a great river or channel to Teo-Culhuacan 
 for the purpose of offering sacrifices in honor of their god 
 Tetzauch. But it happened that a bird appeared to Huitziton, 
 one of the greatest of their chiefs (whom Bancroft thinks was 
 identical with Mecitl or Mexi hence the name Mexicans), and 
 constantly reiterated the word tihuij tiJiui, meaning "let us 
 go, let us go." This singular occurrence was interpreted by 
 Huitziton as a command from the gods for them to seek a new 
 country, and after persuading the chief Tecpatzin to his view, 
 the divine oracle was announced to the people. Accordingly, in 
 the year 1064, according to some authors, 3 or in 1090 according 
 to others, 4 or a century later than the first-named date accord- 
 ing to some of the interpreters of the Aztec migration maps, the 
 Nahuatlaca tribes left their ancient home and entered upon one 
 of those strange and aimless journeys so characteristic of semi- 
 civilized and superstitious peoples. The Aztec migration as 
 given by several authorities is scarcely more satisfactory than 
 that of the Toltecs, nor can any additional light be thrown on 
 the route pursued until Sr. Orozco y Berra publishes the results 
 of his critical examination of the subject. 5 The unimportance of 
 the itinerary in the solution of any question is apparent, since it 
 contributes but little to our knowledge of the location of Aztlan. 
 
 1 Historia Antigua, MS., torn, i, cap. i, p. 9. 
 9 Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii, p. 292. 
 
 3 Chief among whom are Gallatin, Gama and Veytia, who suppose that the 
 adjustment of the calendar took place in 1090 A.D., and that the year Ce Tochtli 
 corresponds with that date. 
 
 4 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, p. 324, and seems to be the opinion of 
 Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, ii, pp. 292-5. 
 
 5 Garcia Cubas' Republic of Mexico in 1876 (Eng. trans.\ p. 53. 
 
260 AZTEC STATIONS. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft has greatly facilitated the comparison of the lists 
 of stations as given by different authors, in a note of great 
 length on pp. 322-4, thus presenting to the eye at a glance the 
 diversity of opinion which meets the reader of this subject. As an 
 example, we select two or three of the itineraries, simply to show 
 the wide range that opinion has taken on the subject. Accord- 
 ing to Veytia, the tribes left Aztlan in I Tecpatl, 1064 A. D., and 
 one hundred and four years afterwards reached Chicomoztoc, 
 where they dwelt nine years ; the subsequent stations and the 
 duration of their sojourn in each as follows : Cohuatlicamac three 
 years, Matlahuacallan six, Apanco five, Chimalco six, Pipiol- 
 comic three, Tollan six, Cohuactepec (Coatepec) three, Atlitlala- 
 cayan two, Atotonilco one, Tepexic five, Apasco three, Tozonpanco 
 seven, Tizayocan one, Ecatepec one, Tolpetlac three, Chimal- 
 pan four, Cohuatitlan two, Huexachtitlan three, Tecpayocan 
 three, Tepeyacac (Guadalupe) three, Pantitlan two, and thence 
 to Chapultepec, arriving in 1298, after a journey of one hundred 
 and eighty-five years, reckoning an additional forty-nine years 
 for their stay at Michoachan. 1 According to Tezozomoc, the 
 stations are as follows : Aztlan, Culhuacan, Jalisco, Mechoacan, 
 Malinalco (Lake Patzcuaro), Ocopipilla, Acahualcingo, Coatepec 
 (in Tonalan), Atlitlanquin, or Atitalaquia, Tequisquiac, Atengo, 
 Tzompan, Cuachilgo, Xaltocan, and Lake Chnamitl, Eycoac, 
 Ecatepc, Aculhuacan, Tultepetlac, Huixachtitlan, Tecpayuca 
 (in two Calli), Atepetlac, Coatlayauhcan, Tetepanco, Acolnahuac, 
 Popotla (Tacuba), Chapultepec in two Tochtli. 2 Clavigero states 
 that they left Aztlan in 1160, crossed the Colorado Kiver, stayed 
 three years in Hueicolhuacan, went east to Chicomoztoc, reached 
 Tula in 1196, and finally Chapultepec in 1245. 3 Acosta, Herrera 
 and Duran state that Nahuatlaca tribes left Aztlan in 820 A.D., 
 and eighty years later reached Mexico ; that the Aztecs, how- 
 ever, did not start until 1122 A. D. 4 Duran identifies Aztlan 
 
 1 Veytia, torn, ii, pp. 91-8, and as summarized by Bancroft, vol. v, p. 323. 
 
 2 Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., vol. ix, pp. 5-8, and Bancroft, vol. v, p. 323. 
 
 3 Storia Ant. del Messico, torn, i, pp. 156-63. 
 
 4 See Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 454-62. Herrera, Histor. Gen., dec. Hi, 
 lib. ii, cap. x-xi. Duran, MS., Hist. Antig., cap. i, ii, iii of torn. i. 
 
THE TABASCOS. 261 
 
 with Teo-Culhuacan, and locates it towards our Mississippi 
 Valley. He in common with other writers identifies Chicomostoc 
 with the seven caves. 1 
 
 The Tarascos, though speaking a different language, are said 
 to have separated from the Nahuatlacas at Michoacan. They 
 describe the route to the seven caves as across a sea, which they 
 passed in balsas and the trunks of trees. 2 This statement may 
 be of some value in locating that disputed rendezvous of so many 
 tribes ; and certainly is more important than a mass of ground- 
 less speculation. The next source of interest in this connection is 
 the much perverted and sadly misunderstood migration map first 
 published by Gemelli Carreri, in Churchill's collection of voyages 
 (vol. iv). Humboldt has given an interpretation which, with 
 the exception of that part which connects it with a deluge and 
 Colhuacan, " the Ararat of the Mexicans," is generally received. 3 
 
 1 " Pero porque la noticia que tengo de su origen y principio no es mas, ni 
 ellos saben dar mas relacion sino desde aqullas siete cuebas donde habitaron tan 
 largo tempo, las cuales desampararon para venir a vuscar esta Tierra unos 
 primero que otros, otros despues, otros muy despues liasta dejallas desiertas. 
 Estas cuebas son en Teo-culhuican, que por otro nombre le llaman Aztlan, tierra 
 de que todos tenemos noticia caer hacia la parte del Norte y Tierra-firma con la 
 Florida ; por tanto desde este lugar de estas cuebas dare verdadera relacion de 
 estas Naciones y de sus sucessos. * * * Salieron pues siete Tribus de Gentes 
 de aquellas cuebas donde habitaban para venir a vuscar esta Tierra, a las cuales 
 llamaban Chicomostoc, de donde vienen a fingir que sus Padres nacieron de unas 
 cuebas, no teniendo noticia de lo de atras de la salida." Duran, Hist. Antig., 
 MS., torn, i, cap. i, p. 9. 
 
 2 The Fragmentos de Historia de Nueba Espafto, MS. (Congressional Library) 
 of Diego Panes alludes to this event. "Como los Tarascos se adelantaron 
 luego que pasaron el estrecho de mar, en los troucos de Arboles, y balsas, y 
 otros instrumentos del pasaje y se metieron a vida y avitar en las siete cuebas 
 espelnucas, y Tabernas de la Tierra, liasta que hicieron abitacones, y moradas y 
 como desde alii fueron ereciendo, y tornado, il tiento de la Tierra y desposiciones 
 de ella parra poblarla." 
 
 3 We quote Bancroft's rendering from the Vues, torn, ii, p. 176 et seq.: 
 "From Colhuacan, the Mexican Ararat, fifteen chiefs or tribes reach Aztlan, 
 'land of flamingoes,' north, of 42, which they leave in 1038, passing through 
 Tocolco, ' humiliation,' Oztotlan, ' place of grottoes,' Mizquiahuala, Teotzapotlan, 
 ' place of divine fruit,' Iluicatepec, Papantla, ' large-leaved grass,' Tzompanco, 
 'place of human bones,' Apazco, 'clay vessel,' Atlicalaguian, 'crevice in which 
 rivulet escapes,' Quauhtitlan, 'eagle grove,' Atzcapotzalco, 'ant hill/ Chalco, 
 
262 RAMIREZ ON THE MIGRATION MAPS. 
 
 Gemelli Carreri, Humboldt and many others were quite cer- 
 tain that they could read in this map the account of the Mosaic 
 deluge. 1 Don Jose Fernando Kamirez, of the Mexican Museum, 
 however, pointed out the fact that the Gemelli Carreri map, 
 copied from one owned by Sigiienza, and published by Hum- 
 boldt, Clavigero and Kingsborough, was in each case incorrectly 
 represented, and states that the copy contained in the Atlas of 
 Garcia y Cubas is the first correct reproduction of the original 
 presented to the public. 2 Sr. Kamirez explains away the illu- 
 sion of the Mexican Ararat and deluge in a manner both simple 
 and conclusive. 3 The dove with commas proceeding from its 
 
 ' place of precious stones,' Pantitlan, ' spinning-place,' Tolpetlac, ' rush mat/ 
 Quauhtepec, ' eagle mountain,' Tetepanco, ' wall of many small stories,' Chico- 
 moztoc, ' seven caves,' Huitzquilocan, ' place of thistles/ Xaltepozauhcan, ' place 
 where the sand issues/ Cozcaquauhco, ' a vulture/ Techcatitlan, ' place of 
 obsidian mirrors/ Azcaxochitl, 'ant flower/ Tepetlapan, 'place of tepetate/ 
 Apan, ' place of water/ Teozomaco, ' place of divine apes/ Chapoltepec, ' grass- 
 hopper hill/ " Native Races, vol. v, p. 324, note. 
 
 1 The following account is from Franc. Gemelli Carreri's Voyage Round the 
 World, Churchill's Voyages, London, 1732, 6 vol. fol. (book iv, cap. iii), p. 485 : 
 " The ancient histories of Mexico make mention of a flood, in which all men 
 and beasts perished, and only one man and woman were saved in a boat, which 
 in their language they call Acatte. The man, according to the character by 
 which his name is expressed, was called Cox-cox, and the woman Chichequetzal, 
 This couple coming to the foot of the mountain, which, according to the picture, 
 was named Culhuacan, went ashore, and there they had many children, all 
 born dumb. When they multiplied to a great number, one day a pigeon came, 
 and from the top of a tree gave them their speech, but not one of them under- 
 stood the others' language, and therefore they divided and dispersed, every one 
 going to take possession of some country. Among these they reckoned fifteen 
 heads of families who happened to speak the same language, joined together 
 and went about to find some land to inhabit. When they had wandered one 
 hundred and four years they came to the place they call Antlan, and continuing 
 their journey thence, came first to the place called Capultepec, then to Culhuacan, 
 and lastly to the place where Mexico now stands." 
 
 2 See communication in Garcia y Cubas' Atlas Geografico, Estadistico e His- 
 torico de la RepuUica Mejicana, April 1858, entrega 29, and Bancroft, iii, p. 68, 
 note. 
 
 3 We should be guilty of a fault if we were to convey the idea that no deluge 
 legend other than this was current among the Aztecs. The Codex Chimal- 
 popoca records a flood in which mankind were drowned and turned into fishes. 
 In Mr. Bancroft's graceful rendering we learn that " the waters and sky drew 
 
BANCROFT ON THE STORY OF COX-COX. 263 
 
 beak, is not talking, nor giving tongues, but is repeating the 
 word tihui, " let us go/' referring to the legend already cited, 
 of the bird in Aztlan incessantly uttering this word in the hear- 
 ing of Huitziton the chief. A little bird called tilmitoclian is 
 still heard in Mexico, having a note which is interpreted by the 
 common people to mean the same as their ancestors interpreted it 
 in Aztlan. Sr. Eamirez is convinced that the map referred to is 
 only a record of the wanderings of the Aztecs among the lakes of 
 the Mexican Valley, and that it has no reference whatever to any 
 deluge, not even to one of the former traditional destructions of 
 the world found in the Nahua cosmogony. Mr. Bancroft has 
 added the valuable argument that the story of Cox-cox and the 
 deluge is only the product of false interpretation, or else some 
 of the earlier writers would have been acquainted with the 
 legend. On the contrary, Olmos, Sahagun, Motolinia, Mendieta, 
 Ixtlilxochitl, and Camergo are all silent with regard to it. The 
 mountain and boat and their several adjuncts are found to be 
 nothing but hieroglyphics for proper names. 
 
 near each other ; in a single day all was lost, the day Four Flower consumed 
 all that there was of our flesh. And this was the year Ce-Calli ; on the first 
 day, Nalmi-Atl, all was lost. The very mountains were swallowed up in the 
 flood, and the waters remained, lying tranquil during fifty and two spring- 
 times. But before the flood began, Titlacahuan had warned the man Nata and 
 his wife Nona, saying : Make now no more pulque, but hollow out to yourselves 
 a great cypress, into which you shall enter when, in the month Tozoztli, the 
 waters shall near the sky. Then they entered into it, and when Titlacahuan 
 had shut them in, he said to the man : Thou shalt eat but a single ear of maize, 
 and thy wife but one also. And when they had finished eating, each an ear of 
 maize, they prepared to set forth, for the waters remained tranquil and their log 
 moved no longer ; and opening it they began to see the fishes. Then they lit a 
 fire by rubbing pieces of wood together and they roasted fish." The account 
 states that the deities then descended and transformed the fishes into dogs. 
 (Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i, pp. 425-7. Bancroft, vol. iii, 
 pp. 69, 70.) We cannot with gravity give the Tezpi legend preserved in Michoa- 
 can. If the reader will refer to the Mosaic account of the flood, he will only 
 need to substitute the name of Tezpi for Noah, a vulture for the raven, and a 
 humming-bird for the dove, and the Tezpi legend substantially will be before 
 him. Of course the detail of the Mosaic account is wanting; nevertheless it is 
 certain that the Tezpi legend is the product of the fancy of some over-zealous 
 priest, who thought he could see a stricter analogy between the Nahua deluge 
 tradition and the Scriptural account than really exists. 
 
264 IS AZTLAN IN THE NORTH? 
 
 Chalco Lake is, in the opinion of Senor Ramirez, the point 
 of departure for the fifteen chiefs at the end of their first cycle. 
 His interpretation of the Boturini map of the migration results 
 in the same conclusion. The fifteen chiefs left their island home, 
 passing through Coloacan (Colhuacan, according to Gondra's 
 interpretation) as their second station. It appears that the first 
 move and point of departure are both unknown, and no satis- 
 factory solution of the question has yet been offered. The pre- 
 vailing tradition that it is in the north has been perplexing, 
 since no material remains undoubtedly attributable to the Aztecs 
 are found north of the central plateau of Mexico, nor indeed in 
 the territories of the United States. If we adopt the general 
 theory that the Aztecs came from the Mississippi Valley, possibly 
 the original home of the Nahuas, occupied by the Olmecs prior 
 to their arrival at Panuco and their descent into the Chiapan 
 region, and by the Toltecs before their migration to Anahuac, 
 we have a theory which agrees with the testimony of Duran and 
 Sahagun, and seems to find support in the pyramidal mounds 
 of the Lower Mississippi, which we have already seen are almost 
 as perfect in their plan and construction as those found in 
 Mexico, which do not furnish evidence of as great antiquity as 
 those of the Ohio and Missouri Valleys. According to most 
 accounts, a considerable period elapses between their departure 
 and their arrival at Chicomoztoc the seven caves. According 
 to Veytia it was 104 years, but Brasseur adopts twenty-six years, 
 which is also the opinion of the majority of writers. Chicomoztoc 
 has some features which remind us of the Tulan Zuiva of the 
 Quiches their seven caves, from which so many tribes derived 
 their origin. Chicomoztoc is the point at which the six Nahu- 
 atlaca tribes separated from the Aztecs, and thence proceeded to 
 the Mexican lake region. It is quite probable that a consider- 
 able distance may have been traversed in this interval of twenty- 
 six years, a distance which could have brought the Aztecs from 
 a comparatively northern latitude to the Chiapan region. Op- 
 posed to this, however, is the fact that the Tulan Zuiva of 
 the Quiches was in a cold, inhospitable region, no doubt at the 
 North. Mr. Bancroft suggests that the first part of the migra- 
 
SUMMARY OF VIEWS AS TO LOCATION OF AZTLAN. 265 
 
 tion tradition may refer vaguely back to the events which 
 followed the Tol tecs' destruction. 1 We have already referred 
 to the tendency to confusion in histories that are chiefly tra- 
 ditional. In opposition to the view that Aztlan and Chico- 
 moztoc were remote from each of these, we have the statement 
 of Duran 2 that these caves are in Teo-Culhuacan, otherwise 
 called Aztlan, which implies that both Teo-Culhuacan and 
 Chicomoztoc were points in the region of Aztlan. Every year 
 it was the custom of the Aztecs, while in Aztlan, to cross a 
 river or channel to Teo-Culhuacan in order to sacrifice to their 
 god Tetzauh, and after their arrival at Chicomoztoc they con- 
 tinued the occupation of boatmen, which they had followed 
 while in Aztlan. 3 By way of summary, then, we may venture 
 the following : 1. Viewed from the standpoint of Sr. Ramirez, 
 Aztlan may be located somewhere not far distant from Chalco 
 Lake. The islands which it encircles may correspond to the 
 description of the ancient home of the Aztecs, given by Duran 
 as quoted on page 257 and described as Culhuacan. Teo-Cul- 
 huacan, where the Aztecs sacrificed yearly, may be the city of 
 Culhuacan situated in that neighborhood. As additional testi- 
 mony we have the fact that most of the stations named in the 
 migrations can be located in the Central Mexican region. The 
 report that they came from the north may refer only to the 
 scattering of the Nahua or Toltec people from Tollan, just north 
 of the valley. 2. The statements of all the writers that the 
 Aztecs came from the north, the fact that Duran and Sahagun 
 assign the primitive Nahua home to the region of Florida, and 
 the prevalence of mounds and shell-heaps in great numbers in 
 the Gulf States, together with the extension of those mounds 
 through Texas into Mexico, may warrant the opinion that Aztlan 
 was in the Mississippi Valley, or, looking in another direction, 
 the rock or cave dwellings recently discovered in Southern Utah 
 and the Rocky Mountain region (of which we shall give a 
 description in the next chapter) may indicate the locality of the 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. v, p. 325. 2 See note 1, page 261, this chapter. 
 
 3 Bancroft, vol. v, p. 325. 
 
266 SUMMARY OF VIEWS. 
 
 ancient and much-sought-for land. The identity in meaning 
 of Chicomoztoc (seven caves) and Tulan Zuiva (seven caves) 
 together with the fact that both places in Quiche and Nahua 
 history were the point of separation for many tribes, is a 
 singular coincidence, if they are not one and the same. In the 
 preceding chapter we have seen that Tulan Zuiva of the Quiches 
 was in a northern or at least a colder climate, where they 
 suffered greatly for want of fire, a fact of no little significance. 
 On the other hand Teo-Culhuacan, the place of yearly sacrifice, 
 may have been a city of the Chiapan region, since Sahagun 
 located Tamoanchan the first city of the Nahuas (Olmec) after 
 their arrival from Florida in Mexico, somewhere in the Usuma- 
 cinta Valley. It is possible that a large number of the immi- 
 grants remained behind the company which migrated northward 
 to Teotihuacan and thence to the seven caves, subsequently 
 uniting with the Toltecs at Tollan. This view has had quite a 
 number of advocates. 1 We will not undertake, in the present 
 state of knowledge on the subject, to decide which of these 
 
 1 E. G. Squier in Notes on Cent. Am,., p. 349, makes the following remark : 
 " It is a significant fact, that in the map of their migrations, presented by Gemelli, 
 the place of the origin of the Aztecs is designated by the sign of water (Atl 
 standing for Atzlan), a pyramidal temple with grades, and near these a palm- 
 tree. This circumstance did not escape the attention of the observant Huui- 
 boldt, who says, ' I am astonished at finding a palm-tree near this teocalli. This 
 tree certainly does not indicate a northern origin.' " We might add that we are 
 equally surprised that so generally able a writer as Mr. Squier should resort to 
 so absolutely weak an argument. Sr. Ramirez has clearly explained that all 
 the figures and their adjuncts are but hieroglyphic parts of proper names. The 
 palm-tree no doubt plays its part. M. Wai deck ( Voyage Pitt., p. 45) makes 
 the same remark as Mr. Squier that it indicates a southern origin. Gondra 
 (Prescott's Historia Conq. Hex., cited by Bancroft, vol. v, p. 306, note) replies that 
 this may be a thoughtless insertion of the painter. The possibility that an 
 unskillful artist should unintentionally represent a tree of which he had no 
 knowledge is so great, that any argument dependent upon it hangs upon a 
 slender thread. Over against Mr. Squier's claim we desire .to place the simple 
 inquiry, Does the Elephant Mound of Wisconsin indicate that its constructors 
 were natives of Asia, where the elephant is common, or that they lived in the 
 epoch of the American Mastodon ? It is well-known that the latter phase of 
 the question could not be true, since the condition of the mound contradicts 
 such great antiquity. 
 
INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A DECISION. 267 
 
 three claims is the true one, if either one of them is correct. 
 Our only wish is to furnish the reader a margin for his 
 choice. It seems to us that it would be unscientific to attempt 
 to decide a question based upon such slender and contradictory 
 data. 
 
 It is unnecessary for us to follow the Aztecs farther in their 
 history. The magnificent empire of the Montezumas, with its 
 advanced civilization, but at the same time cursed with its 
 horrid worship, in which thousands of human victims bathed the 
 altars of Mexico yearly with their life-blood, has been described 
 and its glory handed down to history by that most graceful and 
 romantic of American writers, William H. Prescott. We cannot, 
 however, dismiss this the most primitive period of the growth 
 of the Nahua nations without a reference to the reputed author 
 of the higher phases of their civilization. We refer to that semi- 
 mythical and semi-divine personage, Quetzalcoatl. The numer- 
 ous legends concerning this culture-hero, scattered chronologically 
 over hundreds of years of Nahua history, may have originated in 
 the life and character of some noted personage the leader and 
 civilizer of the most ancient branches of the Nahua family, or in 
 the personification of an ideal deity, a nature-god whose chief 
 attribute, whose distinguishing office, was the fertilization of the 
 earth, the revivification of the slumbering forces in nature and 
 consequently the author of prosperity, agriculture, and the arts 
 of peace. In either case the name of the original Quetzalcoatl, 
 were he either man or deity, was eventually inherited by a line 
 of individuals who became the priests of his worship, or the 
 representatives of his teachings, and the inculcators of the most 
 humane and noble principles which entered into the ancient 
 civilization. Without entering into a lengthy discussion of the 
 probabilities in the case, we give the substance of the tradi- 
 tions, arranged in what appears to us not only the most con- 
 sistent, but also the proper order. We have already acquainted 
 the reader with the meaning of Quetzalcoatl, namely, " plumed 
 serpent." 
 
 From the distant East, from the fabulous Hue hue Tlapalan, 
 this mysterious personage came to Tulla, and became the patron 
 
268 QUETZALCOATL. 
 
 god and high-priest of the ancestors of the Toltecs. 1 He is 
 described as having been a white man, with a strong formation 
 of body, broad forehead, large eyes, and flowing beard. He wore 
 a mitre on his head, and was dressed in a long, white robe, 
 reaching to his feet, and covered with red crosses. In his hand 
 he held a sickle. His habits were ascetic ; he never married, 
 was most chaste and pure in his life, and is said to have endured 
 penance in a neighboring mountain, not for its effects upon him- 
 self, but as an example to others. Some have here found a 
 parallel for Christ's temptation. He condemned sacrifices, except 
 of fruits and flowers, and was known as the god of peace ; for 
 when addressed on the subject of war, he is reported to have 
 stopped his ears with his fingers. 2 
 
 Quetzalcoatl was skilled in many arts, having invented gem- 
 cutting and metal-casting. He furthermore originated letters 
 and invented the Mexican calendar. The legend which describes 
 the latter states that the gods, having made men, thought it 
 advisable that their creatures should have some means of reckon- 
 ing time, and of regulating the order of religious ceremonies. 
 Therefore two of these celestial personages, one of them a god- 
 dess, called Quetzalcoatl to counsel with them, and the three 
 contrived a system which they recorded on tables, each bearing 
 a single sign. That sign, however, was accompanied with all 
 necessary explanations of its meaning. It is noticeable that the 
 goddess was assigned the privilege of writing the first sign, and 
 that she chose a serpent as her favorite symbol. 
 
 Some accounts represent that Huemac was the temporal king, 
 or at least associated with Quetzalcoatl in the government ; the 
 latter occupying the priestly as well as the kingly office. Sahagun 
 
 1 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i, p. 245 et seq., states that a band of 
 people came from the north by way of Panuco, dressed in long black robes ; 
 that they thence went to Tulla, where they were well received, but that region 
 being already thickly populated, they went to Cholula. They were great 
 artists, were skilled in working metals ; with them was Quetzalcoatl, with a 
 fair and ruddy complexion and a long beard. ' He was their leader.' 
 
 2 Mendieta, Hist. Ed. , pp. 82, 86, 92, 397-8 ; also cited by Bancroft, vol. iii^ 
 pp. 250-2, and Clavigero, Hist. Ant. Del. Messico, pp. 11-13. 
 
QUETZALCOATL'S DEPARTURE FROM TULLA. 269 
 
 calls the associate ruler Vemac. At all events, Quetzalcoatl 
 had an enemy, the deity Tezcatlipoca, whose worship was quite 
 opposite in its character to that of Quetzalcoatl, being sanguine 
 and celebrated with horrid human sacrifices. A struggle ensued 
 in Tulla (Tollan) between the opposing systems which resulted 
 favorably to the bloody deity and the faction who sought to 
 establish his worship in preference to the peaceful and ascetic 
 service of Quetzalcoatl. 
 
 Tezcatlipoca, envious of the magnificence enjoyed by Quetzal- 
 coatl, determined upon his destruction. His first appearance at 
 Tulla was in the role of a great ball-player, and Quetzalcoatl, 
 being very fond of the game, engaged in play with him, when 
 suddenly he transformed himself into a tiger, occasioning a panic 
 among the spectators, in which great numbers were crowded 
 over a precipice into a river, where they perished. Again the 
 vicious god appeared at Tulla. This time he presented himself 
 at the door of Quetzalcoatrs palace in the guise of an old man, 
 and asked permission of the servants to see their master. They 
 attempted to drive him away, saying that their god was ill. 
 At last, because of his importunities, they obtained leave to 
 admit him. 
 
 Tezcatlipoca entered, and seeing the sick deity, asked about 
 his health, and announced that he had brought him a medicine 
 which would ease his body, compose his mind, and prepare him 
 for the journey which Fate had decreed that he must undertake. 1 
 Quetzalcoatl received the sorcerer kindly, inquiring anxiously as 
 to the journey and the land of his destiny. His deceiver told 
 him that the name of the land was Tullan Tlapalan, where his 
 youth would be renewed, and that he must visit it without 
 delay. The sick king was moved greatly by the words of the 
 sorcerer, and was prevailed upon to taste the intoxicating medi- 
 cine which he pressed to his lips. At once he felt his malady 
 healed, and the desire to depart fixed itself in his mind. 
 
 " Drink again ! " exclaimed the old sorcerer ; and again the 
 
 1 Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i, lib. iii, p. 245, and Torqueraada, torn, ii, p. 47 
 et seq., do not agree fully as to the details. 
 
270 QUETZALCOATL AT CHOLULA. 
 
 god-king pressed the cup to his lips, and drank till the thought 
 of departure became indelible, chained his reason, and speedily 
 drove him a wanderer from his palace and kingdom. 
 
 Upon leaving Tulla, driven from his kingdom by the vicious 
 enmity of Tezcatlipoca, he ordered his palaces of gold, and silver, 
 and turquoise, and precious stones, to be set on fire. The myriads 
 of rich-plumed songsters that made the air of the capital melo- 
 dious with song accompanied him on his journey, pipers playing 
 on pipes preceded him, and the flowers by the way are said to 
 have given forth unusual volumes of perfume at his approach. 
 
 After journeying one hundred leagues southward, he rested, 
 near a city of Anahuac, under a great tree, and as a memorial 
 of the event, he cast stones at the tree, lodging them in its trunk. 1 
 
 He then proceeded still farther southward in the same valley, 
 until he came to a mountain, two leagues distant from the city 
 of Mexico. Here he pressed his hands upon a rock on which he 
 rested, and left their prints imbedded in it, where they remained 
 visible down to a very recent date. He then turned eastward to 
 Cholula, where he was received with greatest reverence. 2 The 
 great pyramid was erected to his honor. With his advent the 
 spirit of peace settled down upon the city. War was not known 
 during his sojourn within it. The reign of Saturn repeated 
 itself. The enemies of the Cholulans came with perfect safety 
 to his temple, and many wealthy princes of other countries 
 erected temples to his honor in the city of his choice. 3 
 
 Here the silversmith, the sculptor, the artist, and the archi- 
 tect, we are led to believe, from the testimony of both tradition 
 and remains, flourished under the patronage of the grand god- 
 king. 
 
 However, after twenty years had elapsed, that subtile, fever- 
 ish draught received from the hand of Tezcatlipoca away back 
 in Tulla, like an old poison in the veins, renewed its power. 
 Again his people, his palaces, and his pyramidal temple were 
 
 1 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii, p. 47 et seq., and Saliagun, torn, i, 
 chap, iii, p. 245 et seq. 
 
 2 lUd. 3 Mendieta, Hist. Eel., p. 82 et seq. 
 
QUETZALCOATL AT CHOLULA. 271 
 
 forsaken, that lie might start on his long and final journey. 1 
 He told his priests that the mysterious Tlapalla was his destina- 
 tion, and turning toward the East, proceeded on his way until 
 he reached the sea at a point a few miles south of Yera Cruz. 
 Here he bestowed his blessing upon four young men, who accom- 
 panied him from Cholula, and commanded them to go back to 
 their homes, bearing the promise to his people that he would 
 return to them, and again set up his kingdom among them. 
 Then, embarking in a canoe made of serpent-skins, he sailed 
 away into the East. 2 
 
 The Cholulans, out of respect to Quetzalcoatl, placed the 
 government in the hands of the recipients of his blessing. His 
 statue was placed in a sanctuary on the pyramid, but in a 
 reclining position, representing a state of repose, with the under- 
 standing that it shall be placed upon its feet when the god 
 returns. When Cortes landed, they believed their hopes real- 
 ized, sacrificed a man to him, and sprinkled the blood of the 
 unhappy victim upon the conqueror and his companions. 3 
 
 Father Sahagun, when on his journey to Mexico, was every- 
 where asked if he had not come from Tlapalla. 4 No wonder 
 when the fleet of Cortes hove in sight on the horizon, almost in 
 the same place where Quetzalcoatl's bark had disappeared, that 
 the Mexican, who had been waiting centuries for the prince of 
 peace to return, believed his waiting to be at an end. No won- 
 der that he inquired of the distant and mysterious Tlapalla. In 
 this state of expectancy we find a most natural and fruitful soil 
 for the operations of the Spanish conquerors. 
 
 Such is the form into which the mass of legends concerning 
 
 1 Goatzacoalco, described as a province near the sea, one hundred and fifty 
 leagues from Cholula (Torquemada, torn ii, pp. 48-52). The same author 
 traces him to Yucatan and identifies him with Cukulcan. See preceding 
 chapter. 
 
 2 On a raft, according to Sahagun. 
 
 3 See Miiller, G-eschicMe der AmerikaniscTien Urreligionen, p. 599. 
 
 4 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii, p. 50. In presenting these legends 
 we have employed nearly the same language which we used in treating the 
 same subject in an article entitled "Culture-Heroes of the Ancient Americans," 
 published in Appleton's Journal for March 1877. 
 
272 ORIGIN OF THE QUETZALCOATL LEGEND. 
 
 Quetzalcoatl have been woven. There is scarcely a doubt, how- 
 ever, that it is a matter of growth is the accumulation of several 
 centuries. The name Quetzalcoatl (Nahua), Gucumatz (Quiche) 
 and Cukulcan (Maya), translated "feathered" or "plumed" or 
 " winged " serpent, may originally have been applied to an intel- 
 ligent princely foreigner who was cast upon the shores of the 
 Central American region, and who introduced the art of casting 
 metals, and especially taught .agriculture. His doctrines of 
 peace and virtue may have been sufficiently wide-spread to have 
 brought about the prosperity which is ascribed to his age. From 
 this standpoint we would consider him at first to have cast his 
 lot among the descendants of Votan, otherwise known as the 
 "Serpents," from which occurrence he may have received his 
 name of " Feathered Serpent." On pages 241-42 we referred to 
 the statements of the Codex Chimalpopoca, that Quetzalcoatl, 
 becoming obnoxious to his companions, who seem to be Quiches, 
 forsook them. The account also states that he afterwards 
 brought maize to Tanioanchan (the city of the Nahuas). Our 
 next account of him describes him as figuring among the Olmecs 
 at Cholula. This realistic view of the tradition applies to the 
 first Quetzalcoatl, who may have been an actual man. While 
 entertaining this view, we must not forget that centuries prior 
 to this period (which we may as well assign to the first or second 
 century as to any other date), the Quiches possessed the ideal 
 of such a personage whom they considered a deity, who figures 
 so actively in their cosmogony under the name of Gucumatz. 
 This deity was the vivifying force in nature, the bringer of the 
 gentle south winds, the god of the harvest and of the air. He 
 was best symbolized to the mind of the savage by the vernal 
 shower and the return of spring. 
 
 The serpent was everywhere considered an emblem of the 
 vernal shower, and was thought to be in some way instrumental 
 in bringing it, together with its refreshing and fructifying 
 influences. So here, in the name of Quetzalcoatl, we find a 
 progressive step indicated in the workings of the mind, an ad- 
 vance from the lower figure of the serpent alone to that of an 
 aerial combination, which, while it contained all the virtues of 
 
A CULTURE-HERO. 273 
 
 the serpent, is lifted to a higher element that from which the 
 shower falls. The feathery vapor-clouds of summer are but the 
 plumes or wings of the shower which the serpent symbolized. 
 
 At last when a teacher of agriculture and the mechanic arts, 
 so conducive of prosperity and plenty, appeared an individual 
 who discovers maize and directs the process of its reproduction 
 and guards an improvident people against want and famine, the 
 attributes of the god are recognized as dwelling in him, the ideal 
 vaguely represented by the vernal shower is concreted, is become 
 incarnate, is presented in a shape more comprehensible to the 
 untaught mind, and at once the name, reverence and worship of 
 the god are attached to the man, the culture-hero. This we 
 believe to be the simplest interpretation of the origin of the 
 worship of Quetzalcoatl. A priesthood appears to have been 
 founded who perpetuated the doctrines of this deified man. 
 That part of the legend which relates to Tulla (Tollan) with the 
 expulsion of the king and that which followed, properly be- 
 longs to Ceacatl, surnamed Quetzalcoatl, Toltec king of Tollan, 
 who ascended the throne about 873. l The father of this 
 monarch had been cruelly murdered, and in his early boyhood 
 Ceacatl is said to have wreaked a terrible vengeance on the 
 murderer of his father, after which he concealed himself for about 
 twenty years. At about the above-named date he reappeared, 
 and established his claims to the throne. He espoused the 
 religion of Quetzalcoatl, and the peace which followed brought 
 great prosperity. Human sacrifices were forbidden, and a golden 
 age seemed to dawn in which Tollan exceeded all the cities of the 
 Mexican valley in importance and wealth. But a rivalry at once 
 sprang up between the priests of the bloody god Tezcatlipoca, 
 worshipped in Culhuacan and at Teotihuacan, and those of the 
 peaceful and humane Quetzalcoatl, which resulted in the volun- 
 tary departure of the Pontiff king, to whom the name of his 
 god was attached. The contest between the two sects is sym- 
 bolized in the legend by the tricks of Tezcatlipoca. Quetzalcoatl 
 was received at Cholula, where he remained some years, but was 
 
 1 See Bancroft, vol. v, p. 255, and the authorities cited. 
 
 18 
 
274 INTERPRETATION OF THE LEGEND TOLTEC KING. 
 
 at last driven away before the leader of the Tezcatlipoca faction, 
 namely, King Huemac, who advanced upon the peaceful king 
 with a strong army. Quetzalcoatl again voluntarily withdrew, 
 rather than occasion the bloodshed of his subjects. It is prob- 
 able that he ultimately reached Yucatan and figured there in his 
 old character under the name of Cukulcan. 1 
 
 1 Tlie sources of the Quetzalcoatl legends have been cited in connection 
 with our version of the fables applying to the name. On the relation of Ceacatl 
 Quetzalcoatl, the Toltec king, to the subject, see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, ii, 
 lib. viii, p. 266, but especially see Bancroft, vol. v, p. 256 et seq., for a fuller 
 account. The same author has treated the subject with an unprcedeuted 
 fullness in his third volume, chap. vii. The able examination of Quetzalcoatl's 
 character by Miiller, in his G-escHchte d. Am. Urreligionen (pp. 577 et seq.), has 
 been of great value to us in the preparation of this sketch. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ANCIENT PUEBLOS AND CLIFF-DWELLERS. 
 
 Casas Grandes of Chihuahua Ruins in the Casas Grandes and Janos Valleys 
 Casa Grande of the Rio Gila Ruins in the Gila Valley Also in the Valley 
 of the Rio Salado Ruins in the Canon of the Colorado In the Valley of 
 the Colorado Chiquito Pueblos of the Zuni River Zufii and the " Seven 
 Cities of Cibola " " El Moro "Pueblos of the Chaco Valley- Cliff-Dwell- 
 ers Mr. Jackson's Discoveries in the Valley of the Rio San Juan Cliff 
 Houses of the Rio Mancos Cliff-Dwellings on the McElmo Traditional 
 Origin and Fate of the Cliff- Dwellers Ancestors of the Moquis Remark- 
 able Discoveries by Mr. Holmes The Seven Moqui Towns The Monte- 
 znma Legend. 
 
 IN the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, and in our Territories of 
 Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and the State of Colorado, a 
 class of remains are found, wholly unlike those of the Mayas, 
 Nahuas, or Mound-builders, though in some instances they are 
 associated with earth-works resembling those of the latter race. 
 The style of architecture is unlike that of any other people on 
 either continent, and though varying considerably in its indi- 
 vidual examples, still present certain marked and general features 
 which leave little room for doubt that the peoples of the Pueblos 
 and the Cliffs were the same. The earliest discovered of this 
 class of remains are known as the Casas Grandes, situated at 
 about half a mile from the modern town of the same name, in 
 the fertile valley of the Casas Grandes or San Migual Kiver 
 in Northern Chihuahua. These ruins have often been described 
 second-hand and their nature is well-known to persons interested 
 in this field of inquiry. Of the above-named class of descrip- 
 tions, the latest and best is by Mr. Bancroft, who has added a 
 
276 CASAS GRANDES OP CHIHUAHUA. 
 
 bibliographical apparatus to Ms account. 1 We will, therefore, 
 confine our discussion of this group of remains to the essential 
 facts as given by Mr. J. K. Bartlett, whose account of his 
 researches is quite full and satisfactory. 2 These facts we will 
 give as briefly as possible, preferring to devote our space to 
 the new material composing the latter part of the chapter. 
 Several of the early writers refer to the Casas Grandes as 
 one of the Aztec stations ; but a little intelligent study of the 
 characteristics of the ruins, especially in the light of recent 
 explorations in the Territories, is likely to dissipate such an 
 opinion. The first examination of the ruins of which any 
 reliable record is left, was by Sr. Escudero, in 1819, published 
 in his Noticias Estadisticas del Estado de Chihuahua. A con- 
 tributor to the Album Mexicano (torn, i, pp. 374-5) furnished 
 a good account of the ruins as he found them in 1842. None 
 of the hasty sketches subsequently made by several writers are 
 worth a reference until we come to the excellent description 
 written by Mr. Bartlett in 1851, while acting as United States 
 Commissioner, in fixing the United States and Mexican boun- 
 dary line. The Casas Grandes, according to Mr. Bartlett, are 
 built of adobe or mud, in large quadrangular blocks measuring 
 about twenty-two inches in thickness by three feet or more 
 in length. The irregularity of the length of the blocks, how- 
 ever, seemed to indicate that they had been formed on the wall, 
 in situ, by means of a box open at the ends, which, when 
 the block dried, was moved along to mould a fresh block. The 
 mud is filled with coarse gravel from the plateau, which gives 
 greater hardness to the material. The Casas face the cardinal 
 points and consist of erect and fallen walls, ranging from five to 
 thirty feet in height. The accumulation of rubbish is, however, 
 considerable, and if the highest standing walls rest upon a com- 
 mon level with the lowest, they will measure from forty to fifty 
 feet in height. The edifice was discovered in ruins by the con- 
 querors, and could not have been occupied for a century, at the 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 404 et seq. 
 
 2 Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, 
 California, Sonora, and Chihuahua. New York, 1854, vol. ii, pp. 348 et seq. 
 
FORMER PROPORTIONS. 277 
 
 least calculation, prior to its discovery. It is, therefore, reason- 
 able to presume that all the walls now standing were originally 
 much higher than at present. It appears that the outer portions 
 of the edifices were the lowest, and not more than one story in 
 height, while the central ones were from three to six stories. 
 The central or inner walls are better preserved, partly by their 
 greater thickness five feet at the base and partly by the 
 heaps of ruined walls which have fallen around them. Once 
 prostrate, the blocks absorb the water, and in a few years are 
 reduced to a mass of mud and gravel. It was with difficulty 
 that Mr. Bartlett traced all the outlines of the buildings ; 
 but close examination revealed the fact that three lofty edifices 
 were connected into one by means of a low range of buildings, 
 one story high, which may have merely inclosed intervening 
 courts. The total length of this continuous edifice was at least 
 800 feet by 250 feet wide. A regular and continuous wall was 
 observed on the south side, while the eastern and western fronts, 
 with their projecting walls, were very irregular. The question 
 of the exact number of stories is not capable of solution, as no 
 vestige of timbers or wood now remains. The explorer could 
 not even detect a trace of any cavities where the floor-timbers 
 had been inserted in the walls, so decayed and washed was their 
 condition. Many doorways remained, but the lintels having de- 
 cayed, the tops had fallen in. Clavigero states that the edifice 
 had " three floors with a terrace above them and without any 
 entrance to the under floor, so that a scaling ladder is neces- 
 sary." Grarcia Conde confirms this statement as to the three 
 stories besides a roof, 1 while both authors consider this to have 
 been a station on the Aztec migration. Certainly, no architec- 
 tural analogies with the remains farther south justify this opinion. 
 Mr. Bartlett was unable to obtain but a par- .,,,.,....', 
 tial plan of the Casas Grandes. One class 
 of apartments, however, attracted his especial L J_ 1 J- J. _L J 
 
 PART OF GROUND PLAN OF CA- 
 
 attention, from the fact that they were evi- M*AKMOOTW*, 
 dently designed for granaries. They were arranged along one 
 
 1 Ensayo sabre Chihuahua, p. 74. 
 
.1111111.J 
 
 
 
 278 ADJACENT STRUCTURES. 
 
 of the main walls, and measured twenty feet in length by ten in 
 breadth. They were connected by doorways " with a small 
 inclosure or pen in one corner, three or four feet high." Numer- 
 ous long and narrow apartments, too contracted for sleeping or 
 dwelling-rooms, lighted by circular apertures in the upper walls, 
 are supposed to have been devoted to the same use. Large in- 
 closures, too extensive in their dimensions ever to have been 
 roofed, evidently were used as courts. Two hundred feet west 
 of the Casas, on the plateau, are the remains of a building 
 about 150 feet square, divided into compartments, as shown in 
 the accompanying plan : Between this 
 edifice and the main building, are three 
 mounds of loose stones about fifteen feet 
 high, which the explorers did not have time 
 to open. For a distance of twenty leagues 
 and covering an area of ten leagues wide 
 along the Casas Grandes and Janos Eivers, 
 J according to Garcia Conde, are ruins resem- 
 bling small mounds, from which jars, pot- 
 tery in various forms, painted with white, blue and scarlet colors, 
 corn-grinders (metates), and stone-axes have been taken. If this 
 region was ever occupied by the Aztecs, even temporarily, this 
 latter class of remains might more properly be attributed to 
 them, than the Casas Grandes. innumerable fragments of pot- 
 tery, superior to that now manufactured by the Mexicans, are 
 strewn everywhere in the neighborhood of the Casas Grandes. 
 The decoration is in black, red or brown, on a white or reddish 
 ground. Several graceful and highly artistic vases have been 
 collected about the ruins, and stone metates, nicely hewn, have 
 been recovered in perfect condition. On the summit of the 
 highest mountain, ten miles southwest of the ruins, stands an 
 ancient fortress of stone, the walls of which are said by the 
 writer in the Album Mexicano to have been from eighteen to 
 twenty feet thick. The fort, which is attributed to the occu- 
 pants of the Casas Grandes, was two or three stories, and in the 
 centre had a high mound for the purposes of observation. Clavi- 
 gero, who describes the fort and all of the ruins from hearsay, 
 
 ITFTTITT 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF ONE OF 
 CASAS GRANDES AT CHIHUAHUA. 
 
CASA GRANDE OF THE RIO GILA. 270 
 
 falls into the error of supposing the Casas to have also been con- 
 structed of stone. A short distance from the point where the 
 111 (meridian) of longitude crosses the Gila Kiver, in Southern 
 Arizona, in the valley occupied farther westward by the Pima 
 villages, stands the most famous ruin of all the Western remains. 
 The Casa Grande, otherwise named the Casa de Montezuma, has 
 attracted the attention of and furnished a fruitful subject for most 
 writers on Mexican antiquity, the majority of whom, however, 
 have contributed nothing to our knowledge of the history or 
 uses of the edifice. Of describers at second-hand, Mr. Bancroft 
 has cited thirty-four authors, according to our reckoning, and to 
 this number the reader must add that authors account and ours. 
 This fact is an admonition to us to confine ourselves to the 
 briefest possible statement of facts, for certainly the thirty- 
 sixth repetition of the accounts furnished by two or three original 
 explorers would be altogether inexcusable, were it not for the 
 inseparable relation of the Grila Casas to the remains to be de- 
 scribed farther on. Mr. Bancroft has treated the bibliography 
 of the subject in his usually comprehensive manner, 1 and it only 
 remains for us to refer the reader to the original descriptions. 
 The first of these was written by Padre Mange, the secretary of 
 Padre Kino, on the latter's tour of visitation to the missions 
 of the region in 1697. 2 Lieutenant C. M. Bernal, of the same 
 expedition, adds also a description. 3 Padre Sedelmair, who 
 visited the ruin in 1744, copies literally Mange's description in 
 his account of the Casas. 4 Father Font, who, in company with 
 Father Garces, made an expedition conducted by Captain Anza 
 to the Gila and the missions farther north, left a diary now 
 preserved in the original, in the archives at Guadalajara from 
 which Mr. Bartlett translated and published an extensive de- 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 621 et seq. 
 
 2 Published in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv, torn, i, pp. 282 et seq., translated in 
 Schoolcraft's Hist, and Condition of Indian Tribes, vol. iii, pp. 300 et seq., and 
 Bartlett's Pers. Narrative, vol. ii, pp. 281-2. Quoted in Native Races, vol. iv, 
 pp. 622-23. 
 
 3 Bernal in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii, torn, iv, p. 804. 
 
 4 Sedelmair, Relation, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii, torn, iv, p. 847, copied by 
 Orosco y Berra, Geografia, pp. 108-10. Also cited by Bancroft. 
 
280 DESCRIPTION OF THE CASAS. 
 
 scrip tion of the Casas. 1 Of later writers, only four wrote from 
 personal observation, namely, Emory ~ and Johnston, 3 of General 
 Kearney's Military Expedition to California in 1846 ; Bartlett 4 
 in 1852, and Koss Browne in 1863. 3 These are the only original 
 sources of information on the Casa Grande of the Gila, of 
 which Bartlett 's account may be said to be the best. However, 
 Bancroft has contributed much to facilitate the study of the 
 subject by his addition of a full literary apparatus. 
 
 From all of these we draw the facts without further citation. 
 Two and a half miles south of the Gila, on a slightly elevated 
 plateau, stands the remains of the Casa Granda surrounded with 
 a growth of mesquite trees. The ascent from the river bottom 
 is so slight and gradual that its former inhabitants had con- 
 structed acequias between the river and the buildings. Mr. 
 Bartlett found three edifices within a space of one hundred and 
 fifty yards. The larger one only was in a fair state of preserva- 
 tion. Its four outer walls and most of. the inner ones were 
 standing. Three stories were plainly marked by the ends of the 
 beams remaining in the walls or by the cavities which they once 
 occupied. No doubt the building was one story, at least, higher 
 than this indicated, as the upper walls have crumbled away 
 considerably and filled the first story with disintegrated adobe 
 and a mass of rubbish. The central portion or tower further- 
 more rises eight or ten feet higher than the outer walls, and may 
 have formed another story above the main building. At their 
 base, the walls are between four or five feet in thickness, rising 
 perpendicular on the inside, but on the outside tapering towards 
 the top in a curved line. 
 
 The material of the walls consists of blocks of adobe, pre- 
 pared as in the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, in position on the 
 walls, probably in boxes two feet high and four feet long ; after 
 the mud had dried sufficiently, the box was moved further along 
 the walls and refilled. Some difference of opinion has existed as 
 
 1 Pers. Narrative, vol. ii, pp. 278-80. 
 
 2 Emory's Reconnaissance, pp. 81-3. 
 
 3 Johnston's Journal in Ibid, pp. 567-600. 
 
 4 Pers. Nar., pp. 271-234. 5 Browne's Apache Country, pp. 114-24. 
 
AGE OF THE CASA. 281 
 
 to the color of the mud employed, though all admit it to be that 
 of the surrounding valley. Mr. Bancroft gives some attention to 
 this point, and observes that Bernal pronounced it " white clay," 
 and that according to Johnston it is also white with an admix- 
 ture of lime from the vicinity. Mr. Hutton, a civil engineer 
 who had thoroughly examined them, reported to Mr. Simpson 
 that the surrounding earth was of a reddish color, but the ad- 
 mixture of pebbles with the rnud gave the Casa a whitish appear- 
 ance in certain reflections. Mr. Bancroft seeks by this argument 
 to identify this building with Castaneda's Chichilticale, which is 
 described as having been built of red eartb. 1 The outer sides of 
 the walls were finished with a plaster similar to that which com- 
 posed the blocks, but the inner side was covered with hard finish 
 of such fine quality that when visited they still retained their 
 polish after centuries of exposure. It is estimated that the 
 edifice must have stood a hundred years at least prior to its dis- 
 covery by the Spaniards, The inner walls are slightly thinner 
 than the outer ones, and divide the building into five apart- 
 ments, as shown in Mr. Bartlett's ground plan. The building 
 measures fifty feet in length by forty in 
 width. The three central rooms indicated 
 are each about eight by fourteen feet, while 
 those at each end of the edifice are ten by 
 about thirty-two feet. The doorways in- 
 dicated in the plan are three feet wide by 
 
 five feet high, except that in the western 
 
 ,. ! , . , . , . n GROUND PLAN. 
 
 fagade, which is only two feet wide and 
 
 seven or eight feet high. The main part of the edifice was 
 
 1 Coronado, on his trip from Culiacan to the " seven cities of Cibola " in 1540, 
 saw a roofless building called Chichilticale, or " red house." Castaneda says it 
 was built of red earth and had formerly been occupied by people from Cibola. 
 This is of interest, especially since it is quite certain that the seven cities 
 visited were identical with the Pueblo towns around old Zuni on the Zuili 
 River in New Mexico (see Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 673-4, and Morgan in Nortli 
 American Review, April, 1869). The best treatment of Coronado's march is by 
 Simpson in Smithsonian Report, 1859, pp. 309 et seq. See further Castaneda, in 
 Ternaux-compans, Voy., serie i, torn, ix, pp. 40-1, 161-2. Gallatin in Am, 
 Etlmol. Soc. Trans., vol. ii, and Whipple in Pac. R. R. Report, vol. iii. 
 
282 RUINS OF THE GILA VALLEY. 
 
 probably thirty feet high, while the tower rose still ten feet 
 higher. Padre Kino found a floor in an adjoining ruin still 
 perfect, the supporting timbers of which were round and about 
 five inches in diameter, while the floor proper was formed 
 by placing cross-sticks on the joist and covering them with a 
 layer of adobe. Mr. Browne observed the marks of a blunt axe 
 still plainly visible in the timbers of cedar or sabine which had 
 been thus employed, while their charred ends furnish the only 
 clue to the cause of the ruin of the edifice, a fact suggestive of 
 the ravages of the savage Apaches. No stairways or other means 
 of ascent were discovered, and it is inferred that ladders were 
 employed upon the outside as among the modern Pueblos. 
 Near the main building, to the south-west, Mr. Bartlett dis- 
 covered another Casa in ruins, and with difficulty traced its 
 ground plan ; while a third was so completely decayed as to 
 leave no certain outline of its form. To the north-west about 
 two hundred yards, was a circular embankment eighty or one 
 hundred yards in circumference, which Mr. Bartlett supposes to 
 have been used as a stock mclosure. A few yards farther north 
 Mr. Johnston observed a terrace, two hundred by three hundred 
 feet and five feet high, and having a summit platform seventy- 
 two feet square, from which an excellent view of the valley is 
 afforded. This monument is unlike any other found among the 
 New Mexican remains. The entire valley is strewn with heaps 
 of rubbish and ruined adobe edifices, which indicate that once 
 the whole region was thickly populated by this remarkable 
 people. Mr. Bartlett found broken metates (corn-grinders), and 
 innumerable fragments of pottery painted tastefully with red, 
 white, lead color, and black. The figures were geometrical, 
 and many of the vessels had been decorated on the inside a 
 practice not in vogue with the modern peoples of the Gila Valley. 
 The finish was also far superior to that of modern pottery. The 
 Casa Grande, when last observed by Mr. Browne, was fast going 
 to pieces, the moisture having undermined some parts of the 
 outer walls, which were only kept erect by their great thickness. 
 In 1873, Mr. Bancroft learned that the edifice was still standing, 
 but it is evident that it must soon share the fate of its fallen 
 
RUINS OF THE GILA VALLEY. 
 
 283 
 
 neighbors. It is certain that this Pueblo civilization spread 
 itself over a large tract of country north of the Gila Valley in 
 the basin of the Bio Salado or Salinas, the principal tributary 
 of the Gila. Numerous buildings similar to those previously 
 described, have been noticed by different writers on the Kio 
 
 CASA GRANDE OF THE GILA VALLEY. 
 (As sketched by Ross Browne in 1863.) 
 
 Salado and its tributaries. The ruins of large edifices surrounded 
 by smaller ones are described by Sedelmair (discovered in 1744) 
 as standing between the Gila and Salado. 1 
 
 Velarde has also cited the remains of similar structures at 
 the junction of Salado and Verde and of the Salado and Gila. 2 
 We cannot refer to all of the remains reported in this region, 
 
 1 Relation in DOG. Hist. Mex., serie iii, torn, iv, p. 847. Bancroft's Native 
 Races, vol. iv, p. 634. 
 
 2 Velarde in ibid., serie iv, torn, i, p. 363, and Native Races, vol. iv, p. 63 i. 
 
284 TRANSITION FROM THE ADOBE TO STONE STRUCTURES. 
 
 especially since most of them are indescribable and shapeless 
 heaps of ruins. One edifice, however, was observed by Mr. Bart- 
 lett, two hundred feet in length by sixty or eighty feet in width ; 
 and from the accumulation of debris, it is estimated that the 
 edifice must have been three or four stories in height. This was 
 but one of several similar heaps of ruins observed in the immediate 
 vicinity. This locality, distant thirty-five miles from the river's 
 mouth, was evidently at one time the site of a populous city. 
 The remains of numerous works, probably of a public character, 
 such as irrigating canals one of which is now more than twenty 
 feet wide and four feet deep and several miles long, in the con- 
 struction of which it was necessary to cut down the bank of the 
 plateau occur in considerable numbers. The whole region is 
 strewn with fragments of broken pottery of fine workmanship. 1 
 M. Leroux, in 1854, discovered on the Rio Verde ruins of 
 stone houses and regular fortifications which did not appear to 
 have been occupied for centuries. The walls were of solid 
 masonry of rectangular form, usually from twenty to thirty paces 
 in length, and the style of architecture similar to that of the 
 Casa Grande of the Gila. Still there was sufficient resemblance 
 to the Pueblos of the Moquis to indicate a transition from the 
 southern to the northern style of Pueblo dwelling. The sudden 
 change in the material employed that from adobe to stone in 
 large blocks, well hewn is rather remarkable. The ruins are 
 found with more or less continuity between Fort McDowell and 
 Prescott. 2 Mr. Bancroft, after citing the above, expresses regret 
 at his inability to secure information in the possession of officers 
 in the Arizona service. 3 
 
 Lieutenant Whipple describes extensive ruins on the small 
 streams forming the head-waters of the Kio Verde. Both stone 
 and adobe structures were numerous, and the walls usually were 
 found to be about five feet thick. 4 Emory has described some 
 
 1 Bartlett's Pers. Nar., vol. ii, pp. 242-8. Johnston in Emory's Reconnais- 
 sance, pp. 596-600. Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, p. 636. 
 
 2 Whipple, Ewbank and Turner, in Pacific It. R. Report, vol. iii, pp. 14, 15. 
 
 3 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, p. 636. 
 
 4 Whipple in Pacific R. R. Report, vol. iii, pp. 91-4. 
 
RUINS IN THE GRAND CANON. 285 
 
 Pueblo buildings of singular structure on the upper Gila and 
 its tributaries ; most interesting of these is one with a laby- 
 rinthine plan of inner circular walls. The region also abounds 
 in rock inscriptions of a rude though no doubt conventional 
 character. 1 It is quite natural to suppose that remains of this 
 ancient people would have been found extensively on the greatest 
 river of the region the Colorado. Mr. Bancroft passes the sub- 
 ject with the statement that " no relics of antiquity are reported 
 by reliable authorities/' and fitly explains that it is unlikely, in 
 view of the peculiarity of the region, that none will ever be 
 found in the immediate vicinity of the river. 2 Whipple and his 
 associates state that " upon the lower part of the Rio Colorado 
 no traces of permanent dwellings have been discovered." 3 
 
 Since the publication of Mr. Bancroft's fourth volume, the 
 public has been made acquainted with the details of Major J. W. 
 Powell's exploration of the Grand Canon of the Colorado. 4 The 
 descent of the river was accomplished by the Major and his com- 
 panions in the summer of 1869, amid dangers so appalling and 
 privations so distressing, that we need not hesitate in pro- 
 nouncing it an exhibition of heroism having few parallels in 
 the history of exploration. The Major has since repeated his 
 perilous journey of which we have enjoyed the pleasure of a 
 verbal description in part from the explorer himself. Groups 
 of ruins were discovered in the gloomy depths of the Grand 
 Canon at three different points. In referring to them we will 
 reverse the order in which they were discovered. A hundred or 
 more miles (for we are unable to estimate the distance from the 
 account) above the Virgen River, where the granite walls rise 
 perpendicularly from the water's edge thousands of feet, the 
 canon widened somewhat and a considerable group of ruined 
 buildings were discovered on a terrace of trap. There had evi- 
 
 1 Emory's Reconnaissance, pp. C3-9, 80, 133-4. Ibid., pp. 581-96. Bancroft, 
 Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 638-9, has copied three plans. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. iv, p. 640. 
 
 3 Whipple, Ewbank and Turner, in Pacific R. R. Report. 
 
 4 First published in Scribner's Monthly, vol. is, Nos. 3, 4 and 5, for January, 
 February and March, 1875. 
 
286 EXPLORATION OF THE CANON OF THE COLORADO. 
 
 dently been quite a village in that solitary spot, shut in by hun- 
 dreds of miles of granite walls either up or down the river's 
 course. Mealing stones and fragments of broken pottery were 
 scattered about the ruins, and so many beautiful flint chips that 
 the discoverers conjectured that it might have been the home of 
 an ancient arrow-maker. Major Powell found on a natural shelf 
 in the rock, back of the ruin, a globular basket, badly broken, 
 and so decayed that when taken up it fell to pieces. 1 Some dis- 
 tance farther up the river, the grim walls of more than a mile in 
 height parted to admit the clear waters of a stream named by 
 the explorers " Bright Angel Kiver." In a little gulch above 
 the creek the foundations of two or three Pueblo houses were 
 discovered. They were built of irregular cut stones, laid in 
 mortar. An old, deeply- worn mealing stone and a great quan- 
 tity of pottery were found, and old trails were observed worn 
 into the rock. 2 
 
 It cannot fail, however, to excite the wonder of the reader to 
 learn that Major Powell found ruined pueblos hundreds of miles 
 
 1 " Canons of the Colorado," in Scribner's Monthly, vol. ix, p. 528. Powell's 
 Explorations of the Colorado River of the West. Washington. 1875. 4to. 
 
 2 " It was ever a source of wonder to us why these ancient people sought 
 such inaccessible places for their homes. They were doubtless an agricultural 
 race, but there were no lands here of any considerable extent which they could 
 have cultivated. To the west of Oraiby, and of the towns of the Province-of 
 Tusayan, in northern Arizona, the inhabitants have actually built little terraces 
 along the face of the cliff, where a spring gushes out, and there made their site 
 for gardens. It is possible that the ancient inhabitants of this place made their 
 lands in the same way. But why should they seek such spots ? Surely the 
 country was not so crowded with population as to demand the utilization of a 
 region like this. The only solution which suggests itself is this : We know 
 that for a century or two after the settlement of Mexico, many expeditions were 
 sent into the country now comprising Arizona and New Mexico for the purposs 
 of bringing the town-building people under the dominion of the Spanish govern- 
 ment. Many of their villages were destroyed, and the inhabitants fled to 
 regions at that time unknown, and there are traditions among the people who 
 now inhabit the pueblos which remain, that the canons were these unknown 
 lands. It may be that these buildings were erected at that time. Sure it is 
 that they had a much more modern appearance than the ruins scattered over 
 Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico." Major Powell in Scribner, 
 vol. ix, p. 525. Id., Explorations of the Colorado River of the West, pp. 87, 88. 
 
ANCIENT STAIRWAY IN COLORADO CANON. 287 
 
 farther up that dismal, almost subterranean river. Not far be- 
 low the foot of the Cataract Cation, and a considerable distance 
 above Escalante Kiver, in Southern Utah, the explorers discov- 
 ered on a wall two hundred feet above the river, but removed 
 from the water by a narrow plain, an old stone house of good 
 masonry. The stones were laid in mortar with much regularity. 
 It had been a three-story building, the first of which still re- 
 mained in good condition, the second being much broken, and 
 but little being left of the third. Flint chips, beautiful arrow- 
 heads and broken pottery abounded in the vicinity. The faces 
 of the cliffs were also covered with etchings. Fifteen miles 
 farther down the river another group was discovered, the princi- 
 pal building of which was in the shape of an L, with five rooms 
 on the ground floor ; one in the angle and two in each wing. In 
 the centre of the angle there was a deep excavation, doubtless 
 an underground chamber for religious services, known as an 
 Estufa. Major Powell considers these remains the work of a 
 branch of the people now occupying the province of Tusayan in 
 northern Arizona. These Moqui peoples will be noticed farther 
 on. In the neighborhood of the last-named ruin, the Major 
 found a tall, pyramidal work of nature, formed by smooth rock- 
 mounds, rising one above another. On climbing this he ob- 
 served that this natural eminence had 'been used as an outlook 
 by the people of the Pueblo. A stairway cut in the rock by 
 human hands and an old ladder resting against a perpendicular 
 rock were discovered. 1 
 
 The Colorado Chiquito and its tributaries flows through 
 the very heart of the Pueblo country. One hundred miles 
 above its junction with the Rio Colorado, Whipple, Sitgreaves 
 and others, found numerous ruins, crowning nearly every 
 prominent point in the valley. The pottery of the region is 
 unlike that usually met with, in that it is ornamented with 
 
 1 Canons of the Colorado, in Scribner's Monthly, vol. ix, p. 402 ; Powell's 
 Exploration of the Colorado River of the West, pp. 68-9. Major Powell on the 
 125th page of his report on the Colorado, gives a brief description of remains 
 in a side canon, a few miles from the great river. 
 
288 REMAINS IN VALLEY OF THE COLORADO CHIQUITO. 
 
 impressions and raised work, instead of being painted. 1 Forty 
 miles farther up the river colossal ruins were discovered standing 
 on the summit of a sandstone bluff. The walls, such as remained 
 standing, were ten feet thick, while the building measured 360 
 feet in length by 120 in width. 2 With the exception of the 
 remains of stone-houses, at the junction of the Rio Puerco with 
 the Colorado Chiquito, the only aboriginal remains reported are 
 pottery, scattered arrow-heads and numerous rock inscriptions. 
 The next tributary of the Colorado Chiquito the Zuni River 
 is celebrated because of its ancient and modern Pueblo struc- 
 tures. For fifty miles from the mouth of the Zufii, the anti- 
 quarian who could, might read the history of this ancient people, 
 spread out upon the imperishable cliffs the parchment of 
 Nature's children. Within eight miles of the inhabited Pueblo 
 towns, numerous ruins are encountered. 3 Here, within a few 
 miles, the almost mythical " seven cities of Cibola," described 
 by Coronado in 1540, and by Marco de Niga the year previous, 
 are demonstrated to have been situated. 4 Zufii itself is the 
 Granada of the devoted and romantic conquerors. In the centre 
 of a plain upon a commanding eminence, stands the inhabited 
 Pueblo of Zuiii. Its frontage is upon the river of the same 
 name, while but a short distance in the background, the mesa 
 terminates in tall cliffs of metamorphic rock several hundred 
 feet high. The town is built in blocks, with terrace-shaped 
 houses, usually three stories high, in which the lower stories do 
 service as the platform for those immediately following them. 
 Access is obtained by means of ladders reaching to the roof 
 or terrace, formed upon the first story of each of the houses. 
 The town is very compactly built, many of the streets passing 
 under the upper stories of houses. The whole is divided into 
 four squares, and the houses in each are continuously joined 
 
 1 Sitgreaves' Report, Zuni and Colorado Rivers, pp. 8-9 ; Whipple, Pacific 
 R. R. Report, vol. iii, pp. 46-50 ; Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 642-3. 
 
 2 Whipple, Pacific R. R. Report, vol. iii, pp. 76-7. 
 
 3 Sitgreaves, Zuni Ex., p. 6 ; Whipple, in Pacific R. R. Report, vol. iii, 
 pp. 39, 71 ; Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 645, 673. 
 
 4 See authorities cited on page 281, note 1, of this chapter. 
 
ZUNI. 289 
 
 together. The building material employed is stone, plastered 
 with mud. 1 A little more than two miles south-east of Zuni, 
 the ancient ruined Pueblo of the same name is situated on an 
 elevated mesa of a mile in width, the precipitous descent from 
 which, upon all sides, measures a thousand feet. The ruins of 
 old Zuni are surrounded with a growth of cedars, and cover 
 several acres of ground. The walls, constructed of small sand- 
 stone blocks laid in mud-mortar, are only eighteen inches thick 
 and are sadly dilapidated from age, only twelve feet marking 
 their highest point of present elevation. Still, there is a deeper 
 mystery about this antiquated ruin, for beneath the walls now 
 standing, others are found of a more ancient city, whose walls 
 were six feet thick, which perished either of age or by the hand 
 of the destroyer, before the present was begun. The ascent to 
 the ruin is a winding and difficult path, guarded with stone 
 battlements at different points. At a sacred spring near Zuni, 
 Whipple found vases standing inverted upon an adobe wall. 
 " Many of these were white, well-proportioned, and of elegant 
 forms. Upon their inner and outward surfaces they were curi- 
 ously painted to represent frogs, tadpoles, tortoises, butterflies, 
 and rattlesnakes." The tufted snakes on one of the vases are 
 pronounced almost unique in America. 2 Twelve miles above 
 Zuni, at Ojo del Pescado, four or five ruined towns are found, 
 but so badly decayed as to furnish little clue to their plan. Two 
 of them, however, are constructed elliptically around a spring, 
 and present a circumference of about 800 to 1000 feet. Two- 
 thirds of a mile down the river, ruined pueblos in a fair state 
 of preservation, with two stories standing, are described as 
 covering an area of 150 by 200 yards. At the time of Mollhau- 
 sen's visit, the roofs and fire-places were in quite good condition. 
 
 1 See Whipple, in Pacific It. R, Report, vol. iii, p. 67, with beautiful full 
 page view. Simpson's Jour, of Mil.Recon., pp. 90-3 ; Bancroft's Native Races, 
 vol. iv, pp. 645, 667, 673. 
 
 2 Whipple in Pacific R.R. Report, vol. iii, pp. 68, 70, 66, 40-8, views of old 
 Zurii, and sacred spring ; Mollhausen, Reisen im die Felsengebirge Ji. Am., 
 torn, ii, pp. 196, 402 ; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 283-4, 278, with cut ; Bancroft, vol. iv, 
 pp. 645-7, with cut. 
 
 8 Mollhausen's Journey, vol. ii, p. 82 : Whipple et al., in Pacific R. R. Report, 
 
 19 
 
290 RUINS AT OJO DEL PESCADO. 
 
 A square estufa, still under roof, and numerous rock inscrip- 
 tions, were observed. In this instance we are furnished with 
 abundant evidence that the destruction of this people never 
 was a wholesale one, but that gradually they are succumbing 
 to their unpropitious surroundings a land which is fast be- 
 coming a howling wilderness, with its scourging sands and 
 roaming savage Bedouin the Apaches. One more locality in 
 this region merits attention. Eighteen miles south-east of 
 the sources of the Zufii Eiver, stands a sandstone rock three 
 hundred feet high, which at a distance resembles a Moorish 
 fortress. The Spaniards named it El Moro. It is also known as 
 " Inscription Kock," because of the Spanish and Indian inscrip- 
 tions which cover its smooth face. Simpson has copied some of 
 them, which is quite fortunate, since later explorers have found 
 many of them almost effaced. The ruins of two buildings are 
 found on the summit, which is reached by a difficult path. . The 
 large group is in -the form of a rectangle, measuring 307 by 206 
 feet. The walls, faced with sandstone blocks, remain standing to 
 the height of six and eight feet. The other group is separated from 
 the first by a deep ravine, and is found upon the very brink of 
 the outer precipice. A circular estufa thirty-one feet in diameter 
 was also noticed. Cedar timbers were found in the walls, and 
 broken pottery in abundance. 1 About one hundred miles in a 
 north north-easterly direction from Zufii, in longitude 108 and 
 latitude 36, the most remarkable of the pueblo ruins are sit- 
 uated. These are on the north bank of the Chaco Kiver, a 
 tributary of the Eio San Juan, a stream the affluents of which 
 are noted for a greater number of pueblo and cliff-dwellers' ruins 
 than are found elsewhere. Lieutenant Simpson has described 
 the ruins of the Chaco, eleven in number, occurring within a 
 distance of twenty-five miles. The first of these met with in 
 
 vol. iii, p. 39 ; Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 95-7 ; Bancroft's Native Races, 
 vol. iv, pp. 647-8. 
 
 1 Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 89-109, 60-1, 65-74, 100, with cuts, views 
 and plans ; Whipple, Ewbank and Turner, in Pacific R. R. Report, vol. iii, 
 pp. 22, 52, 63-4 ; see also Mollhausen's Tagebuch and Journey; Bancroft, vol. iv. 
 pp. 645-50. 
 
PUEBLOS OF THE CHACO VALLEY. 291 
 
 coming from the south is called at present (we presume in the 
 absence of the knowledge of the true name) the Pueblo Pintado. 
 The most remarkable feature of this great structure is the 
 beauty and precision of the masonry. The fine, hard gray sand- 
 stone blocks are quite uniformly three inches in thickness and 
 are laid without mortar, always breaking joints. The crevices 
 between the ends of the blocks are filled with very thin pieces 
 of stone, not over a quarter of an inch thick. The walls of the 
 pueblo now standing, are at their greatest height, thirty feet, 
 and furnish evidence from the marks of the floor-timbers that 
 the building was three stories. The walls are between two and 
 three feet thick at the base, though this is diminished with each 
 succeeding story by a jog of a few inches, upon which the 
 flooring timbers rest. These are from six to eleven inches in 
 diameter, always of uniform size in the same room. On these 
 beams small round sticks are laid transversely, and these in 
 turn covered with thin cedar strips, lying transversely of the 
 round sticks. In some rooms the chinks in the floor were filled 
 with small stones and the whole covered with a layer of mortar. 
 One room, however, had a floor of smooth cedar boards, seven 
 inches wide and three-quarters of an inch thick. The edges and 
 ends were squarely cut, and their smooth surfaces indicate that 
 they were polished by being rubbed with flat stones. The size 
 of these ruins may be better understood when we state that five 
 buildings measured in circumference respectively 872, 700, 1700, 
 1300 and 1300 feet ; while the number of rooms, still well-defined 
 on the ground floor of each, is 72, 99, 112, 124 and 139. Some 
 of these buildings undoubtedly had as high as a thousand rooms, 
 while the smallest of them probably contained half that number. 
 The smallest apartments are five feet square, while the largest 
 are eight by fourteen feet. The ground plan of the buildings 
 of this valley have three tiers of rooms, while one building, the 
 Pueblo Bonito, has four tiers of apartments. The usual form 
 of the buildings corresponds to three sides of a rectangle, with 
 the fourth (one of the long sides of the figure) left unbuilt 
 (except that in some cases it was inclosed by a semi-circular stone 
 wall), thus affording a partially enclosed court of large dimen- 
 
292 PUEBLO ARCH. 
 
 sions. The exterior walls are in all cases perpendicular, thus 
 differing from the pueblos farther south. The terracing in the 
 Chaco structures is upon the inside (court side) of the buildings. 
 In some of the buildings, however, the angles of the quad- 
 rangle are rounded, and in one instance that of the Penasco 
 Blanco the structure is almost circular. From the nature of 
 the plan of any of these buildings it is evident that many of the 
 apartments on the ground floor were dark, and were probably 
 used for granaries and store-rooms. There are no doors what- 
 ever in the outer walls, and no windows except in the upper 
 stories. Windows and doors opening into the courts are, on the 
 contrary, numerous in all the stories but the first. The doors 
 are quite small, in many cases not exceeding two and a half feet 
 square. The lintels of the doors and windows are in most cases 
 stone slabs, but in some instances are small round timbers tied 
 together with withes. A remarkable feature of the construction 
 is the presence of the Yucatan arch formed of overlapping stones, 
 illustrations of which may be seen in our next chapter. Dr. 
 Hammond, a companion of Lieutenant Simpson, has minutely 
 described a room of very perfect finish. 1 Each edifice was pro- 
 vided with the sacred estufa, and some of the houses had as 
 many as seven, circular in form, excavated several feet deep in 
 the earth and enclosed with circular walls. One in the Pueblo 
 Bonito was of remarkable size, having been sixty feet in diameter, 
 extending twelve feet below the surface and rising two or three 
 stories high. Lieutenant Simpson found in close proximity to 
 one of the ruins an excavation in the cliff which had been 
 enclosed with a front wall of well-laid stone and mortar, thus 
 associating one of the simplest of the cave-dwellings to which 
 we shall refer presently, with one of the most extensive and per- 
 fect of the Pueblo buildings ; a fact of no little value in identi- 
 fying the architects of both as one and the same. 2 This intro- 
 
 1 In Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 131-3, and copied in a note l>y Ban- 
 croft, vol. iv, p. 657. 
 
 2 See on Chaco ruins, Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 34-43, 131-3. Dome- 
 nech's Deserts, vol. i, pp. 199-200, 379-81, 385. Baldwin's Anc. Am., pp. 80-9, 
 cut. The best description except Simpson's is Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, 
 
THE CLIFF-DWELLERS. 293 
 
 duces us to another class of ruins, which, with a couple of 
 exceptions, were not discovered prior to the summer of 1874. 
 We refer to the cliff-dwellings, the most remarkable habitations 
 ever occupied by man. The descriptions of them seem more 
 suitable to form parts of the most romantic works of -fiction 
 than of sober and scientific memoirs from the pens of govern- 
 ment explorers. One hundred miles westward from the ruins 
 of the Chaco lies the Chelly Valley or Canon. The Chelly is 
 one of the tributaries of the Kio San Juan from the south, 
 having its source in the Navajo country. The Chelly Canon is 
 described as from one hundred and fifty to nine hundred feet 
 wide, with perpendicular sides between three hundred and five 
 hundred feet high. Simpson in 1849 found several caves built 
 up in front with stone and mortar in a side canon. About four 
 miles from its foot or mouth he observed on a shelf fifty feet 
 high, accessible only by ladders, a stone ruin, the plan of which 
 resembles that of the Chaco Valley pueblos, except that' it was 
 constructed on a considerably smaller scale. Three miles fur- 
 ther up the canon a double ruin of an extraordinary nature was 
 discovered. At the base of the canon stood an ancient pueblo 
 in ruins, but with parts of the first and second stories still erect. 
 Fifty feet in a perpendicular line, above and immediately back 
 of the first edifice, in a shelf, or in the mouth of a cavern in the 
 canon's walls, stood another building constructed of sandstone 
 and mortar, and measuring one hundred and forty-five by forty- 
 five feet, with walls eighteen feet high still standing. Broken 
 pottery was plentiful, as around all the ruins we have described. 
 The building was lighted by square windows and provided with 
 a circular estufa. 1 
 
 The most surprising results in all the history of archaeological 
 exploration in this country were obtained in September, 1874, 
 by a party connected with the United States Geological and 
 
 pp. .652-62, which we have found of valuable assistance in preparing the above 
 account. 
 
 1 Simpson's Jour. Mil. Eecon., pp. 74-5, plates 53-4, copied by Bancroft, 
 vol. iv, p. 652 ; also ses Domenech's Deserts, vol. i, p. 201, and Annual Scienc. 
 Discov., 1850, p. 362. 
 
294 CANON OF THE RIO MANGOS. 
 
 Geographical Survey Corps. This party was composed of only 
 three persons, Mr. W. H. Jackson and Mr. Ingersoll with their 
 guide, Captain John Moss, a resident of La Plata, who possessed 
 both a knowledge of the country and an acquaintance with the 
 language of the Indians. In the south-western corner of Colorado, 
 the canons of two of the tributaries of the San Juan were exam- 
 ined, namely, the valleys of the Kivers Mancos and McElmo. 1 The 
 former stream rises among the western foothills of the Sierra La 
 Plata, and flows south-westerly through fertile valleys to a great 
 table-land known as the " Mesa Verde," thence to the San Juan 
 near the crossing of the boundary lines of the four territories. 
 In the upper valley of the Mancos, between the mountains and 
 the mesa, groups of undistinguishable ruins were discovered in 
 great numbers. An examination of the shapeless heaps revealed 
 foundations composed of great square blocks of adobe. The 
 great multitude of these heaps of masonry overgrown with pines 
 indicates a general and unsparing destruction of the houses of 
 the people who once inhabited the valley, at the hands of their 
 enemies. The canon through the Mesa Yerda is quite uniformly 
 two hundred yards wide, with perpendicular walls of grayish 
 cretaceous sandstone ranging from six hundred to one thousand 
 feet in height. Numbers of the mounds of ruined adobe were 
 met with at each advance into the cation, and upon promontories 
 jutting out towards the stream, remains of stone walls were 
 seen as high as fifty feet from the river's bed. Every step revealed 
 great quantities of broken pottery, and with this statement we 
 will let the subject of these fragmentary relics of the by-gone 
 civilization rest for the present. 
 
 One of the first cliff houses discovered by the explorers is a 
 most interesting structure, the position of which, over six hun- 
 dred feet from the bottom of the cailon in a niche of the wall, 
 
 1 W. H. Jackson in Bulletin of U. 8. Geol. and G-eog. Survey of the Terri- 
 tories, 2d series, No. 1, Washington, 1875, and in the Annual Report of the same, 
 Washington, 1876, pp. 369 et seq. A condensed though excellent account is 
 furnished by Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 718 et seq. Also a condensed account by 
 Prof. Edwin A. Barber in Congres des Americanistes, Luxembourg, 1877. 
 Seconde Session, torn, i, pp. 22-38. Also Ibid., The Ancient Pueblos, or Ruins 
 of the Valley of the Rio San Juan. Parts I, II. 
 
CLIFF-HOUSE OF THE EIO MANGOS. 
 
 295 
 
 furnishes a significant commentary on the straits to which this 
 sorely-pressed people were driven by their enemies. Five hun- 
 dred feet of the ascent to this aerial dwelling was comparatively 
 easy, but a hundred feet of almost perpendicular wall confronted 
 the party, up which they could never have climbed but for the 
 fact that they found a series of steps cut in the face of the 
 rock leading up to the ledge upon which the house was built. 
 
 CLIFF-HOUSE IN THE CA^ON OF THE MANGOS. 
 
 This ledge was ten feet wide by twenty feet in length, with a 
 a vertical space between it and the overhanging rock of fifteen 
 feet. The house occupied only half this space, the remainder 
 having been used as an esplanade, and once was inclosed by a 
 balustrade resting on abutments, built partly upon the sloping 
 face of the precipice below. The house was but twelve feet 
 high and two-storied. Though the walls did not reach up to the 
 rock above, it is uncertain whether it ever had any other roof. 
 The ground plan showed a front room of six by nine feet in 
 dimensions, in the rear of which were two smaller rooms, each 
 
296 CLIFF-HOUSE OF THE RIO MANGOS. 
 
 measuring five by seven feet. The left-hand room projected 
 along the cliff, beyond the front room, in the form of an L. 
 The rock of the cliff served as the rear wall of the house. The 
 cedar beams upon which the upper floor had rested had nearly 
 all disappeared. The door opening on the esplanade was but 
 twenty by thirty inches in size, while a window in the same story 
 was but twelve inches square. A window in the upper story, 
 which commands an extended view down the canon, corresponded 
 in dimensions and position with the door below. The lintels 
 of the window were small straight cedar sticks laid close to- 
 gether, upon which the stones rested. Opposite this window 
 was another and smaller one, opening into a semicircular cistern, 
 formed by a wall inclosing the angle formed by the side wall of 
 the house against the rock, and holding about two and a half 
 hogsheads. The bottom of the reservoir was reached by descend- 
 ing on a series of cedar pegs about one foot apart, and leading 
 downward from the window. The workmanship of the structure 
 was of a superior order ; the perpendiculars were true ones and 
 the angles carefully squared. The mortar used was of a grayish 
 white color, very compact and adhesive. Some little taste was 
 evinced by the occupants of this human swallow's nest. The 
 front rooms were plastered smoothly with a thin layer of firm 
 adobe cement, colored a deep maroon, while a white band, eight 
 inches wide, had been painted around the room at both floor and 
 ceiling. An examination of the immediate vicinity revealed the 
 ruins of half a dozen similar dwellings in the ledges of the cliffs, 
 some of them occupying positions the inaccessibility of which 
 must ever be a wonder, when considered as places of residence 
 for human beings. Half-way down the canon, one of Mr. Jack- 
 son's party discovered a rather remarkable watch-tower, which, 
 because of the accumulations of debris, he was not able to ac- 
 curately measure, though approximate figures were given. Since 
 his visit, the tower has been thoroughly examined by Mr. W. H. 
 Holmes, to whose work in this field we will refer on a future 
 page. Mr. Holmes' measurements and ground-plan are, there- 
 fore, substituted for those of Mr. Jackson. 
 
 The diameter of the outer wall is forty-three feet, that 
 
WATCH-TOWER OF THE MANGOS. 297 
 
 of the inner, twenty-five feet. The outer wall is still standing 
 to the height of twelve feet at one point, and is in a fair state 
 of preservation, with a thickness of twenty-one inches, and has 
 the stones dressed to the curve. The ring-shaped space be- 
 tween the inner and outer wall is estimated to have contained 
 ten compartments, two of which at present have complete walls. 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF TOWER IN THE MANGOS CA^ON. 
 
 No door or window was observed in the outer wall, and it is 
 supposed that access was obtained by means of a ladder. Two 
 nearly rectangular openings were found connecting the outer 
 apartments with the central part of the tower, which no doubt 
 was used as an estufa. 1 Mr. Jackson, after leaving the tower 
 which Mr. Holmes has so fully described (of which the above is 
 but a condensed account), saw similar towers on a somewhat 
 
 1 Bulletin No. 1, vol. ii, pp. 11, 12. 
 
298 
 
 NEST-LIKE DWELLINGS. 
 
 smaller scale. His next discovery in the face of the vertical 
 rock, which here ran up from the bottom of the canon and at a 
 height of from fifty to one hundred feet, were a number of nest- 
 like habitations, one of which is figured in the cut. 
 
 The cliff-house in this case was reached by its occupants 
 from the top of the canon. The walls are pronounced as firm as 
 the rock upon which they were built. The stones were very 
 
 CLIFF-DWELLING OF THE MANGOS CANON. 
 
 regular in size, and the chinking-in of small chips of stone 
 rendered the surface of the wall remarkably smooth and well 
 finished. The dwelling measured fifteen feet in length, five feet 
 in width, and six feet in height. A short distance below this little 
 dwelling, five or six cave-like crevices were found walled up in 
 front with very perfect walls, rendered smooth by chinking. 
 Three miles farther down the canon, the party discovered at 
 heights ranging from six hundred and eight hundred feet above 
 their heads, some curious and unique little dwellings sandwiched 
 in among the crevices of the horizontal strata of the rock of 
 
CLIFF-DWELLINGS OF THE MANGOS CANON. 
 
 299 
 
 CLIFF-DWELLING OF THE MANGOS 
 CA^ON. 
 
 which the bluff was composed. Access to the summit of the 
 bluff, a thousand feet high, was obtained by a circuitous path 
 through a side canon, and the houses themselves could only be 
 reached at the utmost peril of being precipitated to the bottom 
 of the dizzy abyss by crawl- 
 ing along a ledge twenty 
 inches wide and only high 
 enough for a man in a creep- 
 ing position. This led to 
 the wider shelf on which the 
 houses rested. The perfection 
 of the finish was especially 
 noticeable in one of these 
 
 houses, which was but fifteen 
 feet long and seven feet 
 high, with a side wall run- 
 ning back in a semicircular sweep. In every instance the party 
 found the elevated cliff-houses situated on the western side of 
 the canon with their outlook toward the east, while the build- 
 ings at the bottom of the caiion were indiscriminately built on 
 both sides of the river. 
 
 A circular watch-tower, which may be said to serve as a fair 
 type of others met with at irregular intervals, is shown in the cut 
 (p. 300). The tower remained standing to a height of twenty feet. 
 Its diameter measured twelve feet and the thickness of the walls 
 sixteen inches, the stones being of uniform size and smoothly 
 dressed to the curve of the circle. A rectangular structure, 
 divided into two apartments, each about fifteen feet square, 
 once joined the tower, but now is in ruins, all but the founda- 
 tion. It is supposed that this edifice was built over a large sub- 
 terranean keep or place of defence. The exploring party here 
 emerged from the canon, and could discern, as they glanced 
 down the valley of the Kio Mancos, which now turned towards 
 the west, mounds of shapeless ruins at short distances from one 
 another as far as the eye could reach. 
 
 Bearing around the Mesa to the west, the party encamped 
 upon the site of the most extensive mass of ruins yet found in 
 
300 
 
 CIRCULAR WATCH-TOWER. 
 
 United States territory, "known as the Aztec Springs/' As 
 Mr. Jackson's description is but partial, we defer the treatment 
 of this locality until we take up the explorations of Mr. Holmes, 
 already mentioned. Four miles distant from " Aztec Springs/' 
 the party reached a river-bed, dry during most of the year, and 
 known as the McElmo, which, when it flows at all, empties into 
 the San Juan farther to the west. On the mesa, above this 
 river-bed, a tower resembling that first met in the Mancos was 
 
 WATCH-TOWER OF THE CA&ON OF THE MANGOS. 
 
 observed, but of much greater size, having a diameter of fifty 
 feet. Adjoining the tower were the ruins of large subdivided 
 buildings resembling the community dwellings of the Moquis 
 and the old ruins of the Chaco. This group of ruins was very 
 extensive and complicated, literally occupying all the available 
 space in the vicinity. 
 
 Half a dozen miles down the canon of the McElmo, several 
 of the little nest-like dwellings peculiar to the Mancos were seen 
 perched forty or fifty feet above the valley. A couple of miles 
 beyond these, the tower shown in the cut (p. 301) was discovered 
 standing on the summit of a great block of sandstone forty feet 
 high, and detached from the bluff back of it. 
 
SQUARE TOWER ON THE McELMO. 
 
 301 
 
 The building which surmounts this rocky pedestal is square 
 and about fifteen feet high at present. Windows open toward 
 the north and east, the directions from which the enemies of this 
 people, according to tradition, came down upon them. A wall at 
 the base of the rock is mostly in ruins and covered with debris 
 from the building above. Immediately beyond this point the 
 boundary line into Utah was crossed, and two or three miles 
 distant the party came upon a very interesting group, a historic 
 
 SQUARE TOWER ON THE McEuvio. 
 
 spot in the career of this ancient race. In the centre of the 
 widening valley stands a solitary butte of dark-red sandstone, 
 upon a perfectly smooth floor of the same, dipping gently towards 
 the centre of the valley. This butte or cristone is about one 
 hundred feet high and three hundred feet in length, of irregular 
 form. All around the rock are remains of stone walls which 
 indicate an extensive structure and complicated system of walls 
 and towers. At the back of the rock two remains attract 
 special attention. One wall forming the corner of a building 
 near the base of the rock, seems to have served as an approach 
 
302 
 
 ORIGIN AND FATE OF THE CLIFF-DWELLERS. 
 
 to the larger house up in the side of the butte. This structure 
 is about eighteen feet in length and twelve feet in height, nearly 
 reaching to the top of the rock. Part of the walls have fallen, 
 but those standing show a finish surpassing those of any struc- 
 ture previously discovered in the region. In front is a single 
 aperture eighteen by twenty- four inches. On top of the rock are 
 remains of masonry, but too badly ruined to indicate their original 
 form. All the crevices and irregularities in the faces of the 
 
 CLIFF HOUSE IN THE CANON OF THE McELMo. 
 
 butte had been smoothly walled up ; it is supposed, to make 
 its ascent impossible. In the vicinity a tower with a rounded 
 corner and twelve feet in diameter by twenty feet high stood 
 in a dry creek bed. 
 
 We remarked that this was a historic locality, as certainly 
 it was if the legend obtained by Captain Moss from an old man 
 among the Moquis is reliable. Mr. Ingersoll has rendered it 
 in the New York Tribune for November 3d, 1874, as follows : 
 "Formerly, the aborigines inhabited all this country we had been 
 over as far west as the head- waters of the San Juan, as far north 
 as the Rio Dolores, west some distance into Utah, and south and 
 south-west throughout Arizona and on down into Mexico. They 
 had lived there from time immemorial since the earth was a 
 
THEIR TRADITION. 3Q3 
 
 small island, which augmented as its inhabitants multiplied. 
 They cultivated the valley, fashioned whatever utensils and tools 
 they needed very neatly and handsomely out of clay and wood 
 and stone, not knowing any of the useful metals ; built their 
 homes and kept their flocks and herds in the fertile river- 
 bottoms, and worshipped the sun. They were an eminently 
 peaceful and prosperous people, living by agriculture rather than 
 by the chase. About a thousand years ago, however, they were 
 visited by savage strangers from the North, whom they treated 
 hospitably. Soon these visits became more frequent and annoy- 
 ing. Then their troublesome neighbors ancestors of the present 
 Utes began to forage upon them, and, at last, to massacre them 
 and devastate their farms ; so, to save their lives at least, they 
 built houses high upon the cliffs where they could store food and 
 hide away till the raiders left. But one summer the invaders 
 did not go back to their mountains as the people expected, but 
 brought their families with them and settled down. So, driven 
 from their homes and lands, starving in their little niches on the 
 high cliffs, they could only steal away during the night, and 
 wander across the cheerless uplands. To one who has traveled 
 these steppes, such a flight seems terrible, and the mind hesitates 
 to picture the suffering of the sad fugitives. At the Cristone 
 they halted and probably found friends, for the rocks and caves 
 are full of the nests of these human wrens and swallows. Here 
 they collected, erected stone fortifications and watch-towers, dug 
 reservoirs in the rocks to hold a supply of water, which in all 
 cases is precarious in this latitude, and once more stood at bay. 
 Their foes came, and for one long month fought and were beaten 
 back, and returned day after day to the attack as merciless and 
 inevitable as the tide. Meanwhile, the families of the defenders 
 were evacuating and moving south, and bravely did their pro- 
 tectors shield them till they were all safely a hundred miles 
 away. The besiegers were beaten back and went away. But 
 the narrative tells us that the hollows of the rocks were filled 
 to the brim with the mingled blood of conquerors and conquered, 
 and red veins of it ran down into the canon. It was such a 
 victory as they could not afford to gain again, and they were glad, 
 
304 
 
 RUINS OF THE HOVENWEEP. 
 
 when the long fight was over, to follow their wives and little 
 ones to the south. There, in the deserts of Arizona, on well-nigh 
 unapproachable isolated bluffs, they built new towns, and their 
 few descendants, the Moquis, live in them to this day, preserv- 
 ing more carefully and purely the history and veneration of their 
 forefathers than their skill or wisdom. It was from one of their 
 old men that this traditional sketch was obtained/' In a side 
 canon, a tower eighteen feet high was seen perched on a huge 
 block of sandstone which had fallen from the top of the mesa 
 and lodged on a projecting shelf of rock, midway from top or 
 bottom. Eight or ten miles westward of the McElmo, Mr. 
 
 RUINS OF THE HOVENWEEP. 
 
 Jackson and his party discovered on a stream known as the 
 Hovenweep, the ruins of a city. Mr. Jackson's description is as 
 follows : " The stream referred to sweeps the foot of a rocky 
 sandstone ledge, some forty or fifty feet in height, upon which is 
 built the highest and better-preserved portion of the settlement. 
 Its semicircular sweep conforms to the ledge, each little house 
 of the outer circle being built close upon its edge. Below the 
 level of these upper houses some ten or twelve feet, and within 
 the semicircular sweep, are seven distinctly marked depressions, 
 each separated from the other by rocky debris, the lower or first 
 series probably of small community houses. Upon either flank, 
 and founded upon rocks, are buildings similar in size and in 
 other respects to the large ones on the line above. As paced off, 
 
ADDITIONAL EXPLORATIONS BY MR. JACKSON. 305 
 
 the upper or convex surface measured one hundred yards in 
 length. Each little apartment is small and narrow, averaging six 
 feet in width and eight feet in length, the walls being eighteen 
 inches in thickness. The stones of which the entire group is 
 built are dressed to nearly uniform size and laid in mortar. A 
 peculiar feature here is in the round corners, one at least appear- 
 ing upon nearly every little house. They are turned with consid- 
 erable care and skill, being true curves solidly bound together/' 
 
 Here the labors of Mr. Jackson's party ended for the year 
 1874, but the work was again resumed in July of the following 
 year with even richer results. Two parties were put in the field 
 by the Government Surveying Corps, one headed by Mr. Jack- 
 son and the other by Mr. W. H. Holmes, geologists of the San 
 Juan division of the survey for 1875. I am indebted to Prof. 
 Hayden, United States geologist-in-charge, for the memoirs pre- 
 pared by these gentlemen, with the accompanying illustrations. 1 
 The reader has already become acquainted with the general 
 character of the remains of the cliff-dwellers, and it will not be 
 necessary to repeat the descriptions of buildings or ruins similar 
 to those already described in these pages. We shall therefore 
 cite only the more remarkable ruins discovered by the above- 
 named explorers. Mr. Jackson was accompanied on his second 
 tour, by Mr. E. A. Barber, naturalist and correspondent of the 
 New York Herald, with Harry Lee as guide and interpreter. 
 The party resumed their labors in the arid, waterless region 
 around the Hovenweep, and in fact the same barren charac- 
 teristics are peculiar to the whole basin of the San Juan. The 
 whole region is rapidly drying up and fast becoming a desert. 
 Down the canon from the pueblo of the Hovenweep, broken towers 
 and rock shelters were passed in rapid succession. Seven miles 
 distant from their starting-point, they found on the western side 
 of the valley three elevated benches ranging one above another 
 in the face of a jutting promontory, each of which contained 
 
 1 Published in Bulletin of the Geological and Geographical Survey of the 
 Territories, vol. ii, No. 1. Washington, 1876. Mr. Bancroft's account in the 
 Native Races, necessarily terminates with the close of Mr. Jackson's labors in 
 
 1874. 
 
 20 
 
306 
 
 NICHE STAIRWAY OF THE HOVENWEEP. 
 
 NICHE STAIRWAY OF 
 THE HO YEN WEEP. 
 
 houses (see illustration, page' 
 307). The first bench was 
 reached by climbing over a 
 sloping mass of debris to a 
 height of one hundred feet 
 from the base of the cliff, 
 while the upper benches were 
 only accessible by means of 
 a niche stairway as shown in 
 the figure. 
 
 Ruins and masses of char- 
 coal were found at the base 
 of the rock. Numerous adobe 
 foundations, probably of wood- 
 en buildings, always circular 
 in form and ranging from fif- 
 teen to twenty-five feet in 
 diameter, were met with a 
 short distance down the canon. 
 
CLIFF-HOUSE OF THE HOVENWEEP. 
 
 307 
 
 Near the junction of the Hovenweep and McElmo canons an 
 inscription covers sixty feet of the face of a large rock. The 
 figures are those of men, goats, lizards, and hieroglyphic signs. 
 As the party proceeded 
 in the canon they met 
 rock shelters and enclos- 
 ures, the latter on the top 
 of the mesa in which 
 slabs of stone three by 
 five feet in size were set 
 on end. Mr. Jackson re- 
 ports that a party con- 
 nected with the survey 
 corps discovered near the 
 head of the Hovenweep, 
 on a ledge three hundred 
 feet long by fifty feet wide, 
 one- third of the distance 
 from the top of the canon, 
 some forty houses crowded 
 along the shelf all in a 
 row. On the San Juan 
 west of the mouth of the 
 Montezuma Canon, upon 
 a bench fifty feet high, Mr. 
 Jackson found a quad- 
 rangular structure of pe- 
 culiar design, as shown CLIFF-HOUSE OF THE HOVENWEEP. 
 in the cut on page 308. 
 
 " We see that it is arranged very nearly at right angles to the 
 river, its greatest depth on the left, where it runs back one hun- 
 dred and twenty feet ; the front sweeps back in a diagonal line, 
 so that the right-hand side is only thirty-two feet in depth. 
 The back wall is one hundred and fifty-eight feet long, and at 
 right angles to the two sides. In the centre of the building, 
 looking out upon the river, is an open space seventy-five feet 
 wide, and averaging forty feet in depth, its depressed centre 
 
308 
 
 RUINS UPON THE SAN JUAN. 
 
 divided nearly equally by a ridge running through it at right 
 angles to the river. We judged it to have been an open court, 
 because there was not the least vestige of a wall in front, or on 
 the ridge through the centre, while upon the other three sides 
 they were perfectly distinct ; although it is difficult to explain 
 why it should have been hollowed out in the manner shown in 
 the plan. Back of this court is a series of seven apartments of 
 equal size, springing in a perfect arch from the heavy wall facing 
 the court, leaving a semicircular space in the centre, forty-five 
 feet across its greatest diameter. Each one is fifteen feet in 
 
 RUINS UPON THE 
 
 RIO SAN JUAN 
 
 ff 50 ft. in height, 
 ing a row of 
 small buildings 
 
 length, and the same in width across its centre, the walls some- 
 what irregular in thickness, but averaging twenty inches, com- 
 pact, and well laid. On the left are three rooms extending 
 across the whole width of the building, each averaging forty-five 
 by forty feet square ; on the right only one was discernible. 
 Back of the circle, our impression was that the walls diverged in 
 the manner shown in the plan, although there is so much con- 
 fusion resulting from the heaping up of the debris that much 
 must be left to conjecture. There is also a slight shadow of 
 doubt in regard to the wall facing the river on the right ; it is 
 barely possible that it extended somewhat farther out, although 
 
ROCK-SHELTERS ON THE RIO SAN JUAN. 
 
 309 
 
 there is here a steep inclination to the brink of the bluff, and 
 that it has become entirely obliterated by its foundations giving 
 way. The remains of the wall above, however, led us to believe 
 that it had been originally built in the way it is shown in the 
 plan. Extreme massiveness is indicated throughout the whole 
 structure by the amount of debris about the line of the walls, 
 forming long rounded mounds four to five feet high, with the 
 stone-work cropping out, twenty to twenty-four inches in thick- 
 ness." 
 
 In the face of the bluff 
 immediately under this ruin 
 and upon a recessed bench 
 three hundred feet long was 
 a row of little rock-shelters, 
 with just enough room on 
 the ledge in front of them 
 to admit of a promenade the 
 entire length of the shelf. 
 All down the valley of the 
 San Juan, rock shelters and 
 dwellings similar to the 
 group shown in the cut, 
 were met with. 
 
 In this instance the 
 houses were situated sixty 
 feet above the trail without 
 
 ROCK-SHELTERS OF THE SAN JUAN CANON. 
 any visible means of access. 
 
 If ladders were used, they were made of timber taller than any 
 of the trees now growing in the valley. Twelve miles below the 
 Montezuma the party discovered really one of the most pictur- 
 esque and wonderful of all the cliff dwellings. On the opposite 
 side of the river, where the bluff was two hundred feet high, 
 near the top of the cliff, they observed a deeply receding cave 
 with an opening nearly circular " two hundred feet in diameter, 
 divided equally between the two kinds of rocks, reaching, within 
 a few feet, the top of the bluff above and the level of the valley 
 below. It runs back in a semicircular sweep to a depth of one 
 
310 
 
 GREAT ECHO CAVE, RIO SAN JUAN. 
 
 hundred feet ; the top is a perfect half dome, and the lower half 
 only less so from the accumulation of dc-bris and the thick brushy 
 foliage, the cool dampness of its shadowed interior, where the 
 sun never touches, favoring a luxuriant growth. A stratum of 
 harder rock across the central line of the cave has left a bench 
 running around its entire half circle, upon which is built the 
 row of buildings which caught our attention half a mile away." 
 
 HORIZONTAL SECTION" 
 ofthe 
 
 GREAT ECHO CAVE 
 
 on the 
 .RIO SAN .JUAN Row of jj jj oomg) one gtory in height, from 4 to 10 feet in width, by 130 feet. 
 
 "It will be seen that the houses occupy the left-hand or 
 eastern half of the cave, for the reason, probably, that the ledge 
 was wider on that side, and the wall back of it receded in such a 
 manner as to give considerable additional room for the second 
 floor, or for the upper part of the one-story rooms. It is about 
 fifty feet from the outer edge in to the first building, a small 
 structure sixteen feet long, three feet wide at the outer end, and 
 four at the opposite end ; the walls, standing only four feet on 
 the highest remaining corner, were nearly all tumbled in. Then 
 came an open space eleven feet wide and nine deep, that served 
 probably as a sort of workshop. Four holes were drilled into 
 the smooth rock floor, about six feet equiclistantly apart, each 
 from six to ten inches deep and five in diameter, as perfectly 
 round as though drilled by machinery. We can reasonably 
 
GREAT ECHO CAVE. 
 
 311 
 
 assume that these people were familiar with the art of weaving, 
 and that it was here they worked at the loom, the drilled holes 
 supporting its posts. At b, in this open space, are a number of 
 grooves worn into the rock in various places, caused by the 
 artificers of the little town in shaping and polishing their stone 
 implements. The main building comes next, occupying the 
 widest portion of the ledge, which gives an average width of ten 
 
 GREAT ECHO CAVE. 
 
 feet inside ; it is forty-eight feet long outside, and twelve high, 
 divided inside into three rooms, the first two thirteen and a half 
 feet each in length, and the third sixteen feet, divided into two 
 stories, the lower and upper five feet in height. The joist holes 
 did not penetrate through the walls, being inserted about six 
 inches, half the thickness. The beams rested upon the sloping 
 back-wall., which receded far enough to make the upper rooms 
 
312 CASA DEL CO. 
 
 about square. Window-like apertures afforded communication 
 between each room, all through the second story, excepting 
 that which opened out to the back of the cave. There was also 
 one window in each lower room, about twelve inches square, 
 looking out toward the open country, and in the upper rooms 
 several small apertures not more than three inches wide were 
 pierced through the wall, hardly more than peep-holes. The 
 walls of the large building continued back in an unbroken line 
 one hundred and thirty feet farther, with an average height of 
 eight feet, and divided into eleven apartments, with communi- 
 cating apertures through all. The first room was nine and a 
 half feet wide, the others dwindling down gradually to only four 
 feet in width at the other extremity. The rooms were of unequal 
 length, the following being their inside measurements, com- 
 mencing from the outer end, viz. : 12 J, 9J, 8, 7t[, 9, 10, 8, 7, 7, 
 8, 31 feet; the ledge then runs along, gradually narrowing, fifty 
 feet farther, where another wall occurs across it, after which it 
 soon merges into the smooth wall of the cave. The first of these 
 rooms had an aperture leading outward large enough to crawl 
 through ; the wall around it had been broken away so that its 
 exact size could not be determined ; all the* others^ of which 
 there were about two to each room, were mere peep-holes, 
 about three inches in diameter, and generally pierced through 
 the wall at a downward angle." The apartments were well 
 plastered, and in one or two places even the delicate lines 
 on the thumbs and fingers of the plasterers had been plainly 
 retained. At one point an entire hand had left its impress in 
 the cement. 
 
 All these marks indicated that the hands of these people 
 were much smaller than those of the explorers, and it is sup- 
 posed that they were' those of women and children. A circular 
 hollow place, all begrimed and blackened by smoke, seemed to 
 indicate the locality of a common kitchen. The surroundings 
 of this little community of that ancient people indicated that 
 they were well-to-do, and were probably the lords of the neighbor- 
 ing country. From their home in this elevated gallery, under 
 
CAVE-VILLAGE ON THE CHELLEY. 
 
 313 
 
 nature's arching roof of rock, they were in a position to give 
 defiance to their enemies and enjoy the pursuit of their pastoral 
 occupations. This unique residence was named by the explorers 
 the Casa del Eco. Over the plateau westward, the remains of 
 this ancient people were numerous and of the same general 
 character as already described. The party after reaching the 
 Canon of the Chelley (the stream flowing, as already stated, into 
 
 CAVE-VILLAGE IN THE VALLEY OF 
 THE Rio CHELLEY. 
 
 the San Juan from the south) found several circular caves averag- 
 ing about one hundred feet in diameter and containing the ruins 
 of old houses. 
 
 About five miles southward from the San Juan, and in a 
 valley of the Chelley, a cave-village of considerable extent was 
 discovered, perched upon a recessed bench about seventy feet 
 above the valley, and overhung by a solid wall of massive 
 sandstone, extending up over two hundred feet farther. Mr. 
 
314 CAVE-VILLAGE ON THE CHELLEY. 
 
 Jackson describes it in detail as follows : " The left-hand side 
 of the bench supporting the buildings sweeps back in a sharp 
 curve about eighty feet under the bluff, and then gradually 
 comes to the front again until, on the extreme right hand, the 
 buildings are built upon a mass of debris, but partially pro- 
 tected overhead. The total length over the solidly built por- 
 tion of the town is five hundred and forty-five feet, with a 
 greater width in no place of more than forty feet. There are 
 somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy-five rooms upon the 
 ground-plan, with some uncertainty existing as to many of the 
 subdivisions on the right ; but in the cave-built portion every 
 apartment was distinctly marked. Midway in the town is a 
 circular room of heavily and solidly built masonry, that was 
 probably meant for an estufa or council-hall ; that is, if we 
 can reasonably assume any similarity in the methods of build- 
 ing or worship to those of the pueblos of New Mexico. Start- 
 ing from this estufa is a narrow passage running back of the 
 line of houses on the left to a two-story group, where it ends 
 abruptly, further access being had through the back row of 
 rooms, or over the roofs of the lower front row, probably the 
 latter, for it is likely that these roofs served as a platform from 
 which to enter the rooms back of it. At the extreme end a 
 still higher ledge occurs, with the overhanging wall coming 
 down close over it, its outer edge enclosed by a wall, and a 
 little store-room in its farther corner ; it was reserved, prob- 
 ably, as an out-door working-room. All the buildings of this 
 half are of one story, with the exception of one group, the 
 residence probably of the chief or of some other important 
 family in the community. The rooms just back of it are the 
 store-rooms of the family, where the corn and squashes were 
 put away for the winter's consumption. Near these store-rooms, 
 there are two half-round enclosures of stone- work, that are 
 very likely the remains of small reservoirs or springs. The 
 rock back of them is dug out beneath, and had, even in the 
 dry season, when we were there, a damp appearance, as though 
 water was not far removed, and might easily be coaxed to the 
 surface. The front line of wall of this left side of the town is 
 
EPSOM CREEK AND THE SAN JUAN VALLEYS. 315 
 
 built upon a steep angle of smooth rock, with the interior of the 
 apartments filled up with earth so as to make their floors level, 
 bringing them a little below the passage way. In two or three 
 instances the front wall has given way, precipitating all but 
 the back wall to the bottom of the cliffs. Holes have been 
 drilled into the rock in a few places beneath the walls, evidently 
 to assist in retaining them in their places. The whole front 
 of this portion of the town is without an aperture, save very 
 small windows, and is perfectly inaccessible, both from the 
 solidity of the wall and the precipitous nature of the founda- 
 tion-rock beneath it. Admittance was probably gained from 
 near the circular building in the centre, by ladders or any other 
 well-guarded approach over the rocks." 
 
 Two miles down the Canon of the Chelley, below the mouth 
 of the fertile Cafion Bonito Chiquito, the house figured on page 
 306 was found with its niched stairway cut in the face of the 
 rock. The house is two-storied, twenty feet in height, the lower 
 story of which is eighteen by ten feet square, divided into two 
 rooms. A natural reservoir of water was found in the rock only 
 twenty rods distant. Eight miles up the Chelley they came to 
 the cave Pueblo, seen by Simpson and mentioned on page 293. 
 From this point it was but forty miles to the inhabited Moquis 
 town Tegua. The explorers after visiting that interesting place 
 returned northward again to the San Juan, reaching Epsom Creek, 
 a tributary of the same from the north, a short distance from 
 the mouth of the Chelley Cation. Among a number of remains 
 found in the Canon of Epsom Creek, one in particular is of 
 interest ; this was the remnant of a square tower, of most per- 
 fect masonry, built upon a point of rock entirely inaccessible to 
 the explorers. 
 
 A few miles farther up the Epsom Valley, the ruins of quite 
 a town were discovered. " It lay upon both sides of a small, dry 
 ravine, some twenty or thirty rods back from the bed of the 
 creek, and consisted of a main rectangular mass sixty by one 
 hundred feet, occupying quite an elevation, dominating all the 
 others. Just below it and close upon the edge of the ravine, 
 was a round tower, twenty-five feet in diameter ; and seventy- 
 
316 
 
 ELEVATED TOWER ON EPSOM CREEK. 
 
 five below that, and also close to the ravine, was a square build- 
 ing, twenty-feet across, nearly obscured by a thicket of pirlon- 
 trees, growing about it. On the opposite bank were two small 
 
 round towers, each fifteen 
 feet in diameter, with two 
 oblong structures between, 
 twelve by fifteen feet square; 
 at right angles to these 
 four, which were arranged 
 in a straight line, another 
 square building occurred, 
 the same size as the one 
 just opposite on the other 
 bank." The surroundings 
 of this ancient village are de- 
 scribed as truly picturesque 
 arid the valley fertile, con- 
 trasting considerably with 
 the Chelley Canon. The 
 exploring party followed the 
 
 Epsom to a point thirty miles above the San Juan, and in the 
 head canons between it and the Montezuma found themselves in 
 the midst of ruins which mark the former presence of a dense 
 population. No ruins were found near the Sierra Abajo nor in 
 the great basin lying between it and the Sierra La Sal. In the 
 deep canon of the Montezuma (fifteen hundred feet deep), cliff- 
 dwellings and other remains were found in great numbers. 
 Cave-shelters, with the orifice of the oval and circular crevices 
 in the rocks walled up with neat masonry and accessible by 
 means of niche-steps for the hands and feet, leading up the 
 perpendicular cliff fo the little nest-like houses above, were 
 especially numerous. In one of these a skeleton was found, but 
 examination proved it to be that of a Navajo, and quite certainly 
 not that of one of the ancient residents. At different points 
 midway down the canon, narrow promontories jut out into the 
 valley a hundred yards or more, ranging from twenty to one 
 hundred feet in height. Within a distance of sixteen miles, 
 
 ELEVATED TOWER ON EPSOM CREEK. 
 
DWELLINGS ON THE MONTEZUMA. 
 
 317 
 
 eighteen of these were observed, covered with ruins of massive 
 stone-built structures. They were rectangular in form, ranging 
 from one hundred by two hundred feet, down to thirty by forty 
 feet in size. We cannot devote further attention to the vast 
 number of ruins found by Mr. Jackson and party in the Monte- 
 zuma Valley, except to note the curious little house shown in 
 the cut. 
 
 Among a colony of these cave-dwellings, occurring at the first 
 bend of the West Montezuma, a dozen miles above its junction 
 with the east fork, this one commands attention as much for the 
 neatness and perfection of 
 its masonry as for the snug 
 little cave in which its 
 architect lodged it. A block 
 of sandstone resting on the 
 edge of the mesa bench fifty 
 feet above the valley, had a 
 deep oval hole worn in it by 
 the winds and sands. This 
 was occupied by the little 
 house, ten feet long, six feet 
 high and five feet deep ; a 
 space, however, was reserved 
 at one end to serve as a 
 platform from which to 
 enter. 
 
 In addition to the ex- 
 plorations of Mr. Jackson 
 and party, Mr. W. H. 
 Holmes of the Geological CAVE-DWELLING^NJHE MONTEZUMA 
 
 and Geographical Survey, 
 
 was also assigned the duty of examining ancient remains in the 
 
 valley of the Upper San Juan, during the summer of 1875. 1 
 
 1 See A Notice of the Ancient Ruins of South-western Colorado, examined 
 during the summer of 1875, "by W. H. Holmes, in Bulletin of the Geological and 
 Geographical Survey of the Territories, vol. ii, No. 1. Washington, 1876. 
 
318 EXPLORATIONS BY MR. HOLMES. 
 
 Mr. Holmes and party examined an area of nearly six thousand 
 square miles, chiefly in Colorado on the San Juan and its tribu- 
 taries. Most of the ruins met with were of the same general 
 character and description as those examined by Mr. Jackson, and 
 to repeat in detail the majority of descriptions contained in Mr. 
 Holmes' memoir, would be to weary the reader with repetitions 
 without affording additional advantage. However, a few remark- 
 able ruins described by Mr. Holmes command our attention. 
 The first of these which may be pronounced unique in this 
 section of the country, and quite unlike anything met with thus 
 far in the exploration, is situated on the Kio La Plata, about 
 twenty-five miles above its junction with the San Juan. The 
 remains of an extensive village with structures of various forms, 
 are scattered upon a terrace some twenty feet above the river- 
 bed. The distribution of the works viewed in connection with 
 plans upon which they were constructed are suggestive of the 
 remains of the mound-builders of the Ohio valley. The forms 
 are chiefly rectangular and circular, one or two seem to have 
 been elliptical while a number have consisted of irregular groups 
 of apartments. All now lie in ruins with their outlines marked 
 by ridges of debris composed of earth, water-worn pebbles, and 
 small fragments of sandstone. The walls of the main structure 
 are still prominently defined, while those of a circular enclosure, 
 used probably as an estufa, are standing to the height of four 
 feet. Three hundred feet directly north of this enclosure is a 
 truncated rectangular mound nine feet high, measuring fifty 
 by eighty feet. In one of the angles of the east end are the 
 remains of what may have been a tower rising above the plat- 
 form of the mound. One hundred feet north of this mound is a 
 rectangular enclosure measuring sixty by one hundred feet. Its 
 wall ranges from four to six feet in height. The ruins of a wall 
 extending between the mound and the enclosure, indicate that 
 they were once connected. A system of works joined these to a 
 range of low hills, lying to the north. Southward from the 
 large central circle are earthworks and ruins covering an area 
 of fifteen thousand square feet. A large number of small circles 
 and mounds occupy the southern extremity of the terrace. It 
 
CAVE-SHELTERS AND TOWERS OF THE SAN JUAN. 319 
 
 is impossible to account for the sudden change in the plan of 
 works so contiguous to those of a well-marked pueblo origin. 
 On the San Juan Kiver, thirty-five miles below the mouth of 
 the La Plata and ten miles above the Mancos, Mr. Holmes ob- 
 served an interesting combination of cave-shelters and towers 
 united in a system for giving signals upon the approach of the 
 enemy. In the face of a vertical bluff thirty-five feet high and 
 about half way from the trail below, caves had been quarried or 
 weathered in considerable numbers in the shales which consti- 
 tute one of the strata in the bluff. A hard platform of rock 
 formed the floor, and afforded sufficient protection for a narrow 
 platform in front of these openings. Immediately above these 
 caves upon the summit of the bluffs, a system of ruined circular 
 towers, enclosed by semicircular walls with the open side of the 
 semicircle facing the precipice, was observed. The caves were 
 accessible from the valley below only by means of ladders, and 
 the towers in turn only by ladders from the caves through the 
 open side of their semicircular enclosures. The walls of these 
 enclosures presented no openings to the plateau above, and it is 
 inferred that the towers which they enclosed served as outlooks 
 from which the sentinel could signal the people who were 
 engaged in tilling the valley below to flee to their cave-shelters 
 at the approach of the enemy, and when too closely pressed by 
 an enemy upon the plateau the sentinel himself could make his 
 retreat by means of his ladder to the caves beneath. 
 
 The most remarkable cliff-dwellings, discovered by Mr. 
 Holmes, are shown in the cut. 
 
 These extraordinary fortresses, lodged in caves eight hundred 
 feet above the level of the valley, are situated in the canon of the 
 Mancos, a few miles from its mouth. The first five hundred feet 
 of the ascent from the level of the stream, is over a rough cliff- 
 broken slope, the remainder of massive sandstone, full of niches 
 and caves. The upper house is situated in a deep cavern with 
 overhanging roof about one hundred feet from the cliff's top. 
 The front wall of the house is built upon the very edge of the 
 giddy precipice. The larger house is lodged in a niche or cave 
 thirty feet below. The lower house was easily accessible. The 
 
320 
 
 CAVE-DWELLINGS ON THE RIO MANGOS. 
 
 
 CAVE-FORTRESSES OF THE Rio MANGOS. 
 
 wall was built flush, with the precipice and remained standing 
 to a height of fourteen feet at the highest point, though other 
 portions had crumbled away considerably. The house occupied 
 the entire floor of the niche, which measures sixty feet long by 
 fifteen feet wide. Mr. Holmes described these structures as fol- 
 lows ; of the first he says : 
 
322 CAVE-DWELLINGS OF THE MANGOS. 
 
 " The arrangement of the apartments is quite complicated 
 and curious, and will be more readily understood by a refer- 
 ence to the ground-plan (figure 1). The precipice line or front 
 edge of the niche-floor, extends from a to b. From this the 
 broken cliffs and slopes reach down to the trail and river, as 
 shown in the accompanying profile (figure 3). The line bed 
 represents the deepest part of the recess, against which the walls 
 are built. To the right of 5, the shelf ceases, and the vertical 
 face of rock is unbroken. At the left, beyond a, the edge is not 
 so abrupt, and the cliffs below are so broken that one can ascend 
 with ease. Above, the roof comes forward and curves upward, 
 as seen in the profile. 
 
 " The most striking feature of this structure is the round- 
 room, which occurs about the middle of the ruin and inside 
 of a large rectangular apartment. * Its walls 
 
 are not high and not entirely regular, and the inside is curiously 
 fashioned with offsets and box-like projections. It is plastered 
 smoothly, and bears considerable evidence of having been used, 
 although I observed no traces of fire. The entrance to this 
 chamber is rather extraordinary, and further attests the peculiar 
 importance attached to it by the builders, and their evident 
 desire to secure it from all possibility of intrusion. A walled 
 and covered passage-way, /, /, of solid masonry, ten feet of 
 which is still intact, leads from an outer chamber through the 
 small intervening apartments into the circular one. It is possible 
 that this originally extended to the outer wall, and was entered 
 from the outside. If so, the person desiring to visit the estufa 
 would have to enter an aperture about twenty-two inches high 
 by thirty wide, and crawl, in the most abject manner possible, 
 through a tube-like passage-way nearly twenty-feet in length. 
 My first impression w'as that this peculiarly-constructed doorway 
 was a precaution against enemies, and that it was probably the 
 only means of entrance to the interior of the house ; but I am now 
 inclined to think this hardly probable, and conclude that it was 
 rather designed to render a sacred chamber as free as possible from 
 profane intrusion. The apartments , &, m, n, do not require any 
 especial description, as they are quite plain and almost empty. 
 
CAVE-DWELLINGS OF THE MANGOS. 323 
 
 The partition walls have never been built up to the ceiling 
 of the niche, and the inmates, in passing from one apartment to 
 another, have climbed over. The row of apertures indicated in 
 the main front wall are about five feet from the floor, and were 
 doubtless entered for the insertion of beams, although there is no 
 evidence that a second floor has at any time existed. In that 
 part of the ruin about the covered passage-way, the walls are 
 complicated, and the plan can hardly be made out, while the 
 curved wall enclosing the apartment e is totally overthrown. 
 * * The rock-face between this ruin and the one 
 above is smooth and vertical, but by passing along the ledge a 
 few yards to the left a sloping face was found, up which a stair- 
 way of small niches had been cut ; by means of these, an active 
 person, unincumbered, could ascend with safety. On reaching 
 the top, one finds himself in the very doorway of the upper 
 house (a, figure 2) without standing-room outside of the wall, 
 and one can imagine that an enemy would stand but little chance 
 of reaching and entering such a fortress if defended, even by 
 women and children alone. The position of this ruin is one of 
 unparalleled security, both from enemies and from the elements. 
 The almost vertical cliff descends abruptly from the front wall, 
 and the immense arched roof of solid stone projects forward 
 fifteen or twenty feet beyond the house (see section, figure 3). 
 At the right the ledge ceases, and at the left stops short against 
 a massive vertical wall. The niche-stairway affords the only 
 possible means of approach. 
 
 " The house occupies the entire floor of the niche, which is 
 about one hundred and twenty feet long by ten in depth at the 
 deepest part. The front wall to the right and left of the door- 
 way is quite low, portions having doubtless fallen off. The 
 higher wall/gr is about thirty feet long, and from ten to twelve 
 feet high, while a very low rude wall extends along the more 
 inaccessible part of the ledge, and terminates at the extreme 
 right in a small enclosure, as seen in the plan at c. 
 
 " In the first apartment entered, there were evidences of fire, 
 the walls and ceiling being blackened with smoke. In the 
 second, a member of the party, by digging in the rubbish, 
 
324 
 
 TRIPLE-WALLED TOWER ON THE McELMO. 
 
 obtained a quantity of beans, and in the third a number of 
 grains of corn ; hence the names given. There are two small 
 windows in the front wall, and doorways communicate between 
 rooms separated by high partitions. 
 
 "The walls of these houses are built in the usual manner, 
 and average about a foot in thickness. 
 
 " The upper house seems to be in a rather unfinished state, 
 looking as if stone and mortar had run short. And when one 
 considers that these materials must have been brought from far 
 below by means of ropes, or carried in small quantities up the 
 dangerous stairway, the only wonder is that it was ever brought 
 to its present degree of finish." 
 
 
 TRIPLE-WALLED TOWER ON THE McELMO. 
 
 The ruins of a triple-walled tower with fourteen sectional 
 apartments between the outer and second walls were examined 
 near the McElmo. One of these sectional apartments was still 
 standing to the height of twelva feet. 
 
 We have already referred to the group of ruins at Aztec 
 Springs near the divide between the McElmo and the lower 
 Mancos tributaries. " These ruins," says Mr. Holmes, " form 
 the most imposing pile of masonry yet found in Colorado. The 
 whole group covers an area of about four hundred and eighty 
 thousand square feet, and has an average depth of from three to 
 four feet." The accompanying plan, with the measurements and 
 
m 
 
 riJ' 
 
 t i ^; 
 
 DDO 
 
 GCDDDDDhf 
 n^ 
 
 AZ.TEC SPRING 
 
 SO QTH WEST COLORADO 
 WJI.Hdmea 
 
 iso by 200 ft. 
 
326 CLIFF-DWELLER AND MOQUI POTTERY. 
 
 dimensions indicated upon it, precludes the necessity of a detailed 
 description. 
 
 The walls are twenty-six inches thick, and in some cases are 
 built double. The whole resembles in plan one of the ruined 
 pueblos of the Chaco, with the addition that it was designed to 
 be an impregnable fortress. 
 
 The plate from Mr. Jackson's memoir shows ^ specimens of 
 pottery collected during his explorations among the cliff-dwell- 
 ings. The pieces a and b are of modern make, and were obtained 
 among the Moquis of Tegua. The ware and finish of both these 
 vessels are far inferior as compared with the ancient fragments. 
 
 We have quoted on a previous page Mr. IngersolFs rendering 
 of the romantic legend which tells in few words the sad his- 
 tory of the ancient architects of these aerial abodes. We have 
 observed that, according to this account, the remnant of this 
 people who escaped the destruction visited upon the cliff-dwellers 
 by the warlike Utes fled to the South to the deserts of Arizona 
 and built the present Moqui towns. We have already stated 
 that Mr. Jackson's party found it necessary to travel forty miles 
 due southward from the ruins of the Chaco Canon in order to 
 reach Tegua, the nearest of the Moqui settlements. 
 
 It may be a matter of some interest to the reader, after 
 having studied the cliff architecture, to be introduced into one 
 of the habitations now occupied by the descendants of that 
 remarkable people. Lieutenant Ives, who visited the Moqui 
 towns in 1858, has furnished an interesting account of their 
 general characteristics, from which we take condensed extracts : 
 " As the sun went down," says Lieutenant Ives, " and the con- 
 fused glare and mirage disappeared, I discovered with the spy- 
 glass two of the Moqui towns eight or ten miles distant, upon 
 the edge of a high bluff overhanging the opposite side of the 
 valley. They were built close to the edge of the precipice. The 
 outlines of the closely-packed structures looked in the distance 
 like the towers and battlements of a castle, and their command- 
 ing position enhanced the picturesque effect." "The face of 
 the bluff, on the summit of which the town was perched, was 
 cut up and irregular. We were led through a passage that 
 
CLIFF-DWELLER AND MOQUI POTTERY. 
 
 327 
 
 wound among some low hillocks of sand and rock that extended 
 half-way to the top. It did not seem pos- 
 sible, while ascending through the sand-hills, 
 that a spring could be found in such a dry- 
 looking place ; but presently a crowd was 
 seen collecting upon a mound before a small 
 plateau, in the centre of which was a circular 
 reservoir fifty feet in diameter, lined with 
 masonry and filled with pure cold water 
 The basin was fed by a pipe connecting with 
 some source of supply upon the summit of 
 the mesa. Continuing to ascend, we came 
 to another reservoir, smaller, but of more 
 elaborate construction and finish. From this 
 the guide said they got their drinking water, 
 
 CLIFF AND MOQUI POTTERY. 
 
328 INTERIOR OF A MOQUI DWELLING. 
 
 the other reservoir being intended for animals. Between the two 
 the face of the bluff had been ingeniously converted into terraces. 
 These were faced with neat masonry, and contained gardens, each 
 surrounded with a raised edge so as to retain water upon the sur- 
 face. Pipes from the reservoir permitted them at any time to be 
 irrigated. Peach trees were growing upon the terraces and in 
 the hollow below. A long flight of stone steps with sharp turns 
 that could be easily defended was built into the face of the 
 precipice, and led from the upper reservoir to the foot of the 
 town. The scene, rendered animated by the throngs of Indians 
 in their gayly-colored dresses, was one of the most remarkable I 
 had ever witnessed." " Without giving us time to admire the 
 scene, the Indians led us to a ladder planted against the centre 
 of the front face of the pueblo. The town is nearly square and 
 surrounded by a stone wall fifteen feet high, the top of which 
 forms a landing extending around the whole. Flights of stone 
 steps led from the first to a second landing, upon which the 
 doors of the houses open. Mounting the stairway opposite to 
 the ladder, the chief crossed to the nearest door and ushered us 
 into a low apartment, from which two or three others opened 
 towards the interior of the dwelling." " The room was fifteen 
 feet by ten ; the walls were made of adobes ; the partitions of 
 substantial beams, the floor laid with clay. In one corner were 
 a fireplace and a chimney. Everything was clean and tidy. 
 Skins, bows and arrows, quivers, antlers, blankets, articles of 
 clothing and ornament, were hanging from the walls or arranged 
 upon shelves. Vases, flat dishes, and gourds filled with meal or 
 water, were standing along on one side of the room. At the 
 other end was a trough divided into compartments, in each of 
 which was a sloping stone slab two or three feet square, for 
 grinding corn upon. In a recess of an inner room was piled a 
 goodly store of corn in the ear. I noticed, among other things, 
 a reed musical instrument with a bell-shaped end like a clarionet 
 and a pair of painted drum-sticks tipped with gaudy feathers." 
 
 " We learned that there were seven towns ; that the name 
 of that which we were visiting was Mooshahneh. A second 
 smaller town was half a mile distant ; two miles distant was a 
 
MOQUI, ONE OF THE SEVEN PUEBLOS. 
 
 329 
 
 MOQUI, ONE OF THE SEVEN PUEBLOS. 
 
 (From a photo taken by the U. S. exploring party in 1875.) 
 
 third. * * * Five or six miles to the north-east a bluff was 
 pointed out as the location of three others ; and we were informed 
 that the last of the seven, Gray be, was still further distant on 
 the trail towards the great river." 
 
 " Each pueblo is built around a rectangular court, in which 
 we suppose are the springs that furnish the supply to the reser- 
 voirs. The exterior walls, which are of stone, have no openings, 
 
330 ORAYBE. 
 
 and would have to be scaled or battered down before access 
 could be gained to the interior. The successive stories are set 
 back one behind the other. The lower ones are reached through 
 trap-doors from the first landing. The houses are three rooms 
 deep, and open upon the interior court. The arrangement is as 
 strong and compact as well could be devised, but as the court is 
 common and the landings are separated by no partitions, it 
 involves a certain community of residence/' 
 
 In describing the gardens of Oraybe, distant eight or nine 
 miles, he remarks : 
 
 " At the foot [of the bluff] was a reservoir and a broad road 
 winding up the steep ascent. On either side the bluffs were cut 
 into terraces, and laid out into gardens similar to those seen at 
 Mooshahneh, and like them irrigated from an upper reservoir. 
 The whole reflected great credit upon Moqui ingenuity and skill 
 in the department of engineering. The walls of the terraces 
 and reservoirs were of partly-dressed stone, well and strongly 
 built, and the irrigating pipes conveniently arranged. The little 
 gardens were neatly laid out. * * * The walls of the terraces 
 and the gardens themselves are kept in good order and preserva- 
 tion. The stone and earth for construction and repairs they 
 carry in blankets upon their shoulders from the valley below/' 1 
 
 Mr. Bancroft has furnished the reader descriptions of several 
 of the New Mexican group of pueblos, which he has extracted 
 from the reports of various travelers. We do not consider it 
 necessary to repeat accounts so generally accessible. 2 The New 
 Mexican group, situated on the Rio Grande del Norte and its 
 tributaries, is the most numerous in inhabited pueblos, but as 
 they differ little if at all from those of the Moqui s, further 
 treatment of them is unnecessary. The pueblos which are and 
 have been inhabited during the nineteenth century number about 
 twenty, some of which are well known to have been occupied by 
 the ancestors of their present inhabitants when first visited by 
 
 1 Ives' Colorado River of the West, pp. 119-26, with plates. The same 
 extract condensed into nearly the same form as above is given by Bancroft, 
 Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 667-80. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 662 et seq , and the authors cited therein. 
 
PECOS. 331 
 
 the Spaniards. The best specimen of inhabited pueblos is that 
 of Taos, situated on one of the northern forks of the river which 
 gives it its name. There are two large houses, each between 
 three and four hundred feet long by one hundred and fifty wide, 
 situated on opposite sides of a small creek, and tradition states 
 that formerly they were connected by a bridge. They are five 
 and six stories high. 
 
 Besides the inhabited towns there are a number now unoccu- 
 pied and fast going to decay. The names of these are given 
 with slight variations by different writers ; the following, how- 
 ever, are generally agreed upon : Pecos, Quivira, Valverda, San 
 Lazaro, San Marcos, San Cristobal, Socorro, Senacu, Abo, 
 Quarra, Eita, Poblazon, old San Filipe, and old Zufii. 1 The 
 most important of all these ruins is Pecos, one of the sacred 
 cities of the pueblos. Here the everlasting fire dedicated to their 
 god Montezuma was kept burning from time immemorial down 
 to the abandonment of the town, which occurred some time 
 during the second quarter of the present century. The reader 
 will remember, however, that the culture-god of the Pueblos 
 and the Aztec monarch are in no sense to be associated with 
 each other, since it is quite certain that they were not con- 
 founded in the mythology of the worshippers of the deity. 
 Whether the Pueblos, Cliff-dwellers, etc., were ever in any way 
 related to the Aztecs or any Nahua people is difficult to deter- 
 mine. Certainly there is no architectural nor traditional evi- 
 dence that they were. When the Spaniards under Coronado 
 traversed the region in 1540 A. D., no reports of inter-com- 
 munication between the two peoples seem to have been current. 
 Father Escalante, who in 1776 visited many of the pueblos, and 
 mentions many ruins not since located, as well as many inhabited 
 towns now in ruins, found nothing to really substantiate the 
 " Aztec theory." 2 On the contrary, substantial arguments can 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. iv, p. 663, and Simpson's Journal Mil. Recon., p. 114. 
 
 2 I have carefully examined Father Escal ante's Diario in the MS. copy 
 deposited in the Congressional Library at Washington, but find nothing to 
 contradict the opinion of recent explorers. The reader will also see Dominguez 
 and Escalante's Diario y Derrotero Sante Fe d Monterey, 1776, in Doc. Hist. 
 Mex. Serie ii, torn. i. 
 
332 MR. BECKER ON THE PUEBLOS. 
 
 be presented for the intimate relationship of the Nahuas and 
 some of the Pueblos. 
 
 In the tenth chapter of this work will be found the basis of 
 linguistic affinities between the Nahua and Moqui languages, 
 though none is claimed between the Nahua and New Mexican 
 Pueblos. Mr. Becker, in his memoir addressed to the Congres 
 des Americanistes at Luxembourg, refers to Camergo's account 
 of the migration of the Teo-Chichimecs, the allies of the Toltecs, 
 and to his statement that they came from Amaquetepic (" the 
 mountains of the Amaques "), and expresses the belief that the 
 words Amaques and Moquis are identical. Mr. Becker considers 
 the "A" prefix of the former to be an abbreviation of the Nahua 
 "atl" water, and Amaqui would mean the Maqui or Moqui 
 living by the water, just as Acolhuas means Culhuas near the 
 water and Anahuac, the Nahua land on the water. The tradition 
 of the Moquis distinctly states that they formerly lived on the 
 river at the north-east of their present home. The reader will 
 remember that the Quiches called the Nahuas Yaqui, the name 
 of a river of Sinaloa and Sonora where marked traces of the Nahua 
 language are found, and the supposed locality of the first Toltec 
 station. Is it not possible that Yaqui is a dialectic modification 
 of Maqui or Moqui ? It has been observed in the pages of this 
 chapter that in more than one instance ruined pueblos were com- 
 posed of either red adobe or had been painted, a circumstance 
 which had won for them such a designation as "Red-house" 
 or " Pueblo-pintado," etc. Furthermore, the red glare of the 
 desert north of the Moqui settlements has received the name of 
 the " Painted desert." The fact that Hue hue Tlapalan signifies 
 " old red land " is suggestive that this locality may have been 
 the mysterious rendezvous of the Toltecs. The Moquis like 
 the Nahuas are sun-worshippers, though the ceremonial of both 
 people differ considerably. 
 
 Besides the mound-works observed on the upper San Juan by 
 Mr. Holmes associated with the work of the Cliff-dwellers, recent 
 exploration has shown that combinations of mound and pueblo 
 features of architecture exist in Utah, Dr. C. C. Parry found in 
 a mound on the St. Clara Eiver in Southern Utah very fine 
 
THE CULTURE-HERO MONTEZUMA. 333 
 
 specimens of Pueblo pottery, and other articles which clearly 
 identify its architects with the people of the cliffs or with the 
 village builders at the South. 1 The recent exploration of several 
 mounds in southern Utah by Dr. Edward Palmer fully confirms 
 this conclusion. In Kane County, Utah, the same explorer dis- 
 covered among a number of articles of apparent Moqui make 
 in a cave-shelter, a shovel of horn having a blade fourteen inches 
 long by five inches wide. Among the articles was a pair of shoes 
 made of the fibre of the Yucca, which in style, shape, manner 
 of braiding, etc., closely resemble shoes made of the leaves of the 
 Typa found by Prof. F. W. Putnam in a cave in Kentucky. 2 
 
 The mound examined by Mr. Barrand on the west fork of 
 the Little Sioux of Dakota, and found to contain a large interior 
 circular chamber, probably was the work of the ancestors of this 
 western branch of the mound-building people. 3 The circular 
 chamber was much like an estufa. 
 
 The many-sided culture-hero of the Pueblos, Montezuma, 
 is the centre of a group of the most poetic myths found in 
 Ancient American Mythology. The Pueblos believed in a 
 supreme being, a good spirit, so exalted and worthy of rever- 
 ence that his name was considered too sacred to mention, as, 
 with the ancient Hebrews, Jehovah's was the " unmentionable 
 name." Nevertheless Montezuma was the equal of this great 
 spirit, and was often considered identical with the sun. The 
 variety of aspects in which Montezuma is presented to us is due 
 to the fact that each tribe of Pueblos had its particular legends 
 concerning his birth and achievements. Many places in New 
 Mexico claim the honor of his nativity at a period long before 
 those village builders were acquainted with the arts of archi- 
 tecture, which have since given them their distinguishing name. 
 In fact, this culture-god was none other than the genius who 
 introduced the knowledge of building among them. 4 Some tradi- 
 
 1 Ninth Annual Report of Peabody Museum, p. 12. Cambridge, 1876. 
 
 2 Eleventh Annual Report of Peabody Museum, Cambridge, 1878, pp. 198- 
 200, 267-80. 
 
 3 Smithsonian Report for 1872, pp. 413 et seq.; and this work, chapter I. 
 
 4 The facts claimed in the following account are drawn from Bancroft's 
 
334 THE CULTURE-HERO MONTEZUMA. 
 
 tions, however, make him the ancestor and even the creator of 
 the race ; others, its prophet, leader and lawgiver. Mr. Bancroft 
 says, " Under restrictions, we may fairly regard him as the Mel- 
 chizedek, the Moses, and the Messiah of these Puehlo-desert 
 wanderers from an Egypt that history is ignorant of, and whose 
 name even tradition whispers not. He taught his people how 
 to build cities with tall houses, to construct Estufas, or semi- 
 sacred sweat-houses, and to kindle and guard the sacred fire." 
 It has been aptly remarked by Mr. Tyler, that Montezuma was 
 the great "somebody" of the tribe to whom the qualities and 
 achievements of every other were attributed. 
 
 Fremont gives an account of the birth of the hero, in which 
 his mother is declared to have been a woman of exquisite beauty, 
 admired and sought for by all men. She was the recipient of 
 rich presents of corn and skins from her admirers, yet she 
 refused the hands of all her suitors. A famine soon occurred, 
 and great distress followed. Now the fastidious beauty showed 
 herself to be a lady of charitable spirit and tender heart. She 
 opened her granaries, in which all her presents had been stored, 
 and out of their abundance relieved the wants of the poor. The 
 offerings of love were made to perform their mission a second 
 time. At last, when the pure and plenteous rains again brought 
 fertility to the earth, the summer shower fell upon the Pueblo 
 goddess, and she gave birth to a son, the immortal Montezuma. 
 The intelligent chief of the Papagoes, whose people occupy the 
 territory between the Santa Cruz River and the Gulf of California, 
 related a legend of the origin and offices of Montezuma, which, 
 while it surprises the reader with its close resemblances to some 
 leading points in the Hebrew and Chaldean genesis and deluge 
 accounts, still is conspicuous for its inconsistencies, and in its 
 closing statements for the absence of any knowledge of time or 
 order. 1 
 
 Native Races, vol. iii., pp. 171-74 and 75-7. Ward, in Ind. Aff. Report, 1864, 
 pp. 192-3. Brinton's Myths of the New World, p. 190. Ten Broeck in School- 
 craft's History and Condition of the Indian Tribes, vol. iv, p. 73, and Tyler's 
 Primitive Culture, vol. ii, p. 384. 
 
 1 Davidson, in Ind. Af. Report, 1805, pp. 131-3, and Bancroft's Native 
 Races, vol. iii, pp. 75-77. 
 
THE CULTURE-HERO MONTEZUMA. 335 
 
 In substance it is as follows : The Great Spirit, having 
 made all things sky, earth, and the living creatures which in- 
 habit it descended into the earth for the purpose of creating 
 man also. Digging in the earth, he found clay, such as a potter 
 uses ; this he carried back with him to his celestial abode, and 
 dropped it again from the sky into the pit from which he had 
 dug it. Instantly Montezuma, the genius of life, sprang from 
 the pit, and became a partner in the creation of other men. 
 The Apaches were the next formed, and were so wild that they 
 severally ran away as fast as created. Those were golden days 
 which followed the birth of the race ; the sun was very much 
 nearer the earth than now, and his grateful presence rendered 
 clothing useless. A common language between all men, shared 
 even by beasts, was one of the strongest possible bonds of peace. 
 
 But at last this paradisiacal age was ended by a great deluge 
 in which all men and living creatures perished. Only Mon- 
 tezuma and his friend, the coyote a prairie-wolf escaped. 
 This wonderful animal, with semi-divine attributes, plays a 
 remarkable part in the religion of many of the Pacific tribes, 
 and furnishes us a parallel in our Occidental mythology with the 
 half-human, half-brute combinations of Greco-Roman myth- 
 ology. The coyote, gifted with prophetic powers, had foretold 
 the approach of this great calamity, and Montezuma, heeding 
 the warning, had built him a boat, which he kept in readiness on 
 the summit of Santa Eosa. His sagacious friend, the coyote, 
 also escaped in an ark made from a gigantic cane which grew by 
 a river's side ; having gnawed it down and crawled into it, he 
 stopped up the ends with gum, and escaped. When the waters 
 subsided, the two met again on dry ground. Montezuma then 
 employed the coyote on several wearisome excursions in order to 
 discover the extent of the land, which developed the fact that 
 upon the east and south and west the water yet remained. Only 
 on the north was there land. 
 
 The Great Spirit and Montezuma again created men and 
 animals, and the former committed to his partner in the work 
 the duties of governing the new race. These were, however, 
 neglected by Montezuma, who became puffed up with pride, and 
 
336 THE CULTURE-HERO MOXTEZUMA. 
 
 permitted all manner of wickedness to prevail. The Great Spirit 
 remonstrated with him, even descending to the earth for the 
 purpose of moving his faithless and haughty vicegerent to 
 restore order, but with no avail. Then, returning to his abode 
 in heaven, he pushed the sun back to a remote part of the sky 
 as a punishment on the race. At this, Montezuma became 
 enraged, collected the tribes around him, and set about the con- 
 struction of a house which should reach heaven. The builders 
 had already completed several apartments, lined with gold and 
 silver and precious stones, and progressed to a point which 
 encouraged all to believe that their defiant purpose would be 
 accomplished, when the Great Spirit smote it to the earth amid 
 the crash of his thunder. Here the account becomes very con- 
 fused a great leap is made from Montezuma the culture-hero 
 to Montezuma the emperor, and the two become confounded. 
 
 The legend states that upon the defeat of his rebellious 
 scheme, Montezuma still hardened his heart, and caused the 
 sacred images to be dragged through the streets for the derision 
 of the villagers ; the temples were desecrated, and defiance to 
 the Supreme declared. As a punishment, the Great Spirit 
 caused an insect to fly toward the east to an unknown land, to 
 bring the Spaniards, who utterly destroyed him. 
 
 The post-diluvian part of this story presents the hero in 
 quite another light than that generally accepted by most of the 
 Pueblo tribes, in which he is represented as having been the 
 very model of goodness and beneficence the founder of their 
 cities, of which Acoma was the first and Pecos the second. 
 Before taking his departure from his people, he prophesied that 
 they should suffer from drought and from the oppressions of a 
 strange nation, but promised them to return as their deliverer. 
 He then planted a tree upside down, and bade them preserve the 
 sacred fire notwithstanding their misfortunes, until the tree fell, 
 at which time he would return with a white race, who would 
 destroy all their enemies and bring back the fertile showers. 
 
 It is said that this tree fell from its place as the American 
 army entered Santa Fe, in 1846. In the cramped, subterranean 
 estufa, the Pueblo fed the sacred fire burning in the basin of a 
 
THE CULTURE-HERO MONTEZUMA. 337 
 
 small altar. It was a warrior's vigil, for by turns their heroes 
 descended into its suffocating atmosphere, thick with smoke, and 
 charged with carbonic acid, to wait often for two successive days 
 and nights without refreshment, often even until death relieved 
 the guard. 1 
 
 For generations these strange architects and faithful priests 
 have waited for the return of their god looked for him to come 
 with the sun, and descend by the column of smoke which rose 
 from the sacred fire. As of old the Israelitish watcher upon 
 Mount Seir replied to the inquiry, " What of the night ? " 
 " The morning cometh," so the Pueblo sentinel mounts the 
 house-top at Pecos, and gazes wistfully into the east for the 
 golden appearance, for the rapturous vision of his redeemer, for 
 Montezuma's return ; and, though no ray of light meets his 
 watching eye, his never-failing faith, with cruel deception, 
 replies, " The morning cometh." 2 
 
 1 This feature of the legend is beautifully developed by Mr. Bancroft. 
 
 2 In this account of Montezuma I have used, with few variations, the same 
 language employed by me in treating the subject in an article entitled, " Culture- 
 Heroes of the Ancient Americans," published in Appleton's Journal for March, 
 1877, pp. 275-6. 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ANCIENT AMERICAN CIVILIZATION AND SUPPOSED OLD WORLD 
 ANALOGIES ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE AND HIERO- 
 GLYPHICS. 
 
 Analogies, Real and Fancied MAYA ARCHITECTURE The American Pyramid 
 The Palace of Palenque The French Roof at Palenque The Trefoil 
 Arch Yucatanic Architecture Uxmal The Casa de Monjas Kabah 
 Casa Grande of Zayi QUICHE ARCHITECTURE Copan Circus of Copan 
 Description by Fuentes Utatlan NAHUA ARCHITECTURE Remains in 
 Oajaca Mitla Grecques at Mitla Remains in the State of Vera Cruz 
 Cholula Pyramid of Xochicalco The Temple of Mexico Teotihuacan 
 Los Edificios of Quemeda Maya and Nahua Architecture Compared 
 Old World Analogies SCULPTURE Of the Mounds At Palenque At 
 Uxmal At Chichen-Itza On the Isla Mujeres Of the Nahuas Ancient 
 American Art and its Old World Analogies Egyptian Tau at Palenque 
 Serpent Sculpture Nahua Symbolism probably Asiatic HIEROGLYPHICS 
 Maya MSS. and Books Landa's Alphabet The Attempts at the Inter- 
 pretation of Maya MSS. by Bollaert, Charencey, and Rosny Rosny's Clas- 
 sification of the Hieroglyphics Hopes that a Key has been Discovered 
 The Mexican Picture-writing Aztec Migration Maps. 
 
 "TTT^ITHOUT pretending to furnish an exhaustive treatment 
 VV of the subject proposed for this chapter, we desire to make 
 observations on some phases of the development of American' 
 civilization in the Pre-Historic period. One of the most natural 
 fruits of the study of the arts and customs of any people, is a 
 disposition on the part of the investigator to institute a com- 
 parison with corresponding features of civilization in all parts 
 of the world. Unfortunately this disposition has led many 
 writers on America into wild and fanciful speculations, which 
 tend only to deceive the reader and add nothing to true investi- 
 gation. In a few instances pronounced old world analogies have 
 
ANALOGIES REAL AND FANCIED. 339 
 
 been proven to exist in ancient American institutions and arts, 
 but their number bears a small ratio to the multitude of fancied 
 analogies which never existed, except in the imaginations of 
 their discoverers. To discuss the subject in hand without tran- 
 scending the limits of the period which is treated in previous 
 chapters, namely, the Primitive period that which antedates 
 the era of the annals of those ancient peoples, is a somewhat 
 difficult task, since the question of dates is a very uncertain one 
 in the absence of any sufficient key to the hieroglyphic and 
 picture records. The customs and political organization, to- 
 gether with the Aztec civilization, have been often treated, and 
 by none better than our own Prescott and Bancroft. The 
 repetition of their labors here would be highly superfluous. We 
 shall, however, ask the attention of the reader to some considera- 
 tions upon the following divisions of the subject : 
 
 1. ARCHITECTURE. 2. SCULPTURE and HIEROGLYPHICS. 
 3. CHRONOLOGICAL and ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE. 4. KE- 
 LIGIOUS ANALOGIES. 
 
 Architecture. The works of the Mound-builders and Pueblos 
 have already been described and their transitional forms or stages 
 noted. To seek for parallelisms or analogies between the Mound- 
 builders and the people of Asia because mounds are common 
 to both continents, or to seek to identify them with the people 
 of Northern Europe because the shell-heaps of our sea-board 
 resemble those of Denmark, would certainly be an unjustifiable 
 use of the imagination, in anything like a serious discussion of 
 the question. We have no disposition to speculate on this sub- 
 ject, since such speculation cannot furnish any satisfactory 
 results. Certain resemblances between American and Hindoo- 
 mounds have been supposed to exist, but the resemblance, if any, 
 proves nothing. 1 That more fruitful and wonderful field of 
 ancient architecture in Central America, Yucatan and Mexico, 
 furnishes abundant opportunity for the discussion of our subject. 
 Detailed descriptions of the remains found in different localities 
 
 1 Hindoo Mounds, see Squier's observations on Dr. Westerman in Am. 
 . Ethnol. Soc. Trans., April, 1851 ; and Atwater, in Am. Ethnol. Soc. Trans., 
 vol. i, pp. 196-267. 
 
340 MAYA ARCHITECTURE PALENQU& 
 
 have been given by travelers, artists and authors, the latter 
 availing themselves of several accounts and instituting com- 
 parisons between the statements of different explorers. Such 
 works, savoring somewhat of the critical, cannot be under- 
 rated, since their development of the true facts has contrib- 
 uted largely to our knowledge of the subject. It has been 
 generally the rule for writers to undertake the description 
 of remains in a particular locality and treat them in detail, 
 thus presenting to the mind a pleasant picture of the whole, 
 together with the relation of parts. This is certainly a satis- 
 factory plan to many readers, but it seems to us that such a 
 course is unnecessary, after it has been once pursued by the 
 explorer. By repetitions nothing is gained, unless the work of 
 classification (by which certain architectural forms and methods 
 are woven into a style and their variations noted) receives atten- 
 tion. In preceding chapters we have treated of the Maya, the 
 Quiche, and the Nahua peoples, and in this, it is our purpose to 
 briefly note the main features of their styles of architecture, 
 sculpture, etc., as indicated in the divisions above laid down. 
 
 Maya Architecture furnishes evidence of growth, and may 
 be classified into the Chiapan or ancient and the Yucatanic or 
 modified styles. The Chiapan or ancient style is exhibited in 
 the imposing remains of Palenque, with which the reader is 
 supposed to be already familiar, from the descriptions of several 
 explorers. 1 Palenque is situated in the Usumacinta Kiver region 
 in Chiapas, on a small stream sometimes called the Otolum, a 
 tributary of the Tulija, which is itself a branch of the Usuma- 
 cinta. The ruins are situated in a small valley of the foot-hills, 
 from which rise the high table-lands of the interior. They are 
 known as the Palace, with a pyramidal base measuring two 
 hundred and sixty by three hundred and ten feet and forty feet 
 high ; Temple of the three Tablets ; Temple of the Beau 
 Relief; Temple of the Cross, and Temple of the Sun. The 
 
 1 Chief among whom are Dupaix, in Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities; 
 Waldeck (exploration performed in 1832-3), Pub. 1866 fol.; Stevens and Cather- 
 wood in 1840 ; M. Morelet in 1846, and Charney in 1858 ; for best bibliographical 
 treatment, see Bancroft's Native Maces, vol. iv, pp. 289-294, note. 
 
THE AMERICAN PYRAMID. 
 
 341 
 
 most conspicuous feature of the architecture employed, and seen 
 in most of the Central American structures, is the massive 
 pyramidal foundation. The sides of the pyramid of the Pa- 
 lenque palace are faced with regular blocks of hewn stone, with 
 extensive nights of stairs, upon the east and north leading to 
 its summit. 1 Mr. Bancroft has analyzed the structure of the 
 American pyramid in a philosophical way, and no doubt has in 
 part explained its object. " I think," he remarks, " that per- 
 haps with a view to raise this place or temple above the waters 
 of the stream, four thick walls, possibly more, were built up 
 perpendicularly from the ground to the desired height ; then, 
 after the completion of the walls, to strengthen them, or during 
 the progress of the work to facilitate the raising of the stones, 
 
 MODE OF CONSTRUCTING PYRAMID. 
 
 the interior was filled with earth, and the exterior graded with 
 the same material, the whole being subsequently faced with hewn 
 stone." 2 
 
 In the above cut Mr. Bancroft illustrates his opinion. 
 Stephens and Waldeck, who excavated from the summit down- 
 wards, imply that the interior D is of earth. Twenty years later 
 Charnay found a perpendicular wall on the eastern side, quite 
 contrary to the observations of all previous travelers. Mr. Ban- 
 croft accounts for this on the supposition that the stone facing, 
 loosened by the growth of trees which covered it, had fallen from 
 B to F, and that the earth which filled the sides at E E had 
 been washed away by the rain and left the perpendicular wall 
 
 1 Stephens, vol. ii, p. 310; Waldeck's Palenque, p. 2, and Brasseur in Ibicl, 
 p. 17 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 300. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 300-1. 
 
342 
 
 THE PALACE OF PALENQUE. 
 
 exposed at B. Such a supposition we consider to be perfectly 
 probable in view of the rapid dilapidation of the ruins since 
 Dupaix's visit in 1806. The ancient model thus established in 
 the construction of this, perhaps oldest of existing American 
 cities, may have determined the style of many similar edifices. 
 A plan of the palace has been furnished by several authors. 1 The 
 accompanying restoration from Armin's Das Heutige Mexiko. 
 
 THE PALACE RESTORED. 
 
 employed by Mr. Bancroft, may serve to give an idea of the 
 proportions of the structure. The edifice occupies the entire 
 summit platform of the pyramid except a narrow passage-way 
 around the edge, and measures 228 feet by 182, and about 30 
 feet in height. The doorways, of which there are forty in the 
 outer wall, are wider than the piers intervening between them, 
 and were constructed originally with flat wooden lintels, all of 
 which have disappeared. The main architectural features will 
 
 1 Waldeck's Palenque, pi. vii. See also Stephens, vol. ii, p. 310 ; Dupaix, 
 pi. xi. ; Kingsborough, vol. iv, pi. xiii ; Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 307. 
 
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AT PALENQUE. 
 
 343 
 
 be observed in the accompanying plate from Waldeck. The 
 lower right-hand figure shows the angle of the foundations of 
 one of the interior buildings and the manner in which the stones 
 were laid. The left-hand figure affords a sectional view of the 
 eastern stairway descending from the principal corridor into the 
 grand court. It will be observed that the height of the steps 
 
 ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AT PALENQUE. 
 
 considerably exceeds their width. Waldeck illustrates this sin- 
 gular disproportion by a diagram in which a native is represented 
 as sitting upo*n the stairway. The perpendicular face of a step 
 is shown to be considerably higher than the Indian's knee, and 
 must have measured two feet. The upper left-hand figures 
 represent the forms of niches, which are of frequent occurrence. 
 The T shaped niche is the representative of a numerous class 
 so resembling the Egyptian tau or cross as to excite no little 
 interest in its origin. M. Waldeck found the marks of lamp- 
 black upon the tops of some of them, and supposes them to have 
 
344 PALENQUE ROOFS. 
 
 held torches which illuminated the corridors ; others, which 
 extend through the walls, may have served for the purposes of 
 ventilation ; while others perhaps contained idols. 1 The right- 
 hand upper figures represent the highly artistic double cornices 
 employed. Nothing of a definite nature is known of the style of 
 roof with which the palace was covered, since every vestige of it 
 has disappeared. Castaneda represents it as sloping and plas- 
 tered, while Dupaix refers to it as consisting of large stone flags, 
 carefully joined together. 2 
 
 The neighboring buildings, such as the Temple of the Three 
 Tablets, the Temple of the Cross, and the Temple of the Sun, 
 each have well-preserved roofs of masonry, which are quite 
 remarkable. The first of these stands upon its lofty pyramidal 
 base, measuring one hundred and ten feet on the slope, with 
 continuous steps on all sides. The temple, which is thirty-five 
 feet high, is crowned with a sloping ornamental roof of great 
 beauty. Stephens illustrated the temple in several views, sub- 
 sequently copied by Bancroft. 3 The roof is divided into three 
 parts ; the lower section recedes from the cornice with a gentle 
 slope, and resembles the corresponding section of a French or 
 Mansard roof. The stucco decorations of this lower section, 
 which is also painted, add considerably to the general effect. 
 Five solid square projections with perpendicular faces suggestive 
 of the attic windows of a modern French roof are found on this 
 section, corresponding to the several doors of the temple imme- 
 diately below. The second section, which slopes back at a more 
 acute angle, is of solid masonry. The crowning section seems to 
 have been purely ornamental, consisting of a line of pillars of 
 stone and mortar, eighteen inches high and twelve inches apart, 
 surmounted by a layer of flat stones with projecting sides. The 
 Temple of the Cross 'and Temple of the Sun both have roof- 
 structures which may be described as resembling a lattice-work 
 of stone. 
 
 The most interesting feature of Palenque architecture is 
 
 1 Ibid., Native Races, vol. iv, p. 312. 2 Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 303. 
 
 8 Stephens, vol. ii, pp. 339-43, and Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 323-27. 
 
THE PALENQUE ARCH. 
 
 345 
 
 the arch, of which there are two styles, if one of them may 
 be classed as an arch at all ; of this we have doubts. The 
 style to which we allude is that which has been designated as 
 the Yucatan arch. A section of the double corridor of the 
 palace furnishes an example as shown in the cut from Mr. Ban- 
 croft's work. 
 
 This so-called arch is nothing more than the approach of 
 two walls toward each other in straight lines, nearly forming an 
 acute angle at the top. These inclining walls are constructed 
 
 of overlapping stones, with 
 a small surface of exposed 
 ceiling, produced by a lin- 
 tel-like covering. The prin- 
 cipal doorway, which is 
 eighteen feet high, is con- 
 structed in the form of a 
 trefoil arch, while niches 
 or depressions of the same 
 trefoil form are ranged 
 along the inclined face of 
 the gallery on each side of 
 the entrance. This arch 
 
 is suggestive of the Moorish pattern, though the latter probably 
 is the more modern. The accompanying cut a photographic 
 reduction from Waldeck will convey a clear idea of its form. 
 
 The tower situated in the southern court is considered by 
 Waldeck as the crowning work of all. The frontispiece is a 
 photographic reduction from Waldeck' s drawing, and no doubt 
 indicates the true number of its stories, as well as the remarkable 
 growth of vegetation upon its roof. The descent of the little 
 roots and tendrils of the trees above in quest of nourishment, 
 furnish a striking illustration of the luxuriant vegetable growth 
 which pervades the region. The very air is laden with life, 
 though the remains of man's handicraft and power are but the 
 lifeless monuments of his vanished glory. The gentle evening 
 breeze which plays upon the tendrils stretching themselves down 
 the tower's wall, produces a soft melodious sound, resembling 
 
 SECTION OF PALACE CORRIDOR. 
 
346 
 
 THE TREFOIL ARCH, PALENQUE. 
 
 that of the -ZEolian harp, and gives rise to the apprehension in 
 the minds of the natives that the place is enchanted. 1 
 
 TREFOIL ARCH, PALENQUE. 
 
 The second division of Maya architecture, namely, the Yuca- 
 tan or modified style, presents some variations from the ancient 
 
 1 On the tower, see Waldeck's Palenque, p. iii, pi. xviii, xix. Morel et's 
 Voyage, torn, i, p. 266. Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 315, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, 
 Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i, pp. 86-7. 
 
CASA DEL GOBERNADOR, UXMAL. 347 
 
 or Chiapan. Probably the most remarkable group of ruins in 
 that richest of American architectural fields Yucatan is 
 situated at Uxmal, in Lat. 20 27' 30", thirty-five miles south 
 of Merida. The reader is of course acquainted with the detail 
 of the survey of this remarkable city of antiquity through the 
 work of Stephens and Catherwood. 1 These indefatigable ex- 
 plorers examined about forty ruined cities, nearly all of which 
 were previously unknown to others than the natives, and many 
 of them were unknown at Merida, the capital of the country. 
 While these travelers are pre-eminently the explorers of Yuca- 
 tan, there are others whose services have been of great value in 
 the same field. 2 
 
 Mr. Bancroft has divided the architectural remains in Yuca- 
 tan into four groups, classifying them geographically. We 
 do not consider it necessary to follow such a course, nor enter 
 into the detailed description of any group, but will content 
 ourselves by simply noting any variations from the Palenque 
 models. At Uxmal our attention is at once arrested by the 
 irregular pyramidal base of the building known as the Casa 
 del Gobernador. The base of the pyramid is a figure of an 
 irregular rectangular form. The northern and eastern sides of 
 the base are equal, and measure about six hundred feet each ; 
 the southern and western are, however, irregular. As all the 
 angles are right angles, and two contiguous sides are equal, it 
 will be understood that the figure of the base would have been 
 a square, but for the irregularity of the remaining two sides. 
 These irregularities fall within the figure of the square. The 
 pyramid is terraced, the first promenade when observed being- 
 but three feet from the ground. The second terrace rises from 
 
 1 Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. New York (1st ed. 1843, and 
 others subsequently). 
 
 2 Waldeck, Voyage Pittoresque et Archeologique dans la Province d' Yucatan, 
 Paris, 1838, large fol., 22 illustrations. Norman, Rambles in Yucatan, New 
 York, 1843, 8vo, illustrated. Baron von Friederichstal, Les Monuments de 
 I' Yucatan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1841, torn, xcii, pp. 297, 314. 
 Charnay, Cites et Ruines Americaines, Paris, 1863, large folio. Of many general 
 notices made up from these sources we consider Bancroft's as the most critical 
 and satisfactory. His note on the bibliography of the subject is also of interest. 
 
348 
 
 CASA DEL GOBERNADOR, UXMAL. 
 
 this to a height of twenty feet, and supports a platform with 
 sides 545 feet in length. A trifle west of the centre of this 
 platform rises the third terrace, nineteen feet high, and sup- 
 porting the summit platform, measuring about 100 by 360 feet, 
 
 CASA DEL GOBERNADOR, UXMAL. 
 
 with an elevation above the ground of upwards of forty feet. 1 
 The pyramid is composed of fragments of limestone thrown 
 together, but with the terraces substantially faced with walls 
 of regular and smoothly-hewn limestone-blocks, laid in mortar 
 
 1 We have followed the measurements of Stephens ; seeming to us most 
 accurate. (See Yucatan, vol. i, p. 165 et seq.) Norman, Charnay and Waldeck 
 all differ in their measurements. Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 154-5 has given a good 
 condensation of the description. 
 
UXMAL ARCHES. 349 
 
 which has become intensely hard. The corners of the pyramid 
 differ from those usually met with in that they are rounded. 
 The terrace walls incline slightly toward the centre of the pyra- 
 mid. The second platform was reached by a long inclined plain 
 on the south side one hundred feet wide. A regular stairway 
 with thirty-five steps, and one hundred and thirty feet wide, 
 furnished the means of ascent from the second platform to the 
 summit. The crowning feature of the structure is the Casa del 
 Gobernador, a characteristic Yucatan building, measuring three 
 hundred and twenty-two feet long but only thirty-nine feet wide. 
 The Casa is surrounded by a promenade thirty feet wide, and 
 in its interior contains two parallel rows of apartments (a plan 
 of which is given by Mr. Stephens). 1 A sectional view of the 
 Casa resembles the sectional view of the palace corridors at 
 Palenque, except that in the arches conspicuous in the latter, 
 the irregularities produced by the square overlapping stones 
 (which are filled up to an even surface by mortar and plastering), 
 are avoided in Yucatan, by the overlapping stones of the arch 
 being dressed carefully to the angle of inclination of the wall 
 or ceiling, thus presenting a smooth surface. The roof is formed 
 by filling in the space between the tops of the arches and between 
 the arches and the outer walls with stone, up to the desired 
 level ; after which a perfectly flat covering of well-cut stones 
 is laid over the whole, having a neat though small projecting 
 cornice, as will be observed in the accompanying cut from Ban- 
 croft's work. The rear wall is about nine feet thick and perfectly 
 solid. The comparative modernness of the building may be real- 
 ized when we state that Mr. Stephens found the top of each 
 doorway supported by a heavy beam of zapote-wood. One of 
 these, which was elaborately and beautifully carved, and meas- 
 uring ten feet long and ten by twenty inches wide, he brought 
 to New York, where, unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire with 
 the remainder of his collection. It is presumed that the zapote- 
 wood was prized for its rarity, as it is not found at present 
 
 1 Yucatan, vol. i, p. 175. Reproduced in Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 156, and Bald- 
 win, Anc. America, p. 132. 
 
350 
 
 SECTION OF CASA DEL GOBERNADOR. 
 
 near Uxmal. Inside of and above the doors of the Casa were 
 stone rings, which occur frequently in Yucatanic structures, and 
 are supposed, to have supported curtains for closing the doorways. 
 Stephens presents in a cut (page 347) a view of the imposing 
 and elegant front looking toward the south. 1 
 
 Of the several Uxmal edifices, one especially demands atten- 
 tion as representing the' highest state of ancient architecture and 
 sculpture in America. This is known as the Casa de Monjas, or 
 
 SECTION OF CASA DEL GOBERNADOR. 
 
 Nunnery, and is situated nearly three hundred yards north of 
 the Casa del Grobernador, on a pyramid with three terraces, and 
 measuring three hundred and fifty feet square at its base. On 
 the summit platform, only nineteen feet above the level of the 
 ground, stand four of the characteristic Yucatan buildings upon 
 four sides of a nearly square court. The northern building does 
 not stand quite parallel to the building on the opposite side of 
 the court. The plan from Stephens will present clearly the 
 arrangement of the apartments, in which it will be observed 
 that of the eighty-eight rooms contained in the Casa de Monjas, 
 not more than two apartments open into each other, except in 
 
 1 Yucatan, vol. i, p. 174. Reproduced by Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 160, and Bald- 
 win, Anc. America, p. 132. 
 
GROUND PLAN OF THE NUNNERY. 
 
 351 
 
 one instance, which occurs in the eastern front. 1 The court 
 formed by these long narrow edifices measures 258 by 214 feet, 
 and according to M. Waldeck was paved with 43,660 blocks of 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF THE NUNNERY. 
 
 stone six inches square. In the centre stood the fragments of a 
 rude column similar to others observed in the Casa del Gober- 
 nador. 2 
 
 A cut of one of the beautifully sculptured facades of the Casa 
 
 1 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i, p. 301. Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 176-7. Bald- 
 win's Anc. America, p. 136. 
 
 2 Waldeck reports that a turtle was sculptured upon each of the blocks of 
 the pavement. See Yoy. Pitt., pi. xii, where four are figured. Stephens, how- 
 ever, found no traces of them. Ses Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 175. 
 
352 KABAH. 
 
 de Monjas will be found on a future page. Near the Casa de 
 Monjas stands the pyramid and edifice generally known as the 
 Casa del Adivino or Prophet's house, and named by M. Waldeck 
 the Pyramid de Kingsborough. The pyramid rises to a height of 
 80 feet from a base of 155 by 235 feet. The corners are rounded, 
 and the sides, which are carefully faced with cubical blocks of 
 stone, rise so steep that the ascent and descent by the grand 
 stairway on the eastern face is giddy and dangerous. The stair- 
 way measuring one hundred and two feet on the slope is inclined 
 at an angle of eighty degrees. 1 
 
 About a dozen miles south-eastward from Uxmal are the 
 remains of the ancient city known as Kabah, where ruins quite 
 similar and nearly as extensive as those already described are 
 found. However, new architectural features here meet the ob- 
 server. In one instance the structure which surmounts a terraced 
 pyramid is square, instead of long and narrow as at Uxmal. 
 The inner rooms of the edifice have floors two feet higher than 
 the floors of the outer rooms, and are entered by two stone steps. 
 In one instance these were cut from a single block with the lower 
 step in the form of a scroll. At Kabah we meet with an entirely 
 new feature in Maya architecture, and the reader's acquaintance 
 with the terraced casas, of the New Mexican region, will supply 
 the lack of an illustration at this point. In the style of building 
 referred to, the pyramid instead of serving as a foundation for 
 the building, serves as a central support around which the house 
 with its receding stories, one above another, is built. The first 
 story of the building referred to is built upon the ground, with the 
 perpendicular sides of a mound for its rear wall. Just above, on 
 a level with the roof of the first story on the platform of the first 
 terrace of the mound, stands the second story, with the roof of the 
 first serving as a promenade in front of it, while the third story 
 rests upon the second platform of the mound The platforms or 
 roofs of the first and second stories are reached by means of a stone 
 
 1 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i, p. 313. Waldeck's Voy. Pitt., pp. 95-6, pi. ix, 
 x, xi. Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii, pp. 435 et seq. Charnay's Ruines Americ., 
 pp. 70 et seq. Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 192 et seq. 
 
ELEPHANT TRUNK." 353 
 
 stairway supported upon a half arch. The first story is acces- 
 sible from the ground by doorways. The interior apartments 
 are constructed on the model of the Yucatanic arch. Here, 
 however, lintels of stone are met with, supported in the centre 
 by rude stone columns surmounted by square capitals. These 
 buildings are of large proportions, equalling any we have thus 
 far described. The decorations of the edifices were considered 
 by Mr. Stephens equal to those of any known era, even when 
 tried by the severest rules of art. 1 At Zayi, one of the finest 
 illustrations of this style of architecture is to be seen in what is 
 known as the Casa Grande. The dimensions of the Casa Grande 
 are as follows : lower story, 120 by 265 feet ; the second story, 
 60 by 220 feet ; and the third, resting on the summit platform 
 of the mound, 18 by 150 feet ; a stairway thirty-two feet wide 
 furnishes a means of ascent to the third story on the front, while 
 a narrow stairway leads to the second story at the rear. Kound 
 columns both in doorways and the fagade constitute the chief 
 variation from the styles already observed. An "elephant trunk" 
 ornament protruding from the cornice (also found on Casa del 
 Gobernador and the Casa de Monjas at Uxmal) is a marked 
 feature of decoration. It is unnecessary for us to say that its 
 presence has given rise to much speculation as to its origin. M. 
 Waldeck has given the figure the name which we have applied 
 to it, and perhaps with some reason. 2 
 
 At Labna ruins of a curious and extraordinary nature exist, 
 though far gone in decay. The accompanying cut, employed in 
 Stephens', Baldwin's and Bancroft's works, will serve to show 
 the extravagant decoration lavished upon the cornices of the 
 edifices. At Chichen-Itza, the so-called " Nunnery " is sup- 
 ported by a solid mass of masonry, with perpendicular walls. 
 
 1 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i, p. 397, view of Kabah edifice. See a sectional 
 view in Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 207. 
 
 2 D'abord j'ai ete frappe de la ressemblance qu'offrent ces etranges figures 
 des edifices mayas avec la tete de I'elephant. Get appendice, place entre deux 
 yeux et depassant la bouclie de presque toute la longneur, m'a semble ne 
 pouvoir entre autre chose que 1'image de la trompe d'un proboscidien , car le 
 museau charnu et saillant du tapir n'est pas de cette longueur. Waldeck, 
 Voy. Pitt., p. 74, pi. xiv, xv. Alsp Humboldt, Vues, ed. 1810, p. 92. 
 
 23 
 
354 
 
 RUINS AT LABNA. 
 
 CORNER AT LABNA. 
 
CIRCULAR STRUCTURES AT MAYAPAN. 355 
 
 The dimensions of this base are one hundred and twelve by 
 one hundred arid sixty feet and forty-two feet high. This was 
 crowned by a building having two receding stories. The great 
 pyramid of Chichen is celebrated for the solid stone balustrade 
 which guards its northern stairway of ninety steps, forty-four 
 feet wide. These balustrades terminate in colossal serpent 
 heads, ten feet long. 1 Both at Chichen and at Mayapan circular 
 structures are met with and are figured by Stephens. 2 The 
 same author has described the rectangular watch-towers of 
 Tuloom, which rise majestically amid the extensive ruins of the 
 ancient city of the same name, situated upon the eastern coast in 
 latitude 20 10'. At Tuloom, Mr. Stephens (its only describer), 
 found the first walled city in Yucatan. He believes it to have 
 been occupied long after the conquest, and probably was one of 
 the cities whose many towers met the gaze of the wondering 
 Spaniards, who beheld them as they coasted along the shore. 3 
 
 Quiche Architecture. The propriety of classifying the great 
 ruins of Honduras and Guatemala as Quiche in their origin and 
 style, may be questioned by some of our readers. It must be 
 admitted that great contrasts in style are found in this region, 
 which was occupied by the powerful kingdom of the Quiches 
 and Cakchiquels, at the time of the conquest. However, it is 
 probable that the ancient Quiches (who, as we have already 
 seen, at an early day developed a religion and literature), were 
 the authors of the more ancient cities, like Copan and Quirigua. 
 The Quiche- Cakchiquels of more modern times were quite 
 another people, whose institutions, language, and no doubt their 
 architecture, had been largely influenced by Nahua people from 
 the Mexican plateau. Utatlan, the magnificent capital of this 
 modern and mixed people, was in the height of its glory just 
 before the blighting power of the conquerors laid it in ruins. 
 As ours is not an attempt at the history of discovery, we omit 
 entirely that interesting feature in the treatment of antiquities, 
 
 1 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii, pp. 311-17 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 220-30, with, 
 plans and cuts from Stephens' and Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 140. 
 
 2 Yucatan, vol. i, pp. 130-9 ; Baldwin, Anc. Amer., p. 129. 
 
 3 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii, pp. 387 et seq.; Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 254-9. 
 
356 QUICHE ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 and call attention at once to the features conspicuous in Quiche 
 architecture. The ancient city known as Copan, on the eastern 
 bank of a river of the same name, in latitude 14 45' and longi- 
 tude 90 52 ' in Honduras, and four leagues from the Guatemala 
 line, is interesting in furnishing material for study in this de- 
 partment. It is probably the most ancient city on the continent. 
 Copan no doubt could successfully contend with Palenque for 
 the palm of antiquity. It is again to the indefatigable Stephens 
 and the skillful Catherwood that we are most indebted for 
 our knowledge of these ruins. 1 The period of the abandon- 
 ment of Copan is a question with reference to which we possess 
 too few data to render an intelligent decision concerning it. 
 Following the example of Stephens and Bancroft, we first intro- 
 duce the account of Fuentes contained in Juarros. 2 " In the 
 year 1700, the great circus of Copan still remained entire. 
 This was a circular space, surrounded by stone pyramids about 
 
 1 The original accounts furnished by actual explorers of Copan are as fol- 
 lows : 1st, by the Licenciado Diego Garcia de Palacio, who prepared an 
 account of his duties and their performance, for the king, Felipe II of Spain, 
 dated March 8, 1576, and preserved in the Muuoz collection of MSS. The ac- 
 count has been published several times, at least once in the United States, in 
 Palacio, Carta Dirijida al Rey, Albany, 1860, and translated into English by 
 E. G. Squier ; 2d, an account by Fuentes y Guzman, in a MS. dated 1689. 
 However, so much as related to Copan was published in 1808 in Juarros, 
 Compendia de la Hist, de la Ciudad de Guatemala, trans, in English in 1823 ; 
 3d, by Col. Juan Galindo, an officer in Central American service (explorations 
 made in 1835), published communication in Am, Antiq. Soc. Trans., vol. ii, 
 pp. 545-50, and in Antiq. Hex., torn, i, div. ii, pp. 73, 76 ; 4th, Stephens and 
 Catherwood in 1839, published in Incidents and Travels in Central America, 
 vol. i, pp. 95-160. New York, 1841. 
 
 The ruins have been visited by two or three persons since described by 
 Stephens, but the public has not enjoyed the benefit of their researches, as we 
 believe nothing has since' been published on Copan. Brasseur de Bourbourg, 
 who visited the ruins in 1863 and 1866, testifies to the perfect accuracy of the 
 descriptions and plates in Stephens' and Catherwood's work. A considerable 
 number of notices of Copan have been made up by different writers from these 
 sources. The latest and best of such notices is that by Mr. Bancroft, Native 
 Races, vol. iv, pp. 77-105, from whose bibliographical note we have drawn 
 somewhat for the above facts. 
 
 2 Juarros, Hist. G-uat., pp. 56-7; Stephens' Central America, vol. i, p. 144, 
 and Bancroft, Native Maces, vol. iv, pp. 82-3. 
 
CIRCUS OF COP AN FUEXTES' ACCOUNT. 357 
 
 six yards high and very well constructed ; at the base of these 
 pyramids were figures, both male and female, of very excellent 
 sculpture, which then retained the colors they had been enam- 
 eled with ; and what was not less remarkable, the whole of 
 them were habited in the Castilian costume. In the middle 
 of this area, elevated above a flight of steps, was the place of 
 sacrifice. The same author (Fuentes) relates that, a short dis- 
 tance from the circus, there was a portal constructed of stone, 
 on the columns of which were the figures of men, likewise 
 represented in Spanish habits, with hose, ruff round the neck, 
 sword, cap, and short cloak. On entering the gateway there are 
 two fine stone pyramids, moderately large and lofty, from which 
 is suspended a hammock that contains two human figures, one 
 of each sex, clothed in the Indian style. Astonishment is forci- 
 bly excited in viewing this structure, because, large as it is, there 
 is no appearance of the component parts being joined together ; 
 and although entirely of stone and of an enormous weight, it 
 may be put in motion by the slightest impulse of the hand. Not 
 far from this hammock is the cave of Tibulca ; this appears like 
 a temple of great size hollowed out of the base of a hill, and 
 adorned with columns having bases, pedestals, capitals and 
 crowns, all accurately adjusted according to architectural prin- 
 ciples ; at the sides are numerous windows faced with stone 
 exquisitely wrought. All these circumstances lead to a belief 
 that there must have been some intercourse between the in- 
 habitants of the old and new world at very remote periods/' 
 The swinging stone hammock is probably a work of the fancy 
 rather than that of the artist's hand, though the padre at 
 Gualan told Stephens that he had seen it, and an Indian remem- 
 bered to have heard his grandfather speak of it. None of these 
 remarkable remains have been identified with certainty, though 
 it is not improbable that they might be discovered if the heavy 
 growth of vegetation were removed by a conflagration and ex- 
 plorers to extend their observations farther from the banks of 
 the Rio Copan. According to Stephens' survey, a wall encloses 
 a rectangular area measuring about nine hundred by sixteen 
 hundred feot. The principal group of buildings is designated 
 
358 STEPHENS' SURVEY. 
 
 as the temple. It is built of heavy blocks of cut stone, with 
 walls of about twenty-five feet in thickness, and when examined 
 they were between sixty and ninety feet high on the river's 
 bank. The temple measured six hundred and twenty-four feet 
 north and south by eight hundred and nine feet east and west. 
 The general feature of the ruin is that of an immense pyramidal 
 terrace, with a platform elevated about seventy feet above the 
 ground. The river side of the terrace is perpendicular, while 
 the remaining sides are sloping ; viewing the ruin from this 
 general platform seventy feet high, depressions such as amphi- 
 theatre-like courts descend from it in some instances thirty or 
 forty feet, or about half way to the level of the ground, while 
 above the level of the general platform pyramidal structures rise 
 to a considerable height, in one instance one hundred and twenty- 
 two feet. It is difficult to conceive of what might have been 
 the nature of the superstructure, if any surmounted the general 
 platform. It is probable that for the purposes of assembly the 
 amphitheatres with their sloping sides may have answered every 
 purpose, while the pyramids may have been surmounted by 
 temples now in ruins. Of the sculptured columns of this 
 locality we will speak farther on. Utatlan, the former capital 
 of the modern Quiche kingdom, would naturally be selected as 
 a point at which to seek for remains of the newer Quiche styles 
 of architecture. The conquerors, however, left little that can 
 serve as the basis for architectural study. The city was sur- 
 rounded by a deep ravine or barranca, which can be crossed at 
 only one point, and there long lines of stone fortifications still 
 guard the passage. A fortress, called El Eesguardo, is among 
 these works. It rises one hundred and twenty feet high in the 
 form of a terraced pyramid, with a stone wall plastered with 
 cement enclosing its summit platform, on which a circular 
 tower provided with a stairway was built. Only fragmentary 
 walls of the Quiche palaces remain ; their dimensions were 
 eleven hundred by twenty-two hundred feet, and nothing but 
 their cement covered floors have survived the vandalism of the 
 conquerors and the architects of the modern town ; the latter 
 having carried away the upper portions for building purposes. 
 
NAHUA ARCHITECTURE. 359 
 
 A pyramidal structure near by, known as El Sacrificatorio, pre- 
 sents no architectural contrasts to pyramids already described. 
 Its stairway, composed of nineteen steps each eight inches broad 
 and seventeen inches high, is characteristically Central Amer- 
 ican. 1 In the province of Yera Paz, especially in the Kabinal 
 Valley, Brasseur de Bourbourg observed numbers of tumuli, 
 resembling those of the Mississippi Valley both in material 
 and structure. These were especially prevalent in the neighbor- 
 hood of the villages, and sometimes were associated with pyra- 
 midal structures equal in finish to any we have described. 
 The name cakhay, " red houses," is generally applied to these 
 tumuli. 2 
 
 Naliua Architecture. It would be quite impossible for us to 
 devote that space to this subject which the number of remains 
 would justify, and the presentation of the typal features of the 
 architecture of that interesting family of nations will be all that 
 we shall here attempt ; of geographical and detailed treatments 
 there are several on the different departments of the subject. 3 
 In the pages which follow we will select a few examples of 
 Nahua architecture in order to illustrate our subject, but we 
 would state that many equally important works, though per- 
 haps presenting no new features, have been purposely passed 
 by unnoticed. In a preceding chapter we referred to those- 
 intermediate nations which occupied the transition position 
 between the Mayas and Nahuas. The Miztecs, Zapotecs and. 
 others, were probably a mixed people, related in different 
 degrees to both of the great families on the north and south 
 of them. Oajaca and Guerrero were the homes of these peoples, 
 where they developed their own civilization and styles of art in 
 channels distinct from those of their neighbors. The isthmus 
 of Tehuantepec presents some interesting remains, chief among 
 
 1 Stephens' Central America, vol. ii, pp. 171, 182-8, and Bancroft, Native 
 Races, vol. iv, pp. 124-8. 
 
 2 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., torn, i, p. 15, and cited by Bancroft,, 
 vol. iv, p. 131. 
 
 3 The only comprehensive and satisfactory treatment of the entire field in 
 detail is that by Mr. Bancroft, Native Races, chaps, vii, viii, ix, x. 
 
360 REMAINS OF TEHUANTEPEC. 
 
 which we may cite two stone pyramids situated three leagues 
 west of the city of Tehuantepec. One of these measures fifty- 
 five by one hundred and twenty feet at the base and thirty by 
 sixty-six feet on the summit. A grand stairway composed of 
 forty steps and thirty feet in width leads up the western slope. 
 The summit is also made accessible by smaller stairways on the 
 north and south sides. The lower of the four terraces compos- 
 ing the structure, is perpendicular; the others have inclined 
 walls. On the face of the second terrace were four ranges of 
 flat stones, one above another, extending entirely around the 
 pyramid and furnishing a series of shelves, devoted no doubt 
 to some sacred or sacrificial use. The whole structure was 
 plastered with a cement, colored brilliantly by red ochre. The 
 adjoining pyramid presents an architectural novelty in its grace- 
 fully curved sides. Castaneda has sketched and Dupaix de- 
 scribed it. The height of the pyramid is over fifty feet while 
 its general dimensions are about the same as those of its neigh- 
 bor. In close proximity to the pyramids, altar-like structures 
 were observed, one of which was composed of eight circular 
 stones, like mill-stones, placed one above another. The base 
 measured ten and a half feet, but the summit only four and a 
 half feet ; the height measures twelve feet. 1 Numerous earthen 
 tumuli resembling those of the Mississippi Valley were observed 
 by the German traveler Miiller, scattered over the region, espe- 
 cially to the southeast. 2 The most important group of ruins in 
 Oajoca is that at Mitla, situated about thirty miles southeast 
 of the capital of the State. This is probably the finest group 
 of remains north of the isthmus of Tehauntepec. Still they 
 are not purely Nahua in their style, being, according to tradi- 
 tion, the work of the Zapotecs. T,his group has been described 
 several times by explorers, whose accounts have differed consider- 
 ably in value. The most important of these are the descriptions 
 
 1 Dupaix, Third Expedition, pp. 6-7, pi. iii-v, fig. 6-9 ; Kingsborough, Hex. 
 Ant., vol. vi, p. 469, and Mayer's Observations on Mexican History and Arclmology ', 
 pp. 25-6, and cuts (Smithsonian contribution, No, 86), 1856 ; Bancroft, Native 
 Races, vol. iv, pp. 368-71, with cuts. 
 
 2 Reisen, torn, ii, p. 282, and Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iv, p. 375. 
 
REMAINS IN OAJACA MITLA. 361 
 
 and drawings by Dupaix and Castaneda, made in 1806, and the 
 description and valuable photographs by Charnay, the latest 
 explorer of this group, whose work was performed in 1S59. 1 
 
 The mitla ruins are distributed into four groups of buildings 
 (generally called palaces or temples) and two pyramids. The 
 principal edifice is described as follows : three low oblong mounds 
 only six or eight feet high but surmounted by stone buildings, 
 enclose a court. The court measures 130 by 120 feet. The 
 eastern and western buildings are in a fallen and ruined condition. 
 The northern building, however, presents a singular example of 
 ancient grandeur. The southern portion measures 36 by 130 
 feet, and the northern 61 feet square. The edifice is about 
 eighteen feet high, having walls varying from four to nine feet in 
 thickness. The accompanying cut, a photographic reduction of 
 Charnay's photograph, gives a correct idea of the western fagade 
 of the northern building. 2 
 
 The walls of this edifice are constructed in a somewhat novel 
 manner, their interior portions being nothing more than clay 
 intermixed with stones, thus furnishing a poor substitute for the 
 cement and stone filling in the inner parts of Yucatanic walls. 
 However, the exterior facing of the walls is of hewn stone blocks 
 
 1 Dupaix, Seconde Expedition, published in Kingsborough, vol. v, pp. 255-68, 
 vol. vi, pp. 447-56, vol. iv, pi. xxvii-xli, fig. 81-95, and in Antiq. Mex.', Seconde 
 Expedition, pp. 30-44, pi. xxix-xlvi, figs. 78-93.; Charnay, Cites et Ruines 
 Americaines, pp. 261-9, photographs ii-xviii, and Viollet-le-Duc in Ibid, pp. 74- 
 104 ; Humboldt obtained his information and plates from the survey and draw- 
 ings of Don Luis Martin and Col. de la Laguna, who visited the ruins in 1802 ; 
 see Vues, torn, ii, pp. 278-85, pi. xvii-xviii, and in his other works on the same 
 subject. The remaining original works are Miihlenpfordt in the Ilustracion 
 Mejicana, torn, ii, pp. 493-8 ; Tempsky's Mitla, pp. 250-3, with plates ; Garcia, 
 in Soc. Mex. Georg. Boletin, torn, ii, pp. 271-2 ; Sawkius in Mayer's Observa- 
 tions ; Fossey in his Mexique, pp. 365-70, and Miiller, Reisen, torn, ii, pp. 279-81. 
 We might append a large number of notices made second-hand from the above, 
 but as they contain nothing original we omit them, and refer the reader who is 
 desirous of examining them, to Bancroft's note in Native Races, vol. iv. p. 391. 
 Our examination of the subject has been confined to the accounts of Dupaix, 
 Humboldt, and Charnay, together with Mr. Bancroft's critical review of the 
 field. From the latter we draw some of our bibliographical material. 
 
 2 Charnay, Mexique, Phot, iv ; also Cites et Ruines Amer., Phot, v, vi. Other 
 views in Bancroft's Nativs Rzces, vol. iv, pp. 896-405. 
 
362 MITLA EDIFICES. 
 
 cut in different forms and sizes, and so set in relation to each 
 other as to present examples of perhaps the finest variety of 
 grecques found in any structure in the world. 1 Two layers of 
 large stone blocks form the base of the palace, from which rises 
 buttresses and a framework of stone, filled in with panels of 
 mosaic, in patterns as described. We pronounce these grecque 
 patterns mosaics, because of the manner of their structure. 
 They are not of the nature of sculpture, since each pattern, with 
 
 WESTERN FACADE OF THE PALACE AT MITLA. 
 
 all its regularity, is composed of small brick-shaped blocks of 
 stone built into the wall, mosaic-like, thus forming the graceful 
 patterns shown in the cut. No trace of mortar has been found 
 at Mitla. The inner surface of the wall in the northern building 
 was smoothly plastered without any ornament. Six round stone 
 columns standing in line occupy the centre of the apartment, 
 and no doubt supported a roof of wood or stone, but more 
 probably of the former. 2 The cut in Baldwin's work, copied by 
 
 1 Fossey, Mexique, p. 367, finds twenty-two different styles of grecques in 
 this front, while Miililenpfordt gives cuts of sixteen different styles in llustracion 
 Mej., torn, ii, p. 501. 
 
 2 See full discussion by Viollet le Due in Charnay's Ruines Amer., pp. 78-9. 
 
GRECQUES AT MITLA. 
 
 363 
 
 Bancroft showing the interior of the apartment and the six 
 columns, conveys an incorrect impression as to the form of 
 the columns and the character of the walls, as is proven by 
 Charnay's photograph. 1 The facades of the inner court of the 
 northern wing of the palace are finished with mosaics of great 
 
 beauty. Four or five feet of the wall 
 is plain at the bottom except that the 
 plastering was evidently frescoed in 
 various colors. The remainder of the 
 wall is decorated with bands of mo- 
 saic grecques, as shown in the cut, 
 which is a fac-simile of Charnay's 
 photograph engraven for Mr. Ban- 
 croft's work. We should not fail to 
 note the use of immense stones in 
 the base, framework and lintels of 
 the southern wing of the building. 
 One of these is of granite, sixteen or 
 nineteen feet long, with the pattern 
 of the adjacent grecques sculptured 
 on its face. None of the other build- 
 ings at Mitla present any architectural 
 contrasts to the one already described, 
 and require no special attention. Un- 
 der a temple on the south-west side 
 of the one we have just referred to, 
 is a subterranean gallery, constructed 
 in the form of a cross. The opening 
 
 is at the base of the mound upon which the temple stands, 
 The arms of the cross pointing toward the East, North and 
 West, are each twelve feet long, five and a half feet wide, and 
 six and a half feet high. The southern arm is, however, about 
 twenty feet long, and not more than four feet high through- 
 out most of its length. Near the centre of the cross (which 
 
 GRECQUES OF AN INTERIOR 
 ROOM AT MITLA. 
 
 1 Charnay, phot. x. Mr. Bancroft was not ignorant of this error. Temp- 
 sky's plate served as the guide for Baldwin's cut. 
 
364 REMAINS IN VERA CRUZ. 
 
 lies directly under the centre of the temple above) a flight 
 of four steps descends in : the southern arm of the cross to a 
 lower level, so that the southern arm of the passage is somewhat 
 lower than the others. The entire subterranean chamber was 
 roofed with large flat stones reaching from side to side. The 
 walls, besides being painted red, were ornamented with panels of 
 mosaic, but of a ruder style than that of the superstructure, 
 which is suggestive of an earlier period in the growth of the art. 
 A circular pillar resting on a square base, and called by the 
 natives " the pillar of death," because of the belief entertained 
 among them that whoever embraced it would immediately die, 
 supports the large flagstone which covers the intersection of the 
 galleries. An immense fortification over a mile in circumference 
 and with stone walls six feet thick and eighteen feet high crowns 
 the summit of a hill, which stands three-fourths of a league 
 south-west of Mitla. The place was inaccessible except on the 
 side toward the village where the wall was double. Castaneda 
 lias delineated and Bancroft copied the plan of this fortress. 1 
 
 Passing into the state of Yera Cruz, the attention of the 
 observer is arrested by great numbers of mounds of all the varie- 
 ties peculiar to the Mississippi Valley. Excavations have yielded 
 pottery of burnt clay, idols, and flint and stone weapons, as well 
 as implements of agriculture, but no trace of iron or copper is 
 recorded. As the Nahuas are said by Duran and Sahagan to 
 have landed on the Gulf coast not far north of this region, and 
 to have traversed it in their wanderings southward, and since 
 the tradition derives them from Florida, it is not improbable 
 that here we see the continuation of the works of the lower 
 Mississippi. 2 
 
 Of several interesting specimens of ancient architecture in the 
 state of Yera Cruz we have selected a few examples. At Puente 
 
 1 Dupaix, Seconde Exped., pp. 40-1, pi. xliv-v, fig. 93-4. Kingsborough, vol. v, 
 p. 265 ; vol. vi, p. 455 ; vol. iv, pi. xl-i, fig. 95, and Bancroft's Native Maces, 
 vol. iv, p. 413. 
 
 2 See especially a communication from Mr. Hugo Finck, for twenty-eight 
 years a resident of the region, published in the Smithsonian Report for 1870, 
 an extract from which is published in Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 431-3. 
 
PYRAMIDS OF PUENTE NACIOXAL AND CENTLA. 
 
 365 
 
 Nacional the remarkable pyramid shown in the cut is situated. 
 It was described by J. M. Esteva in the Museo Mexicano in 
 1843. The pyramid is six stories high, and the eastern side is 
 faced by a grand stairway in the form of a cross. Mr. Bancroft 
 has described it, employing the accompanying cut. At Centla, 
 twenty-five or thirty miles north of Cordova, a series of remark- 
 able fortifications were 
 discovered in 1821, 
 which have been most 
 thoroughly described 
 by Sr. Sartorius, who 
 visited the locality in 
 1833, but whose ac- 
 count was not pub- 
 lished until 1869. 1 
 
 The most notable 
 fortification is situ- 
 ated at a narrow pass 
 between two ravines, 
 with perpendicular 
 walls several hundred 
 feet deep. The dis- 
 tance between the 
 precipices at this point 
 
 is only twenty-eight feet. The defensive works consist of several 
 pyramidal structures built of stone and mortar. The largest of 
 these has three terraces rising from the rear until they approach 
 a perpendicular wall, fronting a narrow passage-way only three 
 feet wide. This perpendicular wall is surmounted with parapets 
 and loop-holes for defence. A pyramid on the opposite side of 
 the passage-way, the platform of which is reached by a single 
 flight of steps, is possessed of the same defensive features, with 
 the addition of a ditch at its front eleven feet wide excavated 
 in the solid rock to a depth of five and a half feet. The object 
 
 1 Sr. Gondra received considerable information concerning these ruins from 
 some unnamed person, which he published in Mosaico Mexicano, torn, ii, 
 pp. 368-72. 
 
 PYRAMID NEAR PUENTE NACIONAL. 
 
366 
 
 TYPE OF PYRAMIDS AT CENTL.l. 
 
 of the fortress seems to have been the protection of an oval- 
 shaped tract of fertile land containing about four hundred acres, 
 lying between the barrancas. At the opposite end of the oval 
 tract, the precipices approach so closely to each other as to 
 leave a narrow passage of only three feet in width, which also is 
 guarded by stone walls. Of numerous pyramids in the region, 
 the one figured in the cut (from Bancroft's work) is pronounced 
 by Sr. Sartorius as typical of all of them. 1 
 
 ivrmvaih'y.^H^s 
 
 TYPE OF PYRAMIDS AT CENTLA. 
 
 Half a league below the town of Huatusco, Dupaix discov- 
 ered a remarkable pyramid crowning a hill on a slope of which 
 was also a group of ruins called the Pueblo Yiejo. This struc- 
 ture known as El Castillo, measures sixty-six feet in height, 
 though there is some uncertainty as to the size of the base. 2 
 Dupaix's text states it to be two hundred and twenty-one feet 
 square, but Mr. Bancroft calls attention to the fact that Casta- 
 nedas' drawing makes it about seventy-five feet square. The 
 pyramid in three terraces measures thirty-seven feet high. The 
 superstructure is in three stories, with a single doorway in the 
 lowest. This seems to have been the only opening through the 
 walls of the castle, which were eight feet thick ; we presume, 
 however, only at their base, as their exterior shows a sloping 
 rather than a perpendicular surface. The lowest story forms a 
 single apartment with three pillars in the centre supporting the 
 
 : Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iv, p. 442. This author lias given quite a 
 full description of the fortification, and two plates. 
 
 2 Dupaix's First Expedition, pp. 8-9, pi. ix-xi, fig. 9-12 ; Kingsborough, 
 vol. v, pp. 215-16 ; vol. vi, pp. 425-6, pi. v-vi, fig. 11-15 ; an account in Ban- 
 croft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 368-72 and cut. 
 
TUSAPAN. 367 
 
 beams of the floor above. Portions of the beams were visible 
 when Dupaix visited the locality. The walls of the castle are 
 of rubble made of stone and mortar, as in the Yucatan struc- 
 tures, having stone facings. The exterior of the castle proper was 
 coated with polished plaster and ornamented with panels con- 
 taining regular rows of round stones embedded in the coating. 
 Some unimportant fragments of sculpture in stone and terra- 
 cotta were found in the ruin. El Castillo is of special interest 
 because of the well-preserved condition of its superstructure. 
 About one hundred and fifty or sixty miles northwest of the 
 city of Vera Cruz, the German artist Nebel found a group of 
 ruins known as those of Tusapan, buried in a dense forest at 
 the foot of the Cordillera. The only structure which remains 
 standing closely resembles the pyramid above described, except 
 that the walls of the pyramid are not terraced, and the tower 
 surmounting the pyramid is built with a single story. The 
 only opening in the tower is the doorway at the head of the 
 stairway. The interior contains a single apartment twelve feet 
 square. The ceiling is said to have been arched or pointed, 
 but Hcrr. Nebel has failed to furnish definite information as 
 to whether the arch was of overlapping stones or not, an over- 
 sight of an unpardonable character, since it would be of greatest 
 interest to know whether the Maya arch existed so far north. 
 The pyramid is described as thirty feet square, and built of 
 irregular blocks of limestone, which was probably covered with 
 a coat of the plastering generally employed and so polished 
 in its appearance. 1 One remaining structure in the State of 
 Vera Cruz merits special attention, namely, the pyramid of 
 Papantla. This pyramid, known as El Tajin, "the thunder- 
 bolt," is situated in a dense forest near the modern town 
 of Papantla, which lies about forty miles east of Tusapan. 
 There is a wide divergence of expression as to the dimensions 
 of the pyramid. Herr. Nebel, however, makes the base some- 
 
 1 Nebel, Viaje Pintoresco y Arqueolojico sdbre la Repfiblica Mejicana, 1829- 
 34, Paris, 1839, fol v ; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, vol. ii, pp. 199-200; Ibid, Mexico 
 As it Was, pp. 247-8, and Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 47, 55-3, with 
 two illustrations. We have cited Nebel from the latter. 
 
368 CHOLULA. 
 
 thing over ninety feet square and the height fifty-four feet. 
 The pyramid is seven stories high and apparently solid, except 
 the topmost story which contained interior departments. This 
 crowning structure is now sadly dilapidated. Dupaix's state- 
 ment, copied by Humboldt, that the material of the pyramid is 
 porphyry, cut in immense blocks, appears to be an error, since 
 later exploration has revealed the fact that the pyramid was 
 constructed of regularly cut blocks of sandstone laid in mortar, 
 and coated with a hard, smooth cement, three inches thick. A 
 stairway on the eastern front is divided as well as being guarded 
 by solid stone balustrades. 1 
 
 For Nahua monuments of the purest type we naturally turn 
 to Anahuac the home of Toltec and Aztec art during its most 
 advanced period of development. But alas ! the hand of the con- 
 queror and the zeal of the fanatic have robbed irretrievably the 
 antiquarian and the student of the history of architecture and art, 
 of the best and noblest remains of that strangely interesting civil- 
 ization. Our attention is naturally directed to the architecture of 
 that ancient religious centre Cholula the origin of which, to- 
 gether with that of its great pyramid, we have described in a pre- 
 vious chapter. We have already seen that the prime object for 
 erecting the immense pile, according to Duran, was the worship 
 of the sun, and not to afford a refuge from a deluge as has been 
 generally supposed. The pyramid of Cholula is situated in the 
 eastern portion of a village to which it has given its name, and is 
 reached by a ride of about ten miles westward from the city of 
 Puebla de los Angeles. The magnificent temple upon its summit 
 dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, fell a prey to the destroying vengeance 
 of Cortez, who no doubt was enraged at the stubborn resistance 
 
 1 The original describers of Papantla are Diego Ruiz, in Gaceta de Mexico, 
 July 12, 1785, torn, i, pp. 349-51, copied in Diccionario Univ. Geog., torn x, 
 pp. 120-1 ; also Nebel, Viaje Pintoresco. Humboldt states that Dupaix and 
 Castaneda visited the locality, but they published no description, his own 
 description may have been from information received from them ; Vues, torn, i, 
 pp. 102-3 ; Ibid, Essai Pol., p. 274; Ibid, in Ant. Hex., torn, i, div. ii, p. 12. 
 Of the many descriptions drawn from these sources, those of Mayer, Mex. Aztec, 
 vol. ii, pp. 196-7 ; Ibid, Mexico As it Was, pp. 248-9, and Bancroft's Native 
 Races, vol. iv, pp. 452-4, with cut from Nebel, are probably the best. 
 
HUMBOLDT'S EXPLORATIONS. 369 
 
 with which he was met by the devoted natives, in a hard-fought 
 battle at the foot and upon the slopes of the pyramid. Of the large 
 number of descriptions, either made from personal observation 
 or written from a comparison of accounts, none surpass that of 
 Humboldt, which was the result of a careful survey, performed in 
 1803. Humboldt's drawing, however, was a restoration and not 
 a picture of the condition of the shrub-grown hill as he saw it. 1 
 The pyramid, according to Humboldt, measures at the base six 
 hundred and thirty-nine metres or a trifle more than fourteen 
 hundred and twenty-eight feet square ; in other words, about 
 forty-four acres. The base is shown by Humboldt to be more 
 than twice as large as that of Cheops. Humboldt and Dupaix 
 give its height as fifty-four metres or one hundred and seventy- 
 seven feet ; Mayer says it is two hundred and four feet ; Tylor, 
 two hundred and five feet, and Heller 2 states that its summit 
 platform covers an area of 13,285 square feet. Its height is 
 somewhat greater than that of the pyramid of Mycerinus. 
 Humboldt compares it to a mass of brick, covering a square four 
 times as large as the Place Vendome and twice the height of 
 the Louvre. He considers it of the same type as the temple 
 of Jupiter Bolus the pyramids of Meidoun Dahchoiir, and the 
 group of Sakharah in Egypt. This great monument was con- 
 structed in four equal terraces of small sun-dried bricks, laid 
 in a mortar which has been pronounced by some a mixture of 
 clay with fragments of stones and pottery, by others a cement 
 intermixed with small pieces of porphyry and limestone. Herr 
 Heller discovered that the entire structure had been covered 
 
 1 Of a large number of notices of Cholula, the most important of the original 
 class are those of Humboldt, Essai Pol., pp. 239-40 ; Ibid, Vues, torn, i, pp. 96- 
 124, fol. 2d, pi. vii-viii ; Dupaix's First Expedition, p. 2, pi. xvi, fig. 17, and 
 
 j Kingsborough, vol. v, p. 218, vol. iv, pi. viii, fig. 20 ; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del 
 Messico, torn, ii, pi. 33-4 ; Mayer, Mexico As it Was, p. 26, and Hex. Aztec, etc., 
 vol. ii, p. 228, cuts. For most recent reference, though not very scientific, see 
 Evens' Our Sister Republic, pp. 428-32 (1869), and Haven's Mexico, Our Next 
 Door Neighbor, pp. 109-203, 1875. Mr. Bancroft has given a short, though 
 satisfactory notice, especially valuable for its citation of authorities. In a 
 note (11) vol. iv, p. 471-2, a full list of the authors who have written on Cholula 
 will be found, Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 463-77. 
 
 2 Reisen, pp. 131-2. 
 
 24 
 
370 MATERIAL OF THE CHOLULA PYRAMID. 
 
 with a coating of cement composed of lime, sand and mortar. 1 
 The present appearance of the pyramid is sufficient to induce the 
 opinion that it was originally a natural eminence faced up with 
 adobes in terraces, in accordance with the architectural idea, but 
 its position in the centre of a plain, together with the revelations 
 as to its contents, disclosed by the construction of the Pueblo 
 road through one corner of its base, furnish partial if not con- 
 clusive proof that it was entirely of artificial construction. The 
 excavation revealed the perfect regularity with which the bricks 
 were laid in the interior, and brought to light a tomb containing 
 two skeletons, two basalt figures, a collection of pottery and other 
 articles not described. Humboldt has fully described this cham- 
 ber, which was constructed with stone walls supported by cypress 
 timbers. No doorway could be found opening into the tomb. 
 
 At Xochicalco, the "hill" or "castle of flowers," situated 
 seventy-five miles south-west from the city of Mexico and dis- 
 tant from Cuernavaca fifteen miles in nearly the same direction, 
 are found the most remarkable specimens of ancient Mexican 
 architecture north of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The most 
 important descriptions of the ruins are by Alzate y Kamirez, 2 
 Humboldt, 3 Dupaix and Castaneda, 4 Nebel, 5 and one prepared 
 by the authority of the Mexican government. 6 
 
 1 Heller, Reisen, pp.,131-2, cited by Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iv, p. 473. 
 
 2 Exploration performed in 1777, and account published in Gaceta de Litera- 
 tura, November, 1791, also torn, ii, p. 127 of the same. 
 
 3 Copied the proceedings to a considerable extent in Vues, torn, i, pp. 129-37, 
 pi. ix, and in Essai Pol., pp. 189-90. 
 
 4 Dupaix's First Expedition, pp. 14^-18, pi. xxxi-ii, figs. 33-6 ; Kingsborough, 
 vol. v, pp. 222-4, vol. iv, pi. xv-vi. 
 
 5 Nebel, Viaje Pintoresco, pi. ix-x, xix-xx. 
 
 6 The Government exploration report in Revisita Mexicana, torn, i, pp. 539- 
 50, and in Deccionario Univ. Geog., torn, x, pp. 938-42 ; Mayer's Mexico As it 
 Was, pp. 185-7 ; lUd, Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii, pp. 283-5, with cuts ; Tyler's 
 Andhuac, pp. 183-95. To these original accounts many compiled notices might 
 be added. Mr. Bancroft's critical, review of the sources, supplemented with 
 full bibliographical notes, is valuable and should receive the attention of the 
 reader. See Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 483-98, with several cuts after Nebel. 
 We have 'found this writer's summary of facts of great service in making up the 
 following description. 
 
TERRACES AT XOCHICALCO. 371 
 
 These ruins are both beneath and upon a natural hill of oval 
 form measuring about two miles in circumference and from three 
 hundred to four hundred feet in height, authorities differing 
 considerably on this point. At the foot of the hill on its northern 
 side, are the entrances of two tunnels, one of which extends to a 
 point eighty-two feet from the edge of the hill, where it termi- 
 nates abruptly. The second tunnel penetrates the solid lime- 
 stone of the hill in the form of a square gallery nine and a half 
 feet high and broad, extending inward for several hundred feet 
 and branching into several auxiliary galleries, which terminate 
 in some instances abruptly. The floors are paved with small 
 blocks of stone, to a thickness of a foot and a half ; masonry in 
 some places support the sides, and all the interior surface shows 
 traces of red paint upon the polished cement coating with which 
 it was finished. The principal gallery, after turning a right 
 angle toward the left and extending some hundred feet in a 
 straight line, enlarges into a subterranean chamber eighty feet 
 long by about sixty feet in width. Two circular columns of 
 living rock were left in making the excavation as supports for 
 the roof. The most singular feature connected with the chamber 
 is the perfectly circular excavation found at its south-east angle, 
 or that corner of the room diagonally opposite to the corner at 
 which the passage-way enters it. This circular apartment is 
 only about six feet in diameter, and while it is no deeper than 
 the adjoining chamber, rises above its ceiling in a dome-shaped 
 roof, lined with stones hewn in curved blocks. The curve of 
 this dome-like ceiling corresponds with that of a well-propor- 
 tioned Gothic arch. At the apex of the dome, a round hole ten 
 inches in diameter extends vertically upwards ; some suppose 
 to the pyramid above, but a moment's calculation suffices to 
 show that in view of the considerable diameter of the hill and 
 the comparatively short distance from the chamber to its exte- 
 rior slope, such is impossible. The exterior of the hill presents 
 a most wonderful display of masonry. Its entire circuit is com- 
 passed with five terraces of well-laid stone and mortar, faced 
 with perpendicular walls. Each terrace of masonry is about 
 seventy feet in height, and is constructed in an irregular line, 
 
372 
 
 THE PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO. 
 
 forming sharp angles, like the bastions of a fortress ; each wall 
 supporting the terraces rises above the level of their respective 
 platforms in parapets, evidently for defence. The pavements of 
 the platforms are of stone and inclined slightly toward the south- 
 west, with a view to draining off the rainfall. Dupaix is the 
 only explorer who mentions the means of ascent, which he 
 describes as a roadway eight feet wide, leading to the summit. 
 The summit platform measures 285 by 328 feet, and is surrounded 
 
 PYRAMID AT XOCHICALCO. 
 
 by a wall which is perpendicular on the inside, and on the out- 
 side conforms to the slope of the terrace wall of which it is an 
 extension. This parapet, built of stones without mortar, rises 
 five and a half feet above the plaza, and is two feet and nine 
 inches thick, we presume at its top, since the outer slope of the 
 terrace would make a difference between the top and bottom. 
 Near the centre of the plaza stands the base of a pyramid which 
 presents some remarkable architectural contrasts from anything 
 we have thus far described. Its sides face the cardinal points, 
 
THE PYRAMID OF XOCHICALCO. 373 
 
 and measure sixty-five feet from east to west, and fifty-eight feet 
 from north to south. One of the facades, the northern, according 
 to Nebel, and the western, according to the Mexican Government 
 Survey in the Revista, is cut in two in the centre by an opening 
 twenty feet wide, where it is supposed a stairway formerly led 
 to the superstructure. The cut from Nebel, and reproduced 
 by Mr. Bancroft, shows the fagade to the left of the opening, 
 as the observer faces the pyramid. 
 
 The great granite or porphyritic stones which constitute the 
 facing of the pyramid, some of them eleven feet in length and 
 three feet in height, must have been brought to the summit of 
 the hill at the expense of great labor, especially since they must 
 have been transported from a considerable distance, no such ma- 
 terial being found within a circuit of many leagues. The stones 
 were laid without mortar, and so nicely that it is said the joints 
 are scarcely perceptible. Fragments of a ruined superstructure 
 surmount the pyramid. The foundation walls of the second 
 story were two feet and three inches from the edge of the cornice 
 below it, except on the west where the space was four and a half 
 feet wide. In 1755, so say the inhabitants of the vicinity, the 
 structure was yet complete, having five receding stories like the 
 first, and probably reaching a height of sixty-five feet. On its 
 crowning summit, on the eastern side, stood a large throne-like 
 block of stone, ornamented with elaborate sculptures. The 
 second story foundations indicate the position of three doorways 
 at the head of the grand stairway, and the account in the 
 Revista describes an apartment twenty-two feet square observ- 
 able at the summit of the first story, but now filled with frag- 
 ments of stone. Mr. Bancroft suggests that from this apartment 
 there may have been some means of communication with the 
 subterranean galleries already described. The colossal sculp- 
 ture on the face of the pyramid will receive our attention on a 
 future page. 1 
 
 1 The vandalic destruction of tliis Acropolis of Mexican architecture is due 
 to the vulgar cupidity of a neighboring sugar manufacturer, who despoiled it 
 in order to build the furnaces of his refinery. 
 
374 THE TEMPLE OF MEXICO. 
 
 The general description given above, together with the re- 
 ported character of the superstructure of this magnificent monu- 
 ment, calls to mind the main features of the great teocalli dedi- 
 cated to the bloody god Huitzilopochtli in the Aztec capital 
 called Tenochtitlan or Mexico. This blood-stained temple upon 
 whose altars smoked the hearts of countless human victims, is 
 supposed to have occupied the site of the cathedral fronting the 
 Plaza Mayor of the modern city of Mexico. Not a vestige of 
 that terraced pyramid has survived the destructive hand of 
 fanaticism and the transforming work of man and nature which 
 have been going on ever since upon the old site of the capital of 
 the Montezumas. It is said to have been built in five stories, 
 with flights of steps affording access to the summit ; but each 
 flight was so constructed with reference to the platform at its 
 top, as to require almost a complete circuit of the building before 
 the next flight could be reached. It was necessary, therefore, 
 in order to reach the summit platform, to pass four times around 
 the pyramid. It is supposed that this was intended to display 
 to better advantage the solemn processions of the priests as their 
 long train mounted gradually the sides of the edifice. The 
 specialist is already familiar with the descriptions by Bernal 
 Diaz, whose particular extravagance of statement renders his 
 work altogether unreliable. Also with the accounts by Tor- 
 quemada, Gomera, Cortez and Clavigero. The reader has no 
 doubt acquainted himself with the main facts in the writings 
 of the graceful and imaginative Prescott, whose seeming romance, 
 The History of the Conquest of Mexico, has been proven by 
 recent and reliable investigation to have approached much nearer 
 to fact than to fiction. Mr. Tylor, after careful exploration, has 
 expressed in his "Anahuac" his surprise and satisfaction at 
 what he considers to be the proof of Mr. Prescott's general cor- 
 rectness of statement as to the extent of the Aztec capital and 
 the probable character of its edifices. 1 
 
 For a % description of the palaces of Mexico and Chapul tepee, 
 the museums, mansions of the nobles, the pavements and aque- 
 
 1 See Tylor, Anahuac, p. 149, and on the subject in hand. 
 
TEOTIHUACAN COMPARED WITH EGYPT. 375 
 
 ducts of that buried city, we refer the reader who has not access 
 to the sources, to the admirable account by Fresco tt, especially 
 since it more properly belongs to the province of history (now 
 that all traces of them have disappeared) than to that of 
 archaeology. 1 
 
 Of many interesting localities where architectural remains 
 still exist, we select one more in the Central region, to illustrate 
 our subject. The ancient religious city of the early Nahuas, 
 Teotihuacan, with its famous pyramids the traditional origin 
 of which we have already noted 2 deserves our attention. The 
 city of the gods has had many describers, from the illustrious 
 Humboldt to the observant and philosophical Mr. Tylor. The 
 most complete description, however, is that given in the report 
 of a scientific commission appointed by the Mexican government 
 in 1864, containing accurate plans and views. 3 Sr. Antonio 
 Garcia y Cubas, a member of the commission, subsequently 
 published a most interesting memoir on the pyramids of Teoti- 
 huacan, entitled Ensayo de un Estudio comparative entre las 
 Pirdmides Egipcias y Mexicanas (Mexico, 1871). The analo- 
 gies between Teotihuacan and Egyptian pyramids receive the 
 greater share of attention, though some valuable facts not 
 mentioned in the report of the commission are here made known. 
 Mr. Bancroft has reproduced the main features of the report 
 of the Mexican Commission and compared it with previous 
 researches, thus presenting the reader with probably the best 
 critical version of the exploration of Teotihuacan, to be found in 
 any language. 4 The cut reduced from Almaraz for Mr. Ban- 
 croft's work shows the plan of the Teotihuacan monuments on a 
 scale of about twenty-five hundred and fifty feet to an inch. 
 
 The pyramid marked A in the plan is known as Metztli 
 Itzacual, which is interpreted " House of the Moon." It meas- 
 
 1 See Prescott, book iv, caps, i, ii, vol. ii, Kirk's ed. of 1875, pp. 100-51. 
 
 2 See chapter vi, p. 243, this work. 
 
 3 Almaraz, Apuntes sobre las Pirdmides de San Juan Teotihuacan. Mexico, 
 1864. 
 
 4 Bancroft's Native Maces, vol. iv, pp. 529-44, and a good bibliographical 
 note on p. 530. 
 
376 
 
 PLAN OF TEOTIHUACAK 
 
 ures 156 metres or 512 feet from east to west by 130 metres or 
 426 feet from north to south. According to Almarez, its height 
 is 42 metres or 137 feet, but Sr. Garcia y Cubas, who took his 
 
 measurement on the opposite side 
 of the pyramid from that measured 
 by Almaraz, says that it is 46 metres 
 or 150 feet high. The summit plat- 
 form, according to Garcia y Cubas, 
 is six metres or nineteen and a half 
 feet square ; quite a discrepancy is 
 here observable between the esti- 
 mated area given by Beaufoy and 
 copied by Mr. Bancroft as thirty- 
 six by sixty feet, and this actual 
 measurement. The sides of the 
 pyramid nearly face the cardinal 
 points. The eastern slope is 31 
 30', while the southern is somewhat 
 steeper, being 36. The slope on 
 the east seems to have been un- 
 broken except by a zigzag roadway, 
 leading to the summit. The remain- 
 ing sides are plainly marked by 
 the remains of three terraces, one 
 of which is still about three feet 
 wide. Humboldt and Tylor both speak of remains of stairways 
 of which no mention is made by the Government Commission. 
 Most observers have described the pyramids as faced with hewn 
 stone, but the commissioners on the contrary found them coated 
 with successive layers of different conglomerates as follows : 
 " 1st, small stones from eight to twelve inches in diameter, with 
 mud forming a layer of about thirty-two inches ; 2d, fragments 
 of volcanic tufa, as large as a man's fist, also in mud, to the thick- 
 ness of sixteen inches ; 3d, small grains of tetzontli (a porous 
 volcanic rock) of the size of peas, with mud, twenty-eight inches 
 thick ; 4th ; a very thin and smooth coat of pure lime mortar. 
 
 PLAN OF TEOTIHUACAN. 
 
HOUSE OF THE SUN. 377 
 
 These layers are repeated in the same order nine times and are 
 parallel to the slopes of the pyramid, which would make the 
 thickness of the superficial facing about sixty feet." l On the 
 southern slope, sixty-nine feet from the base, according to Almarez, 
 a gallery large enough to admit a man crawling on hands and 
 knees, extends inward on an incline, a distance of twenty-five 
 feet, and terminates in two square wells or chambers, each five 
 feet square, and one of them fifteen feet deep. Mr. Lowensternj 
 according to Mr. Bancroft, states that " the gallery is a hundred 
 and fifty-seven feet long, increasing in height to over six feet 
 and a half, as it penetrates the pyramid ; that the well is over six 
 feet square, extending apparently down to the base and up to the 
 summit ; and that other cross galleries are blocked up by debris ! " 
 It is probable that these remarkable galleries never existed, except 
 in Mr. Lowenstern's imagination, since Sr. Almaraz in the report 
 of the official survey pronounces the tunnel already described as 
 simply excavations by treasure-hunters. The pyramid B of the 
 plan, situated five hundred and seventy-five yards south of the 
 House of the Moon, is called Tonatiuh Itzacual, or " House of 
 the Sun." This pyramid requires no description, except to give 
 its dimensions, since in all other respects it is precisely similar 
 
 1 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, p. 533. On page 543, the same author in 
 a note translates the following interesting passage from Sr. Garcia y Cubas : 
 " The pyramids of Teotihuacan, as they exist to day, are not in their primitive 
 state. There is now amass of loose stones whose interstices covered with 
 vegetable earth have caused to spring up the multitude of plants and flowers 
 with which the faces of the pyramids are now covered. This mass of stones 
 differs from the plan of construction followed in the body of the monuments > 
 and besides the falling of these stones, which has taken place chiefly on the 
 eastern face of the Moon, has laid bare an inclined plane perfectly smooth, 
 which seems to be the true face of the pyramid. This isolated observation 
 would not give so much force to my argument if it were not accompanied by 
 the same circumstances in all the monuments." This inner smooth surface has 
 an inclination of 47, differing from the angle of the outer faces. Sr. Garcia y 
 Cubas, conjectures that the Toltecs, the descendants of the civilized architects 
 of these monuments, fearing that they would be despoiled by the savages who 
 followed them, covered up their sacred places with the outer coatings de- 
 scribed. 
 
378 THE CITADEL, 
 
 to the House of the Moon. The House of the Sun, according to 
 the measurement of Sr. Garcia y Cubas, which is the most recent, 
 is at the base 232 metres or 761 feet by 220 metres or 722 feet. 
 Its height is 66 metres or 216 feet, while the summit platform 
 measures 18 by 32 metres or 59 by 105 feet. Both this pyramid 
 and the preceding have each a small mound on one of their sides 
 near their base. In the latter instance this mound seems con- 
 nected with an avenue of mounds just west of it. An embank- 
 ment marked a, &, c, c?, one hundred and thirty feet wide on the 
 summit and twenty feet high, widening out at the extremities 
 into platforms, extends around three sides of the " House of the 
 Sun." Across the Bio San Juan, and at the distance of twelve 
 hundred and fifty yards southward of the " House of the Sun," 
 stands the Texcalpa or " citadel." This is a quadrangular en- 
 closure, measuring on its exterior twelve hundred and forty-six by 
 thirteen hundred and thirty-eight feet. The embankments are 
 of enormous strength, being two hundred and sixty-two feet thick 
 by thirty- three feet high, except on the western side, which is 
 but sixteen feet high. The enclosure is divided unequally by 
 a wall as strong as that upon the sides. On the centre of this 
 wall stands a pyramid ninety-two feet high. At its base are 
 two small mounds besides one in the western enclosure, while 
 fourteen others averaging twenty feet in height are arranged with 
 regularity upon the summit of the enclosing wall. An avenue 
 two hundred and fifty feet wide formed by mounds and measur^ 
 ing two hundred and fifty rods in length, extends from a point 
 south of the " House of the Moon " to the river, as is shown 
 from C to D, in the plan. The avenue is cut up into compart- 
 ments by six cross embankments, a rather strange feature for 
 which no explanation has been afforded. These mounds are 
 mostly conical, built 'of fragments of stone and clay, and some 
 of them reach a height of thirty feet. The native traditions 
 call it Micaotli, which may indicate that they were designed for 
 the purposes of sepulture. Almaraz, who excavated one of the 
 multitude of mounds or tlalteles in the vicinity, found four walls 
 meeting at right angles, though a little inclined and forming a 
 small square. Connected with this were steps, at the top of 
 
LOS EDIFICIOS OF QUEMADA. 379 
 
 which four other walls enclosed a little room, supposed to have 
 been a tomb. The natives describe the discovery of a stone box 
 in one of the mounds containing a skull, with about such a col- 
 lection of trinkets as is commonly met with in the stone graves 
 of Tennessee. Mayer describes a massive stone column, ten feet 
 long and four feet square, cut from a single block. This resem- 
 bles the elaborate capitol of a column resting on a base with 
 scarcely a shaft intervening. It is called the fainting stone by 
 the natives, who believe that whoever sits on it is sure to faint 
 instantly. 
 
 One additional group of ruins, as yet unclassified with any 
 of the types we have described, merits our attention. This 
 group is known as Los Edificios of Quemada, situated in south- 
 ern Zocatecas north of the Central plateau and probably the 
 home of the Chichimecs. 1 Mr. Bancroft has attempted to re- 
 construct the unsatisfactory accounts of the several explorers of 
 Quemada, but with little success. We therefore decline adding 
 another comparative failure to the list of literature on these 
 ruins. Some general observations, however, may not be out of 
 place. The Cerro de los Edificios is a natural eminence about 
 half a mile long and between one hundred and two hundred yards 
 wide, except at its southern extremity where it increases to a 
 width of five hundred yards. The authorities differ as to its 
 height, one saying from two to three hundred feet, and another 
 eight to nine hundred feet above the plain. Ancient roads well 
 paved radiate in various directions from the hill, some of them 
 
 1 Quemada was at first mentioned by early writers as one of the stations in 
 the Aztec migration. Captain Lyon published in his Journal, vol. i.pp. 225-44, 
 the result of explorations performed by him at Los Edificios in 1826. Another 
 report was made by Sr. Esparza from data furnished him by Pedro Rivera in 
 1830, which appeared in Esparza's Informe presentado al GoUerno, pp. 56-8, 
 and MUSBO Max., torn, i, pp. 185 et seq. Herr Berghes made a pretty good survey 
 of the ruins in 1831 ; his observations were published by Nebel. Herr Burkart, a 
 companion of Berghes, published a description in his AvfenthaU und Reisin in 
 Mexico, torn, ii, pp. 97-105. Nebel published his observations in his Viaje. 
 Several authors have made up notices from these sources without adding any 
 original information. A list of these, as well as those given above, may he 
 found in Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 578-9. 
 
380 ROUND COLUMNS AND TRACES OF PORTICOES. 
 
 extending a distance of five or six miles. The northern brow of 
 the hill, where the descent is not so precipitous as at the other 
 points, is guarded by a stone wall, as are all other points where 
 the precipitous sides do not offer a sufficient barrier to an intruder 
 from without. The surface of the hill is quite uneven, and these 
 irregularities have been formed into terraces supported by stone 
 walls. Foundations have thus been secured for a multitude of 
 structures, some of them perfectly pyramidal and others consist- 
 ing of quadrangular enclosures or squares, terraced and having 
 steps descending to the court within, where pyramidal structures 
 of stone are found. On the eastern terrace of the Cerro, a round 
 pillar, eighteen feet high and nineteen feet in circumference, 
 stands in proximity to a wall of as great height as the pillar. 
 Traces of nine similar pillars are visible, and the probability is 
 that they formed part of a balcony or perhaps a portico. Adjoin- 
 ing this wall is an enclosure measuring 138 by 100 feet, in which 
 are eleven pillars in line, each seventeen feet in circumference 
 and as high as an adjacent wall, namely eighteen feet. The 
 distance from the wall is twenty-three feet, and the presumption 
 is that the pillars supported a roof. There are no doorways, 
 properly so called, since the doorways are large quadrangular 
 openings extending to the full height of the halls. No windows 
 were discovered anywhere. The material is gray porphyry from 
 hills across an intervening valley, and the mortar is reddish clay, 
 mixed with straw, and is of poor quality. Sculpture, hierogly- 
 phics, pottery, human remains, idols, arrowheads, and obsidian 
 fragments are totally wanting, thus presenting a strange contrast 
 with all other Mexican ruins. Nevertheless, the massiveness of 
 the fortifications, the height and great thickness of the walls, 
 none of which are less than eight feet thick and in one instance 
 over twenty, the extensive system of paved roads, besides great 
 elevated stone causeways running through the city, the size of 
 the enclosed squares, one of which contains six acres, all indicate 
 that this might have been the capital city of a powerful people, 
 a people whose architectural affinities with all others that we 
 are acquainted with are very few, and whose contrasts are numer- 
 ous. Certainly the type and execution of the masonry, though 
 
MAYA AND NAHUA ARCHITECTURE COMPARED. 381 
 
 massive, is more primitive than found elsewhere in Mexico. We 
 do not mean that it is more ancient, for such cannot be true, but 
 inferior to that in other parts of Mexico and the Central Ameri- 
 can region. The arch of overlapping stones is entirely wanting, 
 and but for the round columns without either base or capitol, 
 the steps toward advancement in the art would only be those 
 common to that generally vigorous and warlike period which, in 
 the history of every people, has preceded a higher civilization. 
 Mr. Bancroft has published Burghes' plan of Quemada but to 
 little purpose, since the descriptive matter available does not 
 contain a reference to more than one-fourth of the many struc- 
 tures indicated. 
 
 In the course of the chapter, we have indicated the principal 
 resemblances and contrasts between the various styles treated. 
 The pyramidal structure we have found employed by both Mayas 
 and Nahuas, with certain modifications and with such resem- 
 blances as would seem to indicate that both peoples had been 
 originally, or at an early day, near neighbors, and that the 
 younger people, at least the more recent in their occupancy of 
 Mexico and Central America, the Nahuas, may have copied the 
 pyramid in its perfected form from the Mayas. We have noted 
 some difference between the ancient and modern Maya styles. 
 In the ancient or Chiapan, the irregularities in the face of the 
 pyramid caused by constructing it of tiers of rectangular stones 
 were filled with mortar, and an even surface produced. In the 
 modern or Yucatanic style the blocks of stone-facing are bevelled 
 to the angle of the slope. Furthermore, in some instances 
 the corners of the pyramids were rounded. At Palenque the 
 superstructures were of only one story, while Yucatanic struc- 
 tures were often formed of three receding stories. Of the Copan 
 ruins little can be said intelligently, except that the pyramid 
 combined with the terrace is all-pervading, but still is not 
 unlike the Palenque style in its main features. The Nahua 
 architecture offers a great variety of styles, but at the same time 
 the pyramidal structure is the fundamental feature of all kinds 
 of structures. Mitla offers an exception to this rule, but there 
 are doubts as to whether Mitla may be classified as a Nahua 
 
382 TEOTIHUACAN AND EGYPT. 
 
 ruin at all. The early writers devoted much of their attention 
 to seeming old world resemblances in ancient American archi- 
 tecture, but their speculations in most cases were puerile and 
 trivial. Mr. Stephens, with the experience which the careful 
 study and observation of old world monuments afforded him, 
 strongly denies that any such analogies are to be found among the 
 Maya groups. 1 M. Yiollet-le-Duc considers the monuments of 
 Mexico, especially those of Maya origin, to have been influenced 
 by white and yellow races, the former of the Aryan from the 
 north-east, the latter the Turanian from the north-west. He 
 seems to find some analogy between ancient Japanese temples 
 (and quotes a description from Charlevoix, Histoire du Japan, 
 ed. 1754, torn, i, chap, x, p. 171) and those of ancient America. 
 He thinks that the style of architecture at Uxmal indicates 
 clearly that the first structures were of wood and resembled the 
 style prevalent in Japan. However, the wooden structures more 
 properly originated with the white races, while the use of stucco 
 is characteristic of the Turanian or Yellow races of the north- 
 west. He thinks it certain that Mitla and Palenque were 
 influenced by a white race. 2 Senor Garcia y Gubas has at- 
 tempted to prove in a careful argument that the pyramids of 
 Teotihuacan were built for the same purposes as were the pyra- 
 mids of Egypt. He considers the analogy established in eleven 
 particulars, as follows : the site chosen is the same ; the struc- 
 tures are oriented with slight variation, the line through the 
 centres of the pyramids is in the astronomical meridian ; the 
 construction in grades and steps is the same ; in both cases the 
 larger pyramids are dedicated to the sun ; the Nile has a "valley 
 of the dead," as in Teotihuacan there is a " street of the dead ; " 
 some monuments of each class have the nature of fortifications ; 
 the smaller mounds are of the same nature and for the same 
 purpose ; both pyramids have a small mound joined to one of 
 their faces ; the openings discovered in the Pyramid of the Moon 
 are also found in some Egyptian pyramids ; the interior arrange- 
 
 1 Stephens' Central America, vol. ii, pp. 438 et seq. 
 
 2 Viollet-le-Duc in Charnay's Cites et Ruines, Introduct., pp. 28 et seq. 
 
SCULPTURE AND HIEROGLYPHICS. 383 
 
 ment of the pyramids is analogous. 1 Mr. Delafield by a less 
 systematic argument advocates the same theory. However, his 
 capability to discern analogies is not confined to a single struc- 
 ture, since in the pyramid of Cholula and the teocalli of the city 
 of Mexico he finds a counterpart to the temple of Belus at 
 Babylon, as described by Herodotus. The walls around the hill 
 at Xochicalco explain the use of similar embankments at Circle- 
 ville and Marietta in Ohio, while the order of the apartments at 
 Mitla bears a striking analogy to the arrangements of apart- 
 ments in the temples of upper Egypt. This and much more Mr. 
 Delafield has been able to discover, but unfortunately only with 
 certainty to his own mind. 2 Lowenstern is equally certain that 
 the American monuments were not constructed by a nation 
 analogous to that which built the pyramids of Egypt. 3 Banking, 
 on the other hand, finds that Teotihuacan was named after the 
 illustrious dead buried beneath its pyramids, as was the custom 
 in Egypt, but in this instance the name is analogous to that of 
 Thiautcan or Khan, the name of the grand Khan of the Monguls 
 and Tartars who occupied the throne of China at the time of 
 Sir John Mandeville's visit to Pekin in the fourteenth century ; 
 and as at Teotihuacan and among the Monguls the sun and 
 moon were worshipped, so, according to Banking, those American 
 monuments are attributable to Mongul architects. 4 It would be 
 easy for us to continue the citation of these fancied analogies, 
 but it is no doubt already apparent to the reader that they are 
 generally of too trivial a character to serve the ends of science, 
 and we therefore dismiss their further consideration. 5 
 
 Sculpture and Hieroglyphics. The mound sculpture, as has 
 been observed in the cuts illustrating a previous chapter of this 
 
 1 Garcia y Cubas, Ensayo de un Estudio comparative* entre los Pir amides 
 Egi/pcies y Mexicanas; Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 543-4, and vol. v, 
 pp. 55-6. 
 
 2 Delafield, Inquiry into the Origin of American Antiquities, pp. 57-61. 
 1839. 4to. 
 
 3 Mexique, pp. 274-5. Leipsic, 1843. 4 Historical Researches, p. 355. 
 
 5 See further, Clavigero, Storia del Messico, torn, iv, pp. 19-20 ; Jones, 
 Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 122 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 474 ; Prescott, Mex., torn, iii, 
 p. 407 ; Humboldt, Essai Pol, torn, i, p. 265 ; Tylor's Early History, p. 206. 
 
384 
 
 MOUND-SCULPTURE PALENQUE SCULPTURE. 
 
 work, though comparatively rude in most cases, still, in a few 
 instances, is quite remarkable as affording true representations 
 of animals and possibly of the human face. Considerable pro- 
 gress in the art of ornamentation in terra-cotta is displayed on 
 many of the vases and burial urns exhumed from the mounds. 
 Many of the lines, figures and borders traced in relief and some- 
 times in taglio on those 
 vessels indicate not only 
 that a sense of the beau- 
 tiful was present, but 
 that it had been culti- 
 vated to a considerable 
 extent. The same re- 
 marks apply to the pot- 
 tery of the Pueblos and 
 Cliff-dwellers. At Pa- 
 lenque, however, the stu- 
 dent of art meets with 
 no mean attempts at 
 delineating the human 
 form in fact, the success 
 obtained in this difficult 
 field alone characterized 
 the work of the Palen- 
 que artists. It is pre- 
 sumed that nearly all of 
 the piers separating the 
 doorways in the eastern 
 wall of the palace were 
 ornamented with stucco 
 bas-reliefs. Two out of 
 six of the best preserved 
 
 are shown in the following cuts. The most remarkable feature 
 of the first (Fig. 1, reduced from Waldeck for Bancroft's work) is 
 the cranial type, deformed to a shocking degree, probably by 
 artificial pressure, so generally employed by the ancient Ameri- 
 can races. Possibly it is but a caricature. 
 
 STUCCO BAS-RELIEF IN THE PALACE. 
 Fig. 1. 
 
ELEPHANT TRUNK SCULPTURE. 
 
 385 
 
 STUCCO BAS-RELIEF IN THE PALACE. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Fig. 2 (a photographic reduction from Waldeck) presents 
 us with a subject which has called forth no little discus- 
 sion. The " elephant's trunk " which protrudes from the elab- 
 orate head-dress of the priest has been thought to indicate 
 25 
 
386 GIGANTIC HUMAN SCULPTURES. 
 
 an Asiatic influence. 1 We have already referred to the frequent 
 occurrence of the " elephant trunk " ornament in Yucatan. The 
 hieroglyphic signs at the top and on the faces of these reliefs no 
 douht hold locked up in their mysterious symbols the history of 
 the scene. 
 
 In all of these reliefs the flattened cranial type is present, and 
 no doubt represents the ideal of beauty among those ancient 
 people. The stuccoes appear to have been moulded upon the 
 undercoating of cement after it had become hard. The brush 
 of the painter was then employed in its final embellishment.- 
 Adjacent to the eastern stairway leading downward into the main 
 court of the palace are great stone slabs, forming a surface on each 
 side of the steps fifty feet long by eleven feet high. Waldeck, 
 Stephens and Bancroft furnish views of gigantic human figures 
 sculptured in low relief upon these surfaces. Both the attitudes 
 and expressions portrayed indicate that the groups represented 
 are either captives or possibly victims for sacrifice. 3 On the 
 opposite side of the court, and on the stone face of the balustrade 
 of a stairway, two figures, male and female, are sculptured, 
 which, according to Waldeck, are of the Caucasian type. The 
 same artist has shown the beautiful grecques which adorn the 
 panels of the cornice. 4 Waldeck and Bancroft have figured a 
 remarkable stone tablet of elliptical form, in which a princely 
 personage is represented as sitting cross-legged on a chair formed 
 of a double-headed animal, pronounced by Stephens to resemble 
 a leopard. Catherword's plate, in Morelet's Travels, shows an 
 ornament suspended from the neck of the chief figure resembling 
 an effigy of the sun, while in Waldeck's drawing the Egyptian 
 
 1 Humboldt, Vues, p. 92 (fol. ed., 1810),, considers that this people was 
 originally from Asia and preserved some remembrance of the elephant, or that 
 in their traditions they had accounts of the mammoth of the American con- 
 tinent. 
 
 2 Waldeck, p. v, pi. xii, xiii. Stephens, Cent. Am., vol. ii, pp. 311, 116-17. 
 Dupaix, pp. 20, 37, 75-6, pi. xiv-xxii. Kingsborough, vol. iv, pi. xxvi. Ban- 
 croft, Native Races, vol iv, pp. 304-6. 
 
 3 Waldeck's Palenque, pi. xiv, xv, shows both groups. Bancroft, vol. iv, 
 p. 313. Dupaix, pi. xxiii-iv. 
 
 4 Waldeck, pi. xiv. 
 
ELLIPTICAL STONE TABLET. 
 
 387 
 
 Tau is graven upon the ornament. 1 The accompanying cut 
 shows Waldeck's drawing (employed by Mr. Bancroft). 
 
 Four hundred yards south of the palace stands the ruins of a 
 pyramid and temple, which, at the time of Dupaix's and of 
 Waldeck's visits were in a good state of preservation, but quite 
 dilapidated when seen by Charnay. The temple faces the east, 
 
 SCULPTURED TABLET IN THE PALACE. 
 
 and on the western wall of its inner apartment, itself facing the 
 eastern light, is found (or rather was, for it has now entirely 
 disappeared) the most beautiful specimen of stucco relief in 
 America. M. Waldeck, with the critical insight of an expe- 
 
 1 Waldeck, pi. xvii. 
 Morelet, p. 97. 
 
 Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 317-18. Stephens, vol. ii, p. 318. 
 
388 
 
 THE BEAU RELIEF IX STUCCO. 
 
 BEAU RELIEF IN STUCCO. 
 
 rienced artist, declares it " worthy to be compared to the most 
 beautiful works of the age of Augustus/' Pie therefore named 
 the temple the Beau Belief. The above cut is a reduction 
 from Waldeck's drawing used in Mr. Bancroft's work, and is very 
 

 TABLET OF THE CROSS. 389 
 
 accurate. However, the peculiar beauty of Waldeck's drawing 
 is such that it must be seen in order to be fully appreciated. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary for us to call the reader's attention 
 to the details of this picture, in which correctness of design and 
 graceful outlines predominate to such an extent that we may 
 safely pronounce the beautiful youth who sits enthroned on his 
 elaborate and artistic throne, the American Apollo. In the 
 original drawing the grace of the arms and wrists is truly match- 
 less, and the chest muscles are displayed in the most perfect 
 manner. The embroidered girdle and folded drapery of the 
 figure, as well as the drapery around the leopards 7 necks, are 
 arranged with taste. The head-dress is not unlike a Koman 
 helmet in form, with the addition of numerous plumes. The 
 sandals of the feet are secured by a cord and rosette, while orna- 
 ments on the animals' ankles seem secured by leather straps. 
 The engraving does not do justice to the face-like ornament 
 suspended by the string of pearls upon the youth's breast. In 
 the original drawing it is quite beautiful, and of a female cast. 1 
 
 The next subject of interest to the student of sculpture is 
 found in the Temple of the Cross, in the inmost sanctuary of all, 
 and is known as the Tablet of the Cross. Three stones cover 
 most of the surface of the rear wall of the sanctum sanctorum, 
 and present an area six feet four inches high by ten feet eight 
 inches wide. The central of the three stones bears the cele- 
 brated sculpture of the cross which has excited so much interest 
 and comment, to say nothing of speculation as to its origin. 
 The cut is a photographic reduction from Waldeck's drawing. 
 A priest and priestess appear to be offering an infant to an ugly 
 bird which stands perched upon the cross. The infant's face 
 is completely hid by a fantastic mask or cap. The expression 
 of pain on the faces of the officiating personages is very marked. 
 The symmetry of proportion employed in the sculpture is con- 
 ceded by all observers. The two lateral stones (the left-hand 
 one being shown in our cut) are covered with hieroglyphics, 
 
 1 Waldcck's Palenque, p. iii, pi. 42. Dupaix, pi. xxxiii, Fig. 37. Kings- 
 borough, pi. xxxv j fig. 37. Stephens, vol. ii, p. 355. . Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 328-30. 
 
390 
 
 TABLET OF THE CROSS. 
 
 TABLET OF THE CROSS. 
 
 which begin at the left-hand upper corner with a large capital 
 letter. Some one had removed the central stone from its posi- 
 tion prior to Waldeck's visit, and conveyed it to a point in the 
 forest not far distant. Stephens also found it in the same locality. 
 By referring to the hieroglyphic tablet at the left of the cross 
 
A PALENQUE STATUE. 
 
 391 
 
 it will be observed that just below the 
 large initial letter or word is a three- 
 fold hieroglyphic, while seven others 
 in the same column are double. 
 This would indicate, we should 
 think, that the characters were read 
 from the top downwards, though it 
 is possible that the lines were read 
 horizontally, each line beginning 
 with a capital as in poetry. 1 
 
 On either side of the doorway 
 opening to the inner sanctuary of 
 the Cross, were originally two male 
 figures sculptured in low-relief on 
 stone ; one of them, which appears 
 to represent an aged royal person, is 
 beautifully clad in a leopard's skin, 
 while the opposite figure, designed 
 probably to represent youthful man- 
 hood, is arrayed in what may be an 
 elaborate military dress and plumed 
 crest of magnificent character. He 
 wears what appears to be a cuirass 
 about his shoulders and chest. These 
 tablets were removed to the village 
 of Santo Domingo years ago and 
 set up in a modern house, where they 
 were offered to M. Waldeck on the 
 sole condition that he should marry 
 one of the proprietresses, though 
 he at the time was more than sixty- 
 four years of age. Stephens could 
 have obtained them by purchas- 
 ing the house in which they had 
 
 PALENQUE STATUE. 
 
 1 Waldeck, p. vii, pi. xxi-ii. Stephens, vol. ii, pp. 345-7. Charnay, p. 419, 
 pi. xxi. Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 332-6. 
 
392 TABLET OF THE SUN. 
 
 been placed, but did not. 1 On the slope of the pyramid of the 
 Cross, M. Waldeck found two statues just alike, one of which 
 was unfortunately broken ; the other, subsequently sketched 
 by Catherwood, is shown in the cut, a photographic reduction 
 from Waldeck. These statues were ten and a half feet high, 
 though two and a half feet of their length, not shown in the 
 cut, formed a tenon by which they were embedded in the floor of 
 the pyramidal surface, where Waldeck supposes they stood sup- 
 porting a platform about twenty feet square, in front of the 
 central doorway. These are the only statues ever found at 
 Palenque ; but it is doubted whether they can be technically 
 called statues, since the back is of rough stone, and unsculptured. 
 They probably rested against a wall and served as supports for 
 an upper roof or floor, as indicated by Waldeck. The head- 
 dress has been pronounced Egyptian by all who have seen it. 2 
 
 In the temple of the Sun, in a position precisely correspond- 
 ing to that occupied by the tablet of the cross, stands a some- 
 what similar tablet cut in low-relief on three slabs covering an 
 area of eight by nine feet. The figure of the cross in this instance 
 is displaced by a hideous face or mask supposed to represent 
 the sun, supported by a framework resting on the shoulders 
 of crouching men. The priest and priestess occupy the same 
 positions as occupied by them in the tablet of the cross. Each 
 is in the act of presenting a child with masked face to the sun, 
 and each is standing upon the back of a kneeling slave. The 
 lateral tablets are covered with columns or rows of hieroglyphics, 
 as in the tablet of the cross. 3 The stuccoed roofs and piers of 
 both the temples Cross and Sun may be truly pronounced 
 works of art of a high order. On the former, Stephens observed 
 busts and heads approaching the Greek models in symmetry of 
 contour and perfectness of proportion. M. Waldeck has pre- 
 
 1 Waldeck, pi. 23-24 ; Stephens, vol. ii, p. 352 ; Dupaix, p. 24, pi. xxxvii- 
 viii ; mention in Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 332-3. 
 
 2 Waldeck, pi. 25 ; Stephens, vol. ii, pp. 344, 349 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 336-7, 
 with cut. 
 
 3 Waldeck, pi. xxvi-xxxii ; Stephens, vol. ii, pp. 351-4 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, 
 pp. 338-41. 
 
SCULPTURE AT UXMAL. 393 
 
 served in his magnificent drawings some of these figures, which 
 are certainly sufficient to prove beyond controversy, that the 
 ancient Pale n queans were a cultivated and artistic people. In 
 passing to Uxmal the transition is from delineations of the 
 human figure to the elegant and superabundant exterior orna- 
 mentation of edifices, and from stucco to stone as the material 
 employed. The human figure, however, when it is represented, 
 is in statuary of a high order. The artists of Uxmal did not 
 improve upon the Palenque models so much in the design as in 
 the execution of their subjects. Uxmal statuary approximates 
 more closely to what properly may be called statuary, being cut 
 more nearly " in the round " and having less unfinished back 
 surface than the Palenque statue. The elegant square panels 
 of grecques and frets which compose the cornice of the Casa del 
 Gobernador, delineated in the works of Stephens, Baldwin and 
 Bancroft, are a marvel of beauty, which must excite the ad- 
 miration of the most indifferent student of this subject. The 
 ornamentation of this great cornice, equal to one-third the 
 height of the building, is cut on blocks of stone and inserted in 
 the wall with the utmost precision, so that every line matches, 
 and the graceful arabesques and bas-reliefs, which sometimes 
 cover several blocks with a single figure, are unbroken by appar- 
 ent joints. The grandest specimens of American ornamental 
 sculpture are, however, to be seen on the inner fronts of the four 
 buildings of the Casa de Monjas, a plan of which is given on 
 page 350 of this work. It will be remembered that these fronts 
 face the court around which the buildings were constructed. 
 The court front of the eastern building is probably one of the 
 most tasteful and interesting specimens of sculpture to be met 
 with in America. 1 M. Waldeck considers that it presents an 
 appearance of grandeur of which it would be difficult to give 
 an idea, while Stephens considers its chasteness of design a great 
 relief from the gorgeous masses of other fagades. The cornice 
 over the central doorway and the corners of the eastern court 
 
 1 Plates, Waldeck's Voy. Pitt., pi. xv-xvii ; Charnay's photographs have 
 attested the accuracy of Waldeck's drawings ; Waldeck's views reproduced in 
 Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 183-3. 
 
394 SCULPTURED FACADES OF THE CASA DE MONJAS. 
 
 fagade are ornamented with ugly masks and "elephant trunks" 
 protruding from them, as in the Governor's home. 1 If the pre- 
 ceding fagade is the most generally admired of those at Uxmal, 
 " the most magnificent and beautiful front in America" is that 
 of the Serpent Temple, or western court fagade of the Nunnery, 
 as is shown in the accompanying engraving, which is a photo- 
 graphic reduction of Waldeck's drawing employed in Mr. Ban- 
 croft's work. 
 
 _ 
 
 ? -,:>i',.-: ; 
 
 WESTERN COURT FAqADE CASA DE MONJAS. 
 
 The marked feature of the sculpture is the formation of 
 square panels by the intertwined bodies of two huge stone ser- 
 pents with monster heads, surmounted by plumes and enclosing 
 between the jaws of each a human face. A head and tail as 
 shown above occupy opposite extremes of the front. This may 
 be a representation of the plumed serpent of the Central Amer- 
 ican mythology. The stone lattice-work (a feature of Uxmal 
 sculpture) underlying the serpents and covering the panels 
 
 1 Stephens' Yuc., vol. i, p. 306 ; Waldeck's pi. xvi ; also see Charnay's 
 phot, 39 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 182-4 ; Viollet-le-Duc's drawing in Charnay, 
 p. 65. 
 
THE SERPENT TEMPLE. 
 
 395 
 
 SUN SYMBOL. 
 
 formed by their folds, is more complicated and beautiful than 
 any other in America. At regular intervals large grecques or 
 arabesques, with their connecting bars lengthened to the width 
 of the entire sculptured portion of the fagade, are distributed. 
 Several panels are ornamented with life-sized human figures, 
 while each panel contains a human face, some of which are as 
 beautiful as the Greek models. The upper 
 cornice is ornamented, as are all the other cor- 
 nices of the Nunnery, with what are supposed 
 to be Sun symbols, one of which is shown in 
 the cut, reduced photographically from Wai- 
 deck's drawing. The appended " feathers" 
 are almost Assyrian in their type, while the 
 double triangle within the circle is certainly 
 an ancient symbol in the old world. 
 
 The "elephant trunks" and rude masks 
 employed as ornaments above the doorways of 
 the other fronts, are also numerous here. 
 Since M. Walcleck's visit portions of this 
 wonderful example of ancient decorative art 
 have fallen. 1 The northern building of the 
 court offers no sculptured contrasts with the 
 other buildings, except that above the upper 
 cornice, thirteen turrets, each seventeen feet 
 high and ten feet wide, are distributed at "ELEPHANT TRUNK." 
 regular intervals, and are also covered with 
 sculpture resembling the grecques of the Serpent temple. Most 
 of the sculptures at Uxmal were probably painted, as traces of 
 various colors were observed in sheltered localities. The rich 
 sculptures of the prophet's house were painted blue, red, yellow 
 and white, according to M. Waldeck. The Mayas no doubt 
 employed the brush freely, and in some instances with skill. In 
 the gymnasium at Chichen-Itza, Stephens grew enthusiastic 
 
 1 Cut from Waldeck's Voy. Pitt., pi. xiii-xviii and p. 100 ; reproduced by 
 Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 185, of which ours is an electrotype copy. See also Stephens' 
 Yucatan, vol. i, pp, 302-3 ; Charnay, Rmnes Amer., phot. 40, 41, 44 ; Norman's 
 Rambles in Yucatan, p. 162. 
 
396 DR. LE PLONGEON IN YUCATAN. 
 
 over the exceedingly fine series of paintings in bright colors, 
 which cover the walls of one of the chambers. Many of the 
 pictures have been destroyed by the falling of the plaster upon 
 which they were painted. In this series of pictures, battles, 
 processions, houses, trees and a variety of objects are represented 
 blue, red, yellow and green are the colors employed, though 
 the human figures are painted reddish brown. 1 At Chichen, as 
 elsewhere, the favorite subject for the Maya sculpture was the 
 serpent. A colossal serpent balustrade is one of the wonders of 
 this interesting place. 
 
 Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, during the last quarter of the 
 year 1875, made an extensive exploration of Chichen-Itza. The 
 reports of his discoveries seem at first well-nigh fabulous, though 
 their authenticity is so well attested as to leave no room for 
 doubt. Mr. Stephen Salisbury, Jr., of Worcester, Massachu- 
 setts, has in several memoirs of intense interest and unusual 
 scientific value, communicated the progress and results of Dr. 
 Le Plongeon's exploration in Yucatan to the American An- 
 tiquarian Society. Mr. Salisbury has also presented the ex- 
 plorer's original memoirs, accompanied by photographs made 
 at Chichen-Itza and on the Islands of Cozumel and Mugeres. 
 These valuable documents have reached the public in Mr. Salis- 
 bury's publications entitled, (1.) The Mayas, the Sources of their 
 History (Worcester, 1877, with heliotype reproductions of the 
 photos); (2.) Maya Archaeology (Worcester, 1879, with heliotype 
 reproductions of photos and drawings). 2 In these pages we are 
 impressed with the fact that the darkness which has so long 
 enveloped the antiquity of Yucatan is soon to be displaced by 
 the noon-day of scientific investigation. Still we cannot refrain 
 from expressing the regret that Dr. Le Plongeon's enthusiasm is 
 so apparent in his reports. A judicial frame of mind, as well as 
 the calmness which accompanies it, are requisites both for scien- 
 
 1 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii, pp. 303-11 ; Charnay's Ruines Amer., 
 pp. 140-1, phot. 33, 34; Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv, pp. 220-36. 
 
 2 Mr. Salisbury, with the most liberal courtesy, has furnished the heliotypes 
 and photos from which the accompanying engravings were made. We take this 
 opportunity of expressing publicly our thanks for this rare favor. 
 
STATUE OF CHAAC MOL. 397 
 
 tific work and the inspiration of confidence in the reader. Not- 
 withstanding this, our views have been most happily expressed 
 by the committee of the American Antiquarian Society, to 
 whom was entrusted the publication of Dr. Le Plongeon's 
 memoirs. Their statement is as follows : " The successes of 
 Du Chaillu, Sehlieman, and of Stanley, are remarkable instances 
 of triumphant results in cases where enthusiasm had been sup- 
 posed to lack the guidance of wisdom. If earnest men are 
 willing to' take the risks of personal research in hazardous 
 regions, or exercise their ingenuity and their scholarship in 
 attempting to solve historical or archaeological problems, we 
 may accept thankfully the information they give, without first 
 demanding in all cases unquestionable evidence or absolute 
 demonstration." 
 
 Dr. Le Plongeon says of the columns at Chichen, " the base 
 is formed by the head of Cukulcan, the shaft by the body of the 
 serpent, with its feathers beautifully carved to the very chapter. 
 On the chapters of the columns that support the portico, at the 
 entrance of the castle in Chichen-Itza, may be seen the carved 
 figures of long bearded men, with upraised hands, in the act 
 of worshipping sacred trees. They forcibly recall to mind the 
 same worship in Assyria." In consequence of the successful 
 interpretation of certain hieroglyphic inscriptions at Chichen, 
 the explorer and his wife (who accompanied him in his perilous 
 enterprise), learned that the statue of Chaac Mol, or Balam, 
 (the tiger king), the greatest of the Itza monarchs, had been 
 buried below the surface of the ground at a certain point, dis- 
 tant four hundred yards from the palace. The first result of 
 excavation in the locality indicated was the discovery of a sculp- 
 tured tiger of colossal size, having a human head, which, un- 
 fortunately, was broken off. Several slabs bearing sculptures of 
 tigers and birds of prey in relief were unearthed. A pedestal 
 supporting the sculptured tiger apparently had once occupied 
 the spot, and its destruction had left a mound of debris. Seven 
 metres below the surface of this mound a rough stone urn contain- 
 ing a little dust was secured, and upon it an earthen cover. This 
 was near the head of the statue of Chaac Mol, which was next 
 
398 
 
 SCULPTURED SLABS AT CHICHEN-ITZA. 
 
 disclosed. The statue is of a white calcareous stone, one metre 
 fifty-five centimetres long, one metre fifteen centimetres in 
 height, and eighty centimetres wide, and weighed fifty kilos. 
 The statue represents the reclining figure of a man, who is naked 
 
 SCULPTURED SLAB POUND AT CHICHEN-ITZA. 
 
 except that he is adorned with a head-dress, with bracelets, 
 garters of feathers, and sandals similar to those found upon the 
 mummies of the ancient Gruanchies of the Canary Islands. 
 
 The statue of Chaac Mol was seized by Mexican officials and 
 sent to the capital. Our friend, the Rev. John W. Butler, of 
 
SCULPTURED SLABS AT CHICHEN-ITZA. 
 
 399 
 
 the city of Mexico, writes to us (letter received October 10, 
 1878) concerning the statue : " It is just as represented. It 
 may be seen in the National Museum, just opposite its exact 
 
 SCULPTURED SLAB FOUND AT CHICHEN-!TZA. 
 
 duplicate, which was found under the Plaza of the city of 
 Mexico, some years ago. What is the meaning of this ? The 
 tribe whose king ( or god ? ) it was, must have migrated south- 
 ward, for the one excavated in Mexico shows greater age than 
 the one from Yucatan." In reply we would say that the evi- 
 
400 
 
 STATUE OF CHAAC MOL. 
 
 dences are sufficient that the Maya civilization once extended 
 farther north than the city of Mexico, but the conquests of the 
 Nahuas drove that ancient people no doubt to abandon their 
 northern territory aiid to confine themselves to their lands 
 farther south. 
 
 Dr. Le Plongeon, in speaking of the historical value of the 
 statue, says Chaac Moi was one of the three brothers whom tra- 
 
 ^ 
 
 STATUE OF CHAAC MOL. 
 
 dition declares were the co-rulers of Yucatan at a very ancient 
 period. Chaac Mol and his beautiful queen Kinich-Kakmo 
 were the powerful sovereigns of the kingdom of Chichen-Itza. 
 Aac, one of the brothers, becoming enamored of his sister-in-law 
 Kinich-Kakmo, slew Chaac Mol that he might make her his 
 wife. The funeral-chamber, the mural paintings, the statues, 
 and the monument of the murdered king found by the explorer, 
 were memorials of the sad event which the faithful queen 
 caused to be executed by the artisans and artists of the royal 
 
MURAL PAINTING FROM CHAAC MOL MONUMENT. 4Q1 
 
 city. Dr. Le Plongeon remarks : " In the funeral-chamber, 
 the terrible altercation between Aac and Chaac Mol, which had 
 its termination in the murder of the latter by his brother, is 
 represented by large figures, three-fourths life size. There Aac is 
 painted holding three spears in his hands, typical of the three 
 wounds he inflicted on the back of his brother. These wounds 
 are indicated on the statue of the dying tiger (symbol of Chaac 
 Mol) by two holes near the lumbar region, and one under the 
 left scapula, proving that the blow was aimed at the heart from 
 behind. The two wounds are also marked by two holes near 
 each other in the lumbar region, on the bas-relief of the tiger 
 eating a human heart that adorned the Chaac Mol mausoleum 
 (see sculptured slab on page 399)." 1 
 
 Mr. Stephen Salisbury, Jr., in his Maya Archaeology, has 
 reproduced one of Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongeon' s tracings of a 
 mural painting in the funeral-chamber of the Chaac Mol monu- 
 ment at Chichen-Itza. Through the courtesy of Mr. Salisbury 
 we have been permitted to copy it for this work. The Doctor 
 interprets it as representing the queen Kinich-Kakmo when a 
 child consulting an H-Men, one of the Maya wise men or astrol- 
 ogers, in order to know her destiny. The prediction is based 
 upon the lines produced by fire on the shell of an armadillo or 
 turtle, and is expressed in the colors of the elaborate scroll pro- 
 ceeding from the throat of the H-Men. Keferring to his tracings 
 of mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, Dr. Le Plongeon says 
 " they represent war scenes with javelins flying in all directions, 
 warriors fighting, shouting, assuming all sorts of athletic posi- 
 tions, scenes from domestic life, marriage ceremonies, temples 
 with complete domes, proving that the Itza architects were 
 acquainted with the circular arch, but made use of the triangular 
 probably because it was the custom and style of architecture of 
 the time and country." 2 Besides the sculptures of long-bearded 
 men seen by the explorer at Chichen-Itza mentioned on a pre- 
 
 1 Archaeological Communication on Yucatan, by Dr. Le Plongeon in Salis- 
 bury's Maya Archceology, p. 65, and Proceedings of Am. Antiq. Soc., October 
 21,1878. 
 
 2 May a Archceology , p. 61. 
 
 26 
 
402 
 
 MURAL PAINTING FROM CHAAC MOL MONUMENT. 
 
TERRA-COTTA FIGURE FROM ISLA MUGERES. 
 
 403 
 
 ceding page, were tall figures of people with small heads, thick 
 lips, and curly short hair or wool, regarded as negroes. " We 
 always see them as standard or parasol bearers, but never en- 
 gaged in actual warfare/' 1 He pronounces the features of the 
 long-bearded men pictured 
 on the walls of the queen's 
 chambers to be Assyrian 
 in their type. On the Isla 
 Mugeres (in the latter part 
 of the year 1876), Dr. Le 
 Plongeon exhumed por- 
 tions of a female figure in 
 terra-cotta, which indicate 
 an advanced state of art 
 among the ancient Mayas. 
 The fragments of the statue, 
 consisting of the head and 
 feet, were probably attached 
 to the front of a brasero or 
 incense-burner used at the 
 shrine of the Maya Yenus, 
 located on the southern ex- 
 tremity of the island. It 
 was immediately in front 
 of this shrine, visited by 
 Cordova in 1516, 2 that the 
 remains of the statue were 
 found buried in the sand. 
 The expression of the face TERRA-COTTA FIGURE FROM ISLA MUGERES. 
 is cruel and savage, the nos- 
 trils are perforated and also the pupils of the eyes. The teeth 
 are filed as those of the statue Chaac Mol are said to be. The 
 head is surmounted by a head-dress eight inches high. The 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 62. 
 
 9 See Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, lib. iv, cap. 3, and Herrera, Hist. 
 Gen. Ind., decade ii, lib. iv, cap. 17, quoted by Salisbury, Maya Arch&ology , 
 pp. 33-35. 
 
 
404 
 
 THE CARA GIGANTESCA. 
 
 fragments of this statue are now in the possession of Mr. Salis- 
 bury. 1 
 
 Through the courtesy of the owner we are enabled to present 
 a photographic reduction of the relics in the preceding cut. 
 
 At Izamel, the burial-place of the culture-hero Zamna, a 
 remarkable example of aboriginal sculpture is found upon the 
 
 side of a mound now enclosed 
 in a private court-yard. This 
 specimen of art, known as 
 the Cara gigantesca, or gigan- 
 tic face, measures seven feet 
 in width and seven feet eight 
 inches in height. " The fea- 
 tures were first rudely formed 
 by small rough stones, fixed 
 in the side of the mound by 
 means of mortar, and after- 
 wards perfected with a stucco 
 so hard that it has success- 
 fully resisted for centuries the 
 action of air and water." The 
 accompanying cut from Mr. 
 Bancroft's work will show the type of features. 
 
 The subject of Maya sculpture is almost a limitless one, but 
 we trust that the above-cited examples may give the reader a 
 comprehensive acquaintance with the existing types. The sculp- 
 ture of Copan is no less remarkable than its architecture. In 
 fact, every object bore the skillful marks of the graver's chisel. 
 The great number of sculptured obelisks, pillars and idols have 
 been the wonder of every reader of Mr. Stephens' description. 
 Since his work is so generally known, we refrain from presenting 
 more than one example of Copan art. In the accompanying cut 
 employed in Mr. Bancroft's work the elaborateness of the sculp- 
 ture will be observed, and may well be pronounced a marvel of 
 aboriginal art. 
 
 THE CARA GIGANTESCA. 
 
 1 See Terra-cotta Figure from Isla Mttgeres, by Stephen Salisbury, Jr., 
 in Maya Archaeology (heliotypes). 
 
COP AN SCULPTURE. 
 
 405 
 
 But for the perfectly hori- 
 zontal position of the eyes, 
 the aspect of some of the 
 faces represented by Stephens 
 would strike us as having a 
 Mongolian cast. The mag- 
 nificently sculptured hierogly- 
 phics which cover the sides 
 and backs of these huge idols, 
 no doubt could tell the sealed 
 story of Copan's greatness 
 and the attributes of its many 
 gods, were the key once discov- 
 ered. Everything is covered 
 with these significant sym- 
 bols, differing slightly from 
 those at Palenque ; but who 
 will read them ? In the court 
 of the temple, a solid block 
 of stone six feet square and 
 four feet high, resting on four 
 globular stones was sketched 
 by Gather wood, and pronounc- 
 ed an altar by Stephens. Six- 
 teen figures in profile, with 
 turbaned heads, breast-plates, 
 and each seated cross-legged 
 on hieroglyphic-like cushions, 
 are sculptured in low-relief, 
 four figures being on each 
 side of the block. The top 
 of the altar is covered with 
 thirty-six squares of hierogly- 
 phics. Shown in a cut on a 
 future page. Besides num- 
 bers of masks, effigies and 
 rows of death's heads at Co- 
 
406 
 
 NAHUA SCULPTURE. 
 
 pan, there are sculptures of the face which we may believe to 
 have heen portraits. The Copan sculpture is generally admitted 
 to be of a high order, and Stephens thinks it unsurpassed in 
 Egypt. The receding forehead of most of the portraits have 
 excited general interest, and are believed to be delineations of 
 the priestly or aristocratic type. No weapons are sculptured at 
 Copan, but on the contrary altars abound in considerable num- 
 bers, especially in front of the sculptured obelisks or idols. The 
 presumption is therefore strong that this was a religious centre, 
 unmolested by any enemy, and undisturbed by the alarm of war. 1 
 Nahua Sculpture. The Nahua sculpture is not of as high 
 an order nor of as frequent occurrence as that of the Mayas. At 
 Monte Alban in Oajaca, in a gallery within a mound, Castaneda 
 sketched the sculptured profile shown in the accompanying 
 
 cut, employed in Mr. Bancroft's 
 work. It is cut upon the face of 
 a granite block about three feet 
 square, and is interesting be- 
 cause of the Chinese-like queue 
 which hangs from the figure's 
 head. At Mitla the grecques 
 and arabesques which cover the 
 facades of the several edifices 
 are not sculptured, except in 
 cases where large stones serve as 
 lintels over doorways. On them 
 the running borders are sculp- 
 tured in low-relief, while the remainder of the profuse orna- 
 mentation is of the nature of mosaic work, being built into the 
 wall. 
 
 Several minor objects of sculpture found in the States of 
 Oajaca and Vera Cruz might be cited, but their interest for the 
 reader would be too insignificant to justify a description. 2 One 
 
 1 Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. i, pp. 103-4, 134-43 with plates ; Foster, Pre- 
 Historfc Races, pp. 302-322, 338-9 ; Galindo in Amer. Antiq. Soc. Trans., 
 vol. ii, pp. 548-9 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 89-105, with cuts. 
 
 2 Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 371, 381, 385, 387, 414, 415, 421, 427, 428, 435, 436, 
 
 FIGURE FROM MONTE ALBAN. 
 
SCULPTURED FOUNTAIN AT TUSAPAN. 407 
 
 of the principal objects of this class and much superior to any 
 of the others is a grotesque fountain cut in the living rock at 
 Tusapan. The statue is that of a woman in a kneeling posture, 
 and measures nineteen feet in height. The waters of a neigh- 
 boring spring formerly ran into a basin formed among the 
 plumes of the female's head-dress, from which it found its 
 way through the entire length of the figure, and flowed forth 
 from beneath her skirts. 1 At Panuco the traditional point of 
 the arrival of the Nahuas, several rude limestone statues were 
 found, some of which have been figured in the Journal of the 
 London Geographical Society, by Mr. Vetch, one of which is 
 copied by Mr. Bancroft. 2 The marked features of these statues 
 is the elaborateness of the style of head-dress worn. We cannot 
 sec that they are far removed in their style from similar statues 
 dug from mounds in the Mississippi Valley. In the State of 
 Puebla, at various points, especially at Tepexe el Viejo, at 
 Tepeaca, and at Quanhquelchula, minor sculptures of animals, 
 birds, reptiles, monsters, etc., were observed by Dupaix. 3 Eat- 
 tlesnakes were found plentiful both in sculptures and in a state 
 of nature. At Cuernavaca, in the State of Mexico, numerous 
 boulder-sculptures, finely executed in low-relief, exist. Dupaix 
 has figured and Bancroft copied one in particular, showing a 
 beautiful coat-of-arms, sculptured on the smooth face of a huge 
 boulder. A circle of arrows and Maltese cross which compose 
 them, are all symbolical of power. 4 Similar coats-of-arms were 
 
 455, 457, 462, has figured some of these, but all indicate an order of art inferior 
 to the Maya. 
 
 1 Nebel, Viaje Pintoresco ; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, vol. ii, pp. 199, 200; Ban- 
 croft, vol. iv, pp. 457-8. 
 
 2 Vetch, in London Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. vii, pp. 1-11, plate ; Bancroft, 
 vol. iv, p. 462. 
 
 3 Dupaix, Third Expedition, p. 5, pi. i-ii ; Ibid, First Expedition, pp. 3-4, 
 pi. i-ii, fig. 1, 2 ; p. 10, pi. xii ; pp. 12-13, pi. xvii-xxii, fig. 19, 24 ; Second 
 Expedition, p. 51, pi. Ixi, fig. 117 ; Kingsborough, vol. v, pp. 285-6 ; vol. iv, 
 pi. i-ii, fig. 1-3 ; vol. vi, p. 467 ; vol. v, pp. 209-10 ; vol. vi, pp. 421-2 ; vol. iv, 
 pi. i, fig. 1-4; vol. v, p. 217; vol. iv, p. vi, fig. 16, and Bancroft, vol. iv, 
 pp. 467-69. 
 
 4 Dupaix, First Expedition, p. 14 ; Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 481. 
 
 
408 XOCHICALCO SCULPTURE. 
 
 observed in the State of Puebla. Probably the most remarkable 
 sculpture found in the country occupied by the Nahuas, is that 
 upon the walls of the pyramid of Xochicalco, illustrated on a 
 preceding page. 1 Most of the sculptures are of colossal dragons' 
 heads, which occur at each of the corners. Human figures, 
 seated cross-legged and holding something like the Assyrian 
 sun symbol in the left are found on the frieze, though some 
 observers have considered this figure to be that of a curved 
 cross-hilted sword, a weapon never employed by the Nahuas. 
 The elaborate head-dresses and strings of enormous pearls worn 
 by the seated figures bear a striking resemblance to the stuccoes 
 of Palenque. At Xochimilco on the western shore of Lake 
 Chalco, Dupaix found several interesting specimens of ancient 
 sculpture. 2 The most celebrated article of Aztec sculpture, 
 unquestionably, is the calendar-stone, which, together with the 
 so-called sacrificial stone and the idol Teoyaomiqui, was in 
 December, 1790, dug up in the Plaza Mayor, in the city of 
 Mexico, on the supposed site of the great teocalli, destroyed 
 by the conquerors. The calendar-stone, now built into the wall 
 of the cathedral, where it can be seen by all passers-by^ is a 
 rectangular block of porphyry, thirteen feet one inch square and 
 three feet three inches thick, and of the enormous estimated 
 weight of twenty-four tons. The sculptured portion of the 
 block, on the exposed face, is contained in a circle, eleven feet 
 one inch and four-fifths of an inch in diameter. The regularity 
 and geometrical precision with which the figures are executed 
 called forth enthusiastic admiration from Humboldt, and has 
 been the source of equal wonderment to many later observers. 
 Our cut is a reproduction of Charnay's photograph, by means 
 of the photo-engraving process, and may be relied upon as 
 absolutely correct. Prescott considers that the original weight 
 of the block before it was mutilated must have been nearly fifty 
 tons ; and as no similar stone is found within a radius of twenty- 
 five miles of Mexico, that it must have been brought from the 
 mountains beyond Lake Chalco. 3 Some remarks upon the 
 
 1 Tliis work, p. 372. 2 Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 499, has reproduced some of them. 
 3 Humboldt, Vues, torn, i, pp. 332 et scq.; torn, ii, pp. 1 et seg. and 84-5, 
 
CALENDAR-STOXE. 
 
 409 
 
 Aztec calendar will be found in the following chapter. The 
 sacrificial stone is a cylindrical block of porphyry, nine feet ten 
 inches in diameter and three feet seven inches thick, and is now 
 lying in the courtyard of the University of Mexico. If the 
 reader will imagine the border of the calendar-stone outside 
 
 AZTEC CALENDAR STONE IN ITS PRESENT CONDITION. 
 
 of the eight triangular points removed entirely, will substitute a 
 concave basin in the place of the central face or sun, also instead 
 of all the calendar signs intervening between the face and the 
 circle, upon which the base of the four principal triangular 
 figures rest, will imagine the existence of several concentric 
 
 pi. viii, (fol. ed. pi. xxiii) ; Mayer, Mexico As it Was, pp. 120-8 ; Prescott, 
 Conq. Mex., vol. i, pp. 126, 145-6 ; vol. ii, pp. 112, ed. 1875; Bancroft, vol. iv, 
 pp. 50")-9, and cut. 
 
410 
 
 SCULPTURED BURIAL VASE. 
 
 circles not unlike strings of beads, he will have a general idea 
 of the top of the stone. We should not omit to state that a 
 groove or channel leads from the central basin to the outer cir- 
 cumference. The use of the stone is a matter of controversy, 
 
 Humboldt considering it the gladia- 
 torial stone, Gama a calendar-stone, 
 and Tylor that it was an altar on 
 which animals were sacrificed. Fif- 
 teen groups of two human figures, 
 each dressed in the insignia of royalty, 
 are sculptured around its circumfer- 
 ence. Bancroft, as well as several 
 others, give cuts of the stone and 
 sculptures. The horrid monster Teo- 
 yaomiqui goddess of death is sculp- 
 tured in high-relief on a block of 
 porphyry ten feet . high and six feet 
 wide and thick. Probably no myth- 
 ology nor all the mythologies of the 
 world besides could produce so hideous 
 and unsightly a combination of reptile, 
 human and infernal forms, as make 
 up the three sides of this idol. 1 Mr. Bancroft first figured the 
 beautiful earthen burial vase dug up in the Plaza Tlatelulco and 
 sketched by Col. Mayer. It is twenty-two inches high and fifteen 
 and a half inches in diameter ; a closely fitting lid most chastely 
 sculptured covered it, as will be seen in the accompanying cut. 
 
 Among the elegant sculptures upon one of its sides is a comely 
 face surmounted by a crown, from each side of which project 
 wings of the same character as were employed to symbolize the 
 sun among the Assyrians. 2 The original is pronounced one of the 
 
 1 Humboldt, Vues, torn, ii, pp. 148-61 (fol. ed., pi. xxix) ; Ibid, Antiq. Hex., 
 torn, i, div. ii, pp. 25-7, suppl. pi. vi ; Nebel, Viaje, with large plate ; Mayer, 
 Mex. Aztec, vol. i, pp. 108-11 ; Ibid, Mexico As it Was, pp. 109-14 ; Bullock's 
 Mexico, pp. 337-42 ; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i, pp. 1-3, 9, 10, 34, and 
 five plates latterly cited by Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 512-15, four plates. 
 
 - 2 Bancroft, vol. iv, p. 517 ; Mayer, Mexico As it Was, pi. 100-1 ; Ibid, Mex. 
 Aztec, vol. ii, p. 274. 
 
 BURIAL URN FROM MEXICO. 
 
VASES FROM WALDECK. 
 
 411 
 
 VASES FROM WALDECK. 
 
 finest relics preserved in the Mexican Museum. M. Waldeck 
 has figured many beautiful examples of Mexican ceramic art pre- 
 served in the above collection as well as in others. The finest 
 specimens of ancient terra-cotta work of which we have any 
 
412 
 
 MOSAIC KNIFE. 
 
 knowledge are shown in the cut, photographically reduced from 
 Waldeck's plate. 1 
 
 No description can convey any idea of their beauty. The 
 upper left-hand vase, it will be observed, is supported on three 
 feet, each perforated by a perfect Maltese Cross. The central 
 lower vase, of remarkable symmetry, is distinguished by the per- 
 fect crux ansata which adorns its side. The lower right and 
 left hand figures are different views of a swinging lamp. These 
 vases cannot but command the admiration of all who see them. 
 
 MOSAIC KNIFE CHRISTY COLLECTION. 
 
 M. Waldeck has delineated with remarkable artistic skill three 
 specimens of Mexican mosaic work now in the Christy collection 
 in London. One of these beautiful relics is shown in the cut, 
 reduced from Waldeck's colored plate for Mr. Bancroft's work. 
 
 However, the cut conveys but a faint idea of its beauty, 
 especially of the handle. The blade is of semi-translucent 
 chalcedony from the volcanic regions of Mexico, while the handle 
 is a most artistic mosaic of bright green turquoise, malachite, 
 and white and red shells. The blade is of a light straw-colored 
 tint, and is mortised in the handle, which is wrapped nearest to 
 the blade with what appears to be a golden braid. Mr. Bancroft 
 remarks "it is certainly most extraordinary to find a people still 
 in the stone age, as is proved by the blade, able to execute so 
 perfect a piece of work as the handle exhibits/' 2 Among the few 
 
 1 Waldeck's Palenque, pi. 55. 
 
 2 Waldeck's Palenque, p. viii, pi. xlhr. Tyler's Anahuac, pp. 110, 337, for 
 information concerning the masks. Also Bancroft, vol. iv, pp. 557-9. 
 
COLUMN FROM TULA. 413 
 
 relics recovered at Tula, the ancient Toltec capital Tollan, the 
 column shown in the cut (from Mr. Bancroft's work) is very 
 interesting, both for its sculpture and for the exhibition it affords 
 of the manner in which the Toltecs formed their columns, 
 namely, by fastening the sections together by means of circular 
 tenons. The largest block measures four feet long by two and a 
 half in diameter. 
 
 A COLUMN PROM TULA. 
 
 Our National Museum at Washington contains numerous 
 fine specimens of Mexican terra-cotta ware, some of which have 
 been figured recently in Dr. Charles Kau's "Archaeological Col- 
 lection of the U. S. National Museum/' 1 Two large vases in 
 particular demand attention. These were brought to the United 
 States by General Alfred Gibbs at the close of the Mexican war, 
 and are shown in the cut. 
 
 The upper vase, which is thirteen and a half inches high, 
 is very elaborately wrought, being surrounded with ten female 
 figures in relief, each alternate figure bearing a child on the 
 left arm. It is noticeable that the head-dresses of the figures 
 holding the children are more elaborate than those of the re- 
 maining figures. The second or lower vase, Dr. Rau considers 
 equal to many Etruscan or Greek vases in gracefulness of out- 
 line. "The vessel may be compared to a pitcher with two 
 handles, standing opposite each other, and with two mouths 
 projecting between them." Among the terra-cotta images of 
 Mexican origin in the National Museum the two shown in the 
 
 O 
 
 cut are of interest. The left-hand figure is that of a woman 
 pressing her hands upon her ears. The face represents an aged 
 
 1 Smithsonian Contribution, No. 287, pp. 82-7 (1876). 
 
MEXICAN VASES IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
 
STATUETTES IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
 
 415 
 
 individual. The Museum possesses almost an exact duplicate 
 of this image. The right-hand figure is much smaller and is 
 hollow, enclosing a clay ball, and was probably used as a rattle. 
 It is scarcely necessary for us to remark that the seeming analo- 
 
 STATUETTES IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
 
 gies between the Maya (Central American) sculpture and that 
 of Egypt have often been noted. Juarros, in speaking of 
 Palenque art, says : " The hieroglyphics, symbols and emblems 
 which have been discovered in the temples, bear so strong a 
 resemblance to those of the Egyptians, as to encourage the 
 supposition that a colony of that nation may have founded the 
 
416 EGYPTIAN TAU AT PALEXQUE. 
 
 city of Palenque or Culhuacan." 1 Giordan found, as he thought, 
 the most striking analogies between the Central American 
 remains, as well as those of Mexico, and those of the Egyptians. 
 The idols and monuments he considers of the same form in both 
 countries, while the hieroglyphics of Palenque do not differ from 
 those of ancient Thebes. 2 Sefior Melgar, in a communication 
 to the Mexican Geographical Society, has called attention to the 
 frequent occurrence of the (T) tau at Palenque, and has more 
 studiously advocated the early relationship of the Palenqueans 
 to Egypt than any other reliable writer. 3 He cites Dupaix's 
 Third Expedition, page 77 and plates 26 and 27, where in the 
 first figure is a goddess with a necklace supporting a tau like 
 medallion to which the explorer adds the remark that such is 
 " the symbol in Egypt of reproduction or abundance." In the 
 second plate he finds an altar dedicated expressly to the tau. 
 He considers that the cultus of this, the symbol of the active 
 principle in nature, prevailed in Mexico in many places. Sefior 
 Melgar also refers to two idols found south of the city of Mexico, 
 " in one of which two symbols were united, namely, the Cosmo- 
 gonic egg, symbolical of creation, and two faces, symbols of the 
 generative principle. The other symbolized creation in the 
 bursting forth of an egg. These symbols are not found in the 
 Aztec mythology, but belong to the Indian, Egyptian, Greek, 
 Persian, Japanese and other cosmogonies." This, the Sefior 
 considers proof that these peoples were the primitive colonists of 
 that region, and seeks to sustain his views by references to the 
 Dharma Sastra of Manou and the Zend Avesta. The reader 
 has no doubt been surprised at the frequent occurrence of the 
 T-shaped niches in the Palenque palace, and has observed the 
 same symbol employed on some of the hieroglyphics of the 
 Tablet of the Cross. The Egyptian tau, one of the members 
 of the Crux ansata, is certainly present at Palenque, but whether 
 it was derived from any one of the Mediterranean peoples who 
 
 1 Hist. Kingdom Guatemala, p. 19. Lond., 1823. 
 
 2 F. Giordan, Description et colonization de I'Isthme de Teliuantepec, p. 57. 
 Paris, 1838. 
 
 3 Melgar in Mex. Oeog. Soc. Bolletln, 2d epoca, torn, iii, p. 112 ct seq. 
 
CRUX ANSATA. 417 
 
 employed it, cannot be ascertained. Among the Egyptians it 
 signified "life," as is shown by the best Egyptologists. 1 The 
 tau was usually surmounted by a roundlet, though such was not 
 always the case. On a stele from Korasabad, an eagle-headed 
 man is depicted as holding the oval in one hand and the cross 
 in the other. 2 M. Mariette recently, while exploring the ancient 
 temple of Denderah, discovered the sacred symbol in a niche of 
 the holy of holies. It is probable that this emblem was the 
 central object of interest in these inner precincts of the temple, 
 as it was preserved with scrupulous care as the hidden wisdom. 3 
 Macrobius tells us that the crux ansata was the hieroglyphic 
 sign of Osiris or the Sun, 4 but other writers inform us that it 
 was an ancient symbol of majesty and divinity, and so employed 
 in a modified form in the hands of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. 5 
 The associations of the tau in Central America are such as to 
 lead us to believe that it may have had a significance analogous 
 to that which it possessed on the shores of the Mediterranean, 
 the Nile, and the Ganges. The Palenque Cross tablet is a most 
 singular work of American antiquity, and though Mr. Stephens 
 attempted to prove that no analogy exists between it and Egyp- 
 tian sculptures, still Mr. Bancroft has shown that the former 
 was unfortunate in his selection of Egyptian specimens for the 
 purpose of comparison, since marked analogies between the sculp- 
 ture of the Vocal Memnon of Thebes and the top of the fallen 
 obelisk at Carnac and the Palenque Tablets exist. 6 
 
 1 Dr. Max Uhlman, Handbuch der gesamten ^EJgyptischen Alterthumskunde, 
 I Theil. Geschicte der Egyptologie, p. 108. Leipzic, 1857. 
 
 2 Botta, Mon. de Ninive, vol. ii, pi. 58, and Edinburgh Review for Jan. 1870, 
 p. 231. 
 
 3 John Newton in Appendix to Inman's Ancient Pagan and Modern Chris- 
 tian Symbolism, p. 116. London, 1874. 
 
 4 Saturn, lib. i, cap. 20. 
 
 5 Zoekler, Das Erutz Christi, p. 9, Giitersloth, 1875, and EdinburgJi Review , 
 Jan. 1870, p. 232. 
 
 6 Mr. Bancroft remarks, " He happens, however, here to have selected two 
 Egyptian subjects which almost find their counterparts in America. In the 
 preceding volume of this work, page 333, is given a cut of what is called the 
 ' Tablet of the Cross ' at Palenque. In this we see a cross and perched upon it 
 
 27 
 
418 PALENQUE INFLUENCED FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN. 
 
 It has been argued that the Egyptian and Palenque sculp- 
 ture resemble each other in that both are generally in profile ; 
 but the trivialness of the reasoning will be at once apparent. 
 On the contrary, Mr. Bancroft remarks, " Sculpture in Egypt is 
 for the most part in intaglio, in America it is usually in relief." 
 Notwithstanding the oft-repeated assertion that a resemblance 
 between Egyptian and Maya hieroglyphics exist, no one of the 
 Egyptologists so successful in their chosen field have been able 
 to decipher the Maya writing. It is not improbable that the 
 Palenque and Copan civilization received its first impulse from 
 some of the peoples of the southern or eastern shores of the 
 Mediterranean, but from which it would be impossible to say 
 even if we were certain that such was the case. Whatever of a 
 foreign character it may have had at first has been mostly lost 
 in the independent development of new and original charac- 
 teristics, the natural outgrowth of new wants and new condi- 
 tions, arising through the lapse of many centuries. The latter 
 remark we think may be applied with even more certainty to the 
 Nahua civilization as displayed in its sculpture. All through 
 Mexico the favorite subject for the Toltec or Aztec sculptor 
 was the serpent, generally the rattlesnake. Mr. Bancroft in his 
 
 a bird, to which (or to the cross) two human figures in profile, apparently 
 priests, are making an offering. In Mr. Stephens' representation from the 
 Vocal Memnon we find almost the same thing, the differences being 1 , that 
 instead of an ornamented Latin cross, we have here a crux commissa, or par - 
 tibulata ; that instead of one bird there are two, not on the cross but imme- 
 diately above it, and that the figures, though in profile and holding the same 
 general positions, are dressed in a different manner, and are apparently binding 
 the cross with the lotus instead of making an offering to it ; in Mr. Stephens' 
 representation from the obelisk of Carnac, however, a priest is evidently mak- 
 ing an offering to a large bird perched upon an altar ; and here again the 
 human figures occupy the same position. The hieroglyphics, though the 
 characters are of course different, are, it will be noticed, disposed upon the stone 
 in much the same manner. The frontispiece of Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii, 
 described on p. 352, represents the tablet, on the back wall of the altar, Casa 
 No. 3 at Palenque. Once more here are two priests clad in all the elaborate 
 insignia of their office, standing one on either side of a table or altar, upon 
 which are erected two batons, crossed in such a manner as to form a crux decus- 
 sata, and supporting a hideous mask. To this emblem they are making an 
 offering." Bancroft's Native Races, vol. v, pp. 60-1, note. 
 
HIEROGLYPHICS. 419 
 
 fourth volume has given numerous examples of this fact. Ser- 
 pent sculpture was also common among the Mayas, but to a less 
 extent, and it is not improbable that the symbol entered into 
 their art through the Quiches a mixed people composed of 
 Mayas and Nahuas. We have already observed the same dis- 
 position to sculpture the rattlesnake among the Mound-builders. 
 In the great serpent upwards of a thousand feet in length on 
 Brush Creek, Adams County, Ohio, we find a striking analogy 
 to the tendency of Mexican art. Furthermore, the great ser- 
 pent grasps in its jaws (if they may be so called) an immense 
 oval figure of precisely the shape of an egg, and " the combined 
 figure is regarded as a symbolical illustration of the Oriental 
 cosmological idea of the serpent and the egg." We have seen 
 in the remarks of Senor Melgar that two examples of the egg 
 possessing precisely the same significance which is attached to it 
 in Eastern Asia were found near the City of Mexico. The part 
 which the serpent symbol plays in the south and east Asiatic 
 sculpture and mythology is probably welt known to the reader ; 
 and if not, a perusal of Maurace's Indian Antiquities or Moor's 
 Hindu Pantheon will satisfy him that it occupied a place equally 
 important among Nahuas and Hindoos. The great serpent in 
 Ohio may be a connecting link between the art of both Mexicans 
 and Asiatics. In the course of independent development which 
 the Nahuas underwent during thousands of years, the Cosmo- 
 logical symbol of the egg may have been lost and supplanted by 
 that of the serpent alone, the emblem of the life principle in 
 both America and Asia. However, we may safely close these 
 speculations with the conclusion that though the Mayas and 
 Nahuas were probably descendants of foreign stock, their civil- 
 ization, so far as we are able to judge from their arts, was 
 indigenous developed upon our soil, and offering but few anal- 
 ogies to any other. 
 
 Hieroglyphics. No well authenticated Mound-builder hiero- 
 glyphics have as yet come to light. The Grave Creek Mound 
 tablet we believe is now shown unquestionably to be an archaeo- 
 logical fraud. The Cincinnati tablet figured in our first chapter 
 seems to bear some symbolic signs upon its face, but no resem- 
 
420 HIEROGLYPHICS. 
 
 blance can be traced between them and any other known hiero- 
 glyphic signs. The Davenport tablet if genuine is of great 
 interest in that it abounds in hieroglyphics, some of which are not 
 unlike some of the signs employed by the Aztecs ; besides, the ele- 
 ment of picture-writing so common to that people plays a promi- 
 nent part on both sides of that mysterious stone. Col. Charles 
 Whittlesey, in the second chapter of his Eeport to the Centennial 
 Commission of Ohio (already cited), has figured and described 
 rock sculpture near Barnesville, Newark, Independence, Amherst 
 and Wellsville, most of which are of the lowest grade of savage 
 art, and we think can only be attributed to the red Indian. 
 
 Mr. W. H. Holmes has furnis-hed specimens of picture- 
 writing of a rude character found engraven in the rocks of the 
 canon of the Kio Mancos and San Juan, but there is no evidence 
 that they are or are not the work of the Cliff-dwellers whose 
 works abound upon neighboring rocks. 1 We have already called 
 attention to the tablets of hieroglyphics at Palenque, Copan 
 and in Yucatan, a specimen of which is shown in a cut on 
 page 390. The accompanying cut, employed by Stevens, Bald- 
 win and Bancroft, show the thirty-six squares of hieroglyphics 
 engraven upon the top of a Copan altar. 
 
 In addition to these stone and stucco records, the Mayas had 
 books, which Bishop Landa describes as written on a large leaf 
 doubled in folds and enclosed between two boards which they 
 ornamented ; they wrote on both sides of the paper, in columns 
 accommodated to the folds ; the paper they made from the roots 
 of trees, and coated it with a white varnish on which one could 
 write well. These books were called Analtees, a word which, 
 according to Villagutierre, signifies the same as history. 2 Bishop 
 Landa confesses to having burned a great number of the Maya 
 books because they contained nothing in which were not supersti- 
 tions and falsities of the devil. 3 Bancroft has quoted from Peter 
 Martyr a description of these books, which conveys the additional 
 
 1 W. H. Holmes in Bulletin of the Oeog. and Geol. Survey of the Territories, 
 Vol. II, No. I, p. 20, PI. 11 and 12. 
 
 Landa, Relation, p. 44. Villagutierre, Conq. Itza, pp. 393-4. Bancroft, 
 vol. ii, p. 768. 3 Relation, p. 316. 
 
HIEROGLYPHICS ON THE COP AN ALTAR. 
 
 421 
 
 information that they were written on many leaves joined together 
 but folded so that when opened two pages are presented to view. 1 
 Three of the Maya manuscripts are known to have escaped the 
 vandalism of the early Fathers. These are, first, the Mexican 
 MS. No. 2 of the Imperial Library at Paris, called by Eosny the 
 Codex Peresianus, which has been photographed by order of 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS ON THE COPAN ALTAR. 
 
 the French government, but we believe is still unedited. The 
 second, the Dresden Codex, in the Koyal Library at Dresden, a 
 complete copy of which was published by Lord Kingsborough. 
 It is a Maya, and not an Aztec MS., as is proven by its marked 
 resemblance to the tablets of Palenque and Copan, a fact pointed 
 
 1 Peter Martyr, Dec. iv, lib. viii. Bancroft, vol. ii, pp. 769-70. 
 
422 MS. TROANO. 
 
 out by Mr. Stephens, though at the date of his exploration 
 everything was pronounced Aztec. 1 The third, the Manuscript 
 Troano, found by Brasseur de Bourbourg at Madrid in 1865 in 
 the possession of Senor Tro y Ortolano, from whom it derives its 
 name, is a Maya MS. of unknown origin and history. The French 
 government and the Commission Scientifique du Mexique repro- 
 duced it in fac- simile by means of chromo-lithography, and 
 Brasseur, with the expenditure of great labor, attempted to 
 translate part of it, which he has published ; but in a subsequent 
 work he confesses that he began his reading at the wrong end of 
 the manuscript, which, as Mr. Bancroft humorously remarks, was 
 a " trifling error perhaps in the opinion of the enthusiastic Abb6, 
 but a somewhat serious one as it appears to scientific men." 2 
 Mr. Bancroft has reproduced a page of the MS. Troano in his 
 work, and accompanied it with a condensed account from the 
 Abbe's description as follows: "The original is written on a strip 
 of maguey paper about fourteen feet long and nine inches wide, 
 the surface of which is covered with a whitish varnish, on which 
 the figures are painted in black, red, blue and brown. It is 
 folded fan-like in thirty-five folds, presenting when shut much the 
 appearance of a modern large octavo volume. The hieroglyphics 
 cover both sides of the paper, and the writing is consequently 
 divided into seventy pages, each about five by nine inches, having 
 been apparently executed after the paper was folded, so that the 
 folding does not interfere with the written matter. * * * The 
 regular lines of written characters are uniformly in black, while 
 the pictorial portions, of what may perhaps be considered repre- 
 sentative signs, are in red and brown, chiefly the former, and 
 the blue appears for the most part as a background in some of 
 the pages." 3 Notwithstanding the bigoted spirit exhibited by 
 
 1 Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii, pp. 342, 453-5. 
 
 2 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, p. 780. Brasseur's admission will be found 
 in the BibliotMque Mexico-Guntemalienne, Paris, 1871, p. xxvii. The transla- 
 tion, prefaced with 136 quarto pages devoted to a consideration of the Maya 
 characters, is published under the title, MS. Troano : Etudes sur le systeme 
 graphique et la tongue des Mayas. Paris, 1869-70. 4to, 2 vols., 70 colored plates. 
 
 3 Bancroft, vol. ii, p. 773, plate, p. 774. 
 
LANDA'S ALPHABET. 423 
 
 Bishop Landa in his destruction of the native Maya books in the 
 presence of their sorrowful and helpless owners, he did one act 
 of service for the antiquarian, which will ever entitle him to the 
 gratitude of every student of ancient American civilization. 
 That act was the record which he made of the Maya hiero- 
 glyphic alphabet. The Bishop has left us scarcely two and a 
 half octavo pages (of his work as edited by Brasseur de Bour- 
 bourg) upon this important subject, yet it is the only known key 
 to the mysteries of Palenque, Copan and the numerous inscrip- 
 tions found in Yucatan. His explanation of the manner in which 
 letters are combined into words is not clear, and though Mr. 
 Bancroft has translated it literally and introduced parenthetic 
 explanations, still the sense is not very apparent. Brasseur de 
 Bourbourg in his French translation has not succeeded much 
 better, and complains of Landa's style as being untranslatable. 
 One important fact, however, is deducible from the Bishop's 
 remarks and example, namely, that the Maya letters were formed 
 into words in much the same order as in the English and other 
 languages which read from the left to the right. 1 Landa's 
 alphabet is given in the accompanying cut which is an exact 
 photographic reproduction of the original. 
 
 Landa adds nothing after this table except the remark : 
 " Of the letters which here fail, this language is wanting and has 
 others added of ours, for other things of which they have need, 
 and already they do not use these characters of theirs, especially 
 
 1 The original of Landa's explanation is as follows : " De sus letras porne 
 aqui un a, b, c, que no permite su pesadumbre mas porque usan para todas las 
 aspiraciones de las letras de un caracter, y despues, al puntar de las partes otro, 
 y assi viene a liazer in infinitum, como se podra ver en el siguiente exemplo: 
 Le, quiere dezir laco y cacar con el ; para escrivirle con sus carateres, haviendoles 
 nosotros hecho entender que son dos letras, lo escrivian ellos con tres, puniendo 
 a la aspiracion de la I la vocale e que antes de si trae, y en esto no hierran, 
 aunque usense, si quisieren ellos de su curiosidad, exemplo : e L e Le. Despues 
 al cabo le pegan la parte junta. Ha que quiere dezir agua, porque la hache tiene 
 a, h, antes de si la ponen ellos al prinicipio con a, y al cabo deste manera, ha. 
 Tambien lo escriven a partes pero de la una y otra manera, yo no pusiera aqui 
 ni tratara dello sino por dar cuenta entera de las cosas desta gente. Ma in kati 
 quiere dezir no quiero, ellos lo escriven a partes desta manera : main ka ti." 
 Landa, Relation, p. 318, translated by Bancroft, Native Races, vol. ii, p. 778. 
 
1. 
 
 2. 
 3 
 
 4. (Ml b 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 8. 
 9. 
 
 a 10. 
 
 a 11. 
 
 a 12. ^"^ 
 
 i 19. 
 
 ca 20 
 
 H. 
 
 t 16. 
 
 h 18. 
 
 (Variation of a n.l) 
 
 atiaii of fi) 
 
 P 
 
 PP 
 
 1 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 25. 
 
 u 
 
 17. < o 26. |> u 
 
 27. 
 
 ma me onno. 
 
 ha 
 
 LANDA'S ALPHABET. 
 
 sign of aspiration? 
 
LANDA'S HIEROGLYPHICS. 425 
 
 the young people who have learned ours." l Landa has left us 
 other hieroglyphic signs, relating to the Maya months and days, 
 which will be given in the next chapter. Many of the hiero- 
 glyphics in his alphabet are plainly recognizable in the three 
 Maya MSS. which we have named, though it is quite certain 
 that other signs, which are wanting -in his list, are found not 
 only in the MSS. but also among the inscriptions of the several 
 localities we have already described. Besides the attempts made 
 by Brasseur de Bourbourg to decipher the Maya writing, three 
 Americanistes in particular have bestowed labor upon the sub- 
 ject. These are Mr. Wm. Bollaert, 2 M. Hyacinthe de Charencey, 3 
 and M. Leon de Kosny, 4 the latter of whom is the honorable 
 president of the Societe Americaine de France. 
 
 By means of Landa's key, Mr. Bollaert obtained encouraging 
 results from hieroglyphics figured in Stephens 7 works. In that 
 author's Yucatan, vol. ii, page 292, is seen a sculptured figure 
 with hieroglyphics represented on the upper part of the door 
 called Akatzeeb at Chichen-Itza. This tablet is examined by 
 Mr. Bollaert with the following result : " The figure (male) is 
 nude ; the cap is like those on the figures at Kabab, and has an 
 ornament round the neck ; the large crucible-form before him 
 contains fire, in which some small animal is being burnt or 
 sacrificed. Comparing the hieroglyphs on either side of the 
 figure with the Maya key, I get the following words : Ahau, 
 f king ' ; oc, ' leg ' ; Muluc, ' to unite ' ; ik, ' courage ' ; cib, 
 'copal'; eznab, ' magician'; no, 'frog'; which may mean 
 that the magician has in the crucible a frog to be sacrificed, in 
 which copal as incense is used. The two lines of hieroglyphs 
 give something like the following : Kings must die they have 
 
 1 Relation, p. 322. 
 
 2 Bollaert, Examination of Central American Hieroglyphs, in Memoirs of 
 Anthropological Soc. of London, vol. iii, pp. 288-314. London, 1870. 
 
 3 Charencey, Essai de Dechiffrement d'un fragment ^inscription palen- 
 queenne, in Actes de la Societe Philologique, torn. i. March, 1870. 
 
 4 Rosny, Essai sur le Dechiffrement de L'Ecriture Hieratique de L'Amerique 
 Centrale, Paris, 1876, folio, with large colored plates and fac- similes. In three 
 parts, two of which only have as yet appeared (Oct. 1878). The author informs 
 me (Feb. 1879) that a fourth part will bs required to complete the work. 
 
 
426 BOLLAERT'S INTERPRETATIONS. 
 
 courage, and after death are united to those who went before 
 them. The king is with his fathers ; the chief and his family 
 burn copal and mourn for his death/' x On the tablet of the cross 
 at Palenque, Mr. Bollaert found in squares eznab, "magician"; dz, 
 "a hand"; the "aspiration sign" U ; and a part of zip, "tree." 
 Among the hieroglyphs he traced ahau, "king"; zip, "tree"; 
 akbal, "a plant"; pax, "a musical instrument." Mr. Bollaert 
 has attempted to read several other inscriptions with no more 
 satisfactory results. 2 One or two of the same scholar's attempts 
 with the Dresden Codex yield the following : We come to thy 
 presence to implore. The yo ung female implore* before the deity, 
 she weeps but has courage. In a group representing a king and 
 a young female, he reads : She has made a vow about the king to 
 the magician, the king is happy. Again : The sacred bird chel 
 is sacrificed, there is weeping ; the bride weeps for the bird, she 
 makes a voio or prays for the king, she offers a tortoise, a 
 great feast is given. 5 M. de Charencey translates the hieroglyph 
 found just above the child which is being offered to the bird on 
 the tablet of the cross at Palenque, by the word Hunabku, " the 
 only holy one." He also finds the name of Kukulcan and 
 eznab, " magician," the name of a month. 4 M. de Kosny in his 
 able essay on the decipherment of the hieratic writings of 
 Central America has undertaken the solution of this interesting 
 and perplexing problem in a scientific manner, and we have the 
 fullest confidence that his system constructed on Landa's key 
 will open to us the books and inscriptions of the Mayas. But 
 two of the four parts which constitute the work have been 
 published, still we think sufficient data has been placed at the 
 hands of scholars by M. de Rosny to justify the opinion that if 
 the remainder of his essay should never appear, the work of 
 interpreting some of the Maya writings might be carried on 
 with reasonable certainty. Landa's key contains seventy-one 
 signs (twenty for the days, eighteen for the months, and thirty- 
 
 1 Bollaert in Memoirs of Anthropol. Soc. of London, vol. iii, p. 293. 
 
 2 Ibid, p. 301. . 3 Ibid, p. 307. 
 
 4 See a review of these attempts in Rosny's Essai, pp. 13-43, and remarks 
 on Charencey in Appendix D of Baldwin's Ancient America. 
 
M. DE ROSNY'S KEY. 427 
 
 three in the alphabet.) M. de Kosny, by a careful examination 
 of all the hieratic texts of the Mayas which are known, has 
 discovered more than seven hundred different signs. Of this 
 number he has deciphered and classified four hundred and thirty- 
 nine as follows : Alphabetic signs, including Landa' s (of which 
 all the others are but varieties), two hundred and sixty-two ; 
 signs of the days, one hundred and fifty-nine ; and the eighteen 
 signs of the months given by Landa. All these signs are classi- 
 fied in a double folio plate (PL XIII) which we believe deserves 
 to be regarded as the larger portion of the much-sought-for 
 Maya Kosetta stone. Considerable difference of opinion has 
 existed as to the direction in which the hieroglyphics should be 
 read. Brasseur held the view that the proper order was from 
 right to left, and that the beginning of a book was where our 
 books end. This mistake brought down the ridicule of scholars 
 upon the Abbe's head, when it was discovered that he had 
 begun at the wrong end to translate the Troano MS. Mr. 
 Bollaert says, "I have read from the bottom upwards and from 
 right to left." l Dr. Brinton 2 has suggested some such order as 
 the following arrangement of the word marvellous : 
 
 o 11 m 
 
 u e a 
 
 s v r 
 
 M. de Kosny has shown that the statement of Landa and 
 the fact that the human faces shown in the hieroglyphs look 
 toward the left, indicate that the signs should be read from left to 
 right. 3 In rare cases this order is reversed, as is seen on a couple 
 of leaves of the Codex Peresianus. There are, no doubt, numer- 
 ous instances in which the signs are arranged in perpendicular 
 columns, and the order in which such columns are to be read is 
 not the same in all manuscripts. In the Maya inscriptions and 
 manuscripts, the "illustrations" or pictorial figures are inter- 
 
 1 Examination of Cent. Am. Hier., p. 806. 
 
 - The Ancient Phonetic Alphabet of Yucatan, p. 6, N. Y., 1870, cited by 
 Rosny, Essai, p. 25. 
 
 3 Essai, p. 28 ; Rosny cites Bancroft's opinion to the same effect, Native 
 Racss, vol. ii, p. 782. 
 
 
428 M. DE ROSNY'S KEY. 
 
 woven with the alphabetic signs forming an important part of 
 the writing. In many cases a page of MS. (as shown in Rosny's 
 plates) is divided into sections or squares, in which the hierogly- 
 phics are inseparably connected with grotesque figures which 
 accompany them and form a part of the writing. M. de Kosny 
 has undertaken the classification and interpretation of all these 
 figures which are found in the existing Maya MSS. This 
 doubtless will prove an important auxiliary to the table of 
 signs already alluded to. We may reasonably expect that since 
 M. de Rosny has shown the extensive character of the Maya 
 phonetic and symbolic alphabet, he will furnish us examples of 
 its application in the practical interpretation of the hierogly- 
 phics, in the latter part of his work. Since it is a well-estab- 
 lished fact that the Mayas employed alphabetic signs in recording 
 words and sentences, it is plain that their writing was far more 
 perfect than the picture-writing of the Aztecs. 
 
 We do not deem it necessary to assure the reader that while 
 the Aztec picture-writing was not as far advanced in the scale of 
 graphic development as the system employed by the Mayas, still 
 it was an accurate means of communication and of recording 
 events. The " scribes" of the Mexicans were an educated class of 
 men, who with strictest accuracy painted in hieroglyphic symbols 
 the record of national, historic and traditional affairs, as well as 
 the tribute rolls, the calendar with its feast days, the stated ser- 
 vices of the gods, the genealogical tables of noble and royal per- 
 sonages, and even the customs of the humble classes. No doubt 
 many educated persons who did not belong to the priestly and 
 lettered class, were acquainted with the system employed, and 
 many others understood it sufficiently to recognize calendar and 
 feast signs. The Aztec books were painted mostly on cotton 
 cloth, prepared skins and maguey paper, and when not rolled 
 were folded fan-like and bound with thin wooden covers, like the 
 Maya books. The priests who accompanied the conquerors and 
 immediately followed them, mistook the pictured figures painted 
 in these books to be representations of heathen deities, and con- 
 sequently inaugurated a system of wholesale destruction of all 
 the picture-writing. Las Casas informs us that they were 
 
DESTRUCTION OF THE MEXICAN MSS. 429 
 
 actuated by the fear that in matters of religion the existence 
 of these books would be injurious. The infamous crime com- 
 mitted against the cause of knowledge and the irreparable 
 injury done to the natives, their successors, and to students of 
 history for all time, by the destruction of those valuable MSS., 
 must ever remain an unerasable blot upon the name of the early 
 church in Mexico, and must be ranked with the worst deeds of 
 Goths and Vandals. Juan de Zumarraga, the chief of these 
 sacrilegious destroyers who committed the annals of the Mexican 
 States publicly to the flames in his tour of the principal cities 
 of the country, will ever be remembered with proper contempt. 
 Fortunately, many of the MSS. were hidden by their owners 
 and have since come to light ; the greater number of these, how- 
 ever, were tribute rolls, which, down to the last century, played 
 an important part in the Mexican courts of justice. Prescott in- 
 forms us that " until late in the last century, there was a professor 
 in the University of Mexico especially devoted to the study of 
 the national picture-writing. But as this was with a view to 
 legal proceedings, his information probably was limited to de- 
 ciphering titles." In the course of time the priests became 
 acquainted with the harmless nature of the hieroglyphics, 
 through their use by the natives in their making confessions and 
 in recording the Lord's prayer. Many documents written since 
 the conquest were provided by their authors with a Span- 
 ish translation or with an explanation in Aztec written with 
 Spanish letters. Many of these are in existence, and with a 
 few authentic documents, written previous to the conquest, are 
 preserved in public and private libraries of Europe and this 
 country, the finest collection of which is that of the National 
 Museum of the University of Mexico. The reader is no doubt 
 already familiar with the splendid fac-similes of several Mexican 
 MSS. published in Lord Kingsborough's work. Mr. Bancroft 
 has concisely narrated the events and vicissitudes which have 
 attended the transmission of some of these documents through 
 the hands of successive owners to their present depositories. 1 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. ii, pp. 529-33. 
 
430 MEXICAN SYSTEM THREEFOLD. 
 
 Several writers on hieroglyphic systems, and the above author 
 among them, have classified the progressive steps of picture- 
 writing into representative, symbolic, and phonetic. Of these, 
 the first is by far the simplest, and has invariably preceded the 
 others in the development of the graphic art. It was natural 
 for the savage to represent an object by a picture, in which that 
 object was surrounded with certain conditions ; at first the entire 
 object was pictured, but subsequently only a portion of the ob- 
 ject, as in the case of a bird, the head or foot or wing in the 
 more advanced stages of art, would be substituted for the object 
 itself. In symbolic picture-writing, we find an attempt at 
 representing abstract ideas and actions. Some quality or attri- 
 bute of a person is portrayed by means of the representative 
 process, by symbols which would naturally seem to suggest the 
 distinguishing characteristic of the person or occasion. A cer- 
 tain Aztec festival might be symbolized by the conventional 
 calendar sign, an altar, a flint knife held by a human hand, and 
 a smoking human heart. Phonetic picture-writing is, of course, 
 dependent upon the sounds of the language for which it is 
 designed. Its province is to represent those sounds by pictures 
 of objects in whose names the sounds occur. Words, syllables 
 and elementary sounds which are represented by alphabets, are 
 thus gradually evolved in the progression which follows. Mr. 
 Bancroft, by a most ingenious example, has illustrated this 
 principle as applied to our own language. " According to this 
 system," he says, "the |j signifies successively the word 'hand/ 
 the syllable ' hand ' in handsome, the sound ' ha ' in happy, the 
 aspiration <h' in head, and finally, by simplifying its form 
 or writing it rapidly, the || becomes [] and then the 'h' of 
 the alphabet." L The Aztecs never reached the last stage of 
 phonetic developmen't, namely, the alphabet. They, however, 
 employed the system in the syllabic formation of words to a 
 very considerable extent. The priests soon found the natives 
 applying their art of writing to the record of the standard 
 expressions employed in teaching the new faith. Amen was 
 
 1 Notice Races, vol. ii, p. 537. 
 
SYMBOLIC WRITING. f 431 
 
 expressed by the sign of water, ail associated with a maguey 
 plant, metl which united gave the word atl-metl, or after the 
 ever present Aztec termination tl is stricken off, we have a-me, 
 an approximation to our word Amen. Mr. Bancroft gives also 
 the following example of the manner in which the name Teo- 
 caltitlan was expressed by this syllabic-phonetic writing : " It 
 is written in one of the manuscripts of the Boturini collection 
 by a pictured pair of lips, tentli, for the syllable te ; footsteps, 
 symbolic of a road, otli for o ; a house, calli for col ; and teeth, 
 tlantli for tlanti, being a common connective syllable." We 
 think the reader will find a clearer illustration in the word 
 Chapultepec, which literally means " hill of the grasshopper." 
 By reference to the Aztec migration map which has been pub- 
 lished by several authors 1 (the most correct copy accessible to 
 the general reader is that by Bancroft). 2 A hill surmounted by 
 a grasshopper will be observed among the figures. The same 
 representation in different form will be seen in Boturini's picture- 
 map of the migration. Chapultepec is well known as the royal 
 hill, a short distance west of the city of Mexico, celebrated as 
 the country residence of Montezuma. Numerous similar exam- 
 ples might be selected from the migration maps of this combi- 
 nation of the three methods employed. Proper names were 
 always expressed in a similar manner. An example of the 
 representative and symbolic stages of the picture-writing of 
 the Aztecs has been given by Mr. Bancroft from the Codex 
 Mendoza in Kingsborough. 3 We here reproduce the plate used 
 in the Native Races. It describes four steps or periods in the 
 education of children ; each period is supposed to refer to a 
 particular year. In the upper left-hand group we see a father 
 (fig. 3) punishing his son by holding him over the fumes of 
 burning chile (fig. 5) ; in the right-hand group the mother 
 threatens her daughter with similar punishment. In the second 
 group (figs. 12-13), a father punishes his son by exposing him 
 
 1 Gamelli Careri, Humboldt, Kingsborough, Ramirez in Garcia y Cubas, and 
 Bancroft ; see this work, chapter vi, p. 232. 2 Vol. ii, pp. 544-5. 
 
 3 Mex. Antiq., vol. i, pi. Ixi ; explanation, vol. v, pp. 96-7 ; Bancroft, vol. ii, 
 pp. 53&-40. 
 
432 
 
 CODEX MENDOZA PICTURE-WRITING. 
 
 OOOO( 
 
 ooooo 
 
 00080 
 ooooo 
 
 EDUCATION OF CHILDREN ACCORDING TO THE CODEX MENDOZA. 
 
 bound hand and foot on the damp ground. A bad boy twelve 
 years of age, according to Aztec custom was always punished in 
 this way, and his punishment lasted during an entire day. A 
 
CODEX MENDOZA PICTURE-WRITING. 433 
 
 disobedient girl of the same age was obliged to rise in the night 
 and sweep the whole house, as is shown in the right-hand group, 
 or, as no tear is seen in her eye, she may be learning. At the age 
 of eight years children were only shown the instrument of pun- 
 ishment ; at ten they were pricked with maguey thorns, or if 
 still unruly, were whipped. The above groups show the methods 
 employed during the eleventh and twelfth years, after which 
 age a child was supposed to be pretty well disciplined. In 
 the third group a father directs his boys (fig. 21) how to trans- 
 port wood, both upon the back and in the canoe, while the 
 mother teaches the daughter (fig. 23) to make tortillas and use 
 the mealing stone and other utensils (figs. 25, 26, 28) ; the tor- 
 tillas are also represented (fig. 27). In the fourth group the son 
 learns the use of the fish-net and the daughter that of the loom. 
 The allowance of tortillas apportioned to the children at the ages 
 represented are shown in figs. 2, 8, 11, 16, 20, 24, 30 and 34. 
 The remaining figures are not representative, but symbolic. The 
 small circles (figs. 1, 10, 19, 29) are numerals indicating that 
 the child was successively eleven, twelve, thirteen and fourteen 
 years of age. A circle or dot was always used for a unit. The 
 comma-like figure issuing from the mouth of the parent is the 
 symbol of speech. The tears in the children's eyes need no 
 explanation. The singular figure (17) above the girl in the 
 second group is said to be symbolical of night, and to indicate 
 that the sweeping was required in the night. 
 
 For most interesting specimens of Aztec picture-writing as 
 well as their supposed explanation, we refer the reader to the 
 Gemelli Careri and Boturini Migration maps in the Atlas of 
 Garcia y Cubas, or in the second volume of Mr. Bancroft's work, 
 which are the only places where they are to be found correctly 
 reproduced. Mr. Delafield sought to find an analogy between 
 the Aztec and Egyptian hieroglyphic systems on no other ground 
 than that both were representative, symbolic and phonetic, a 
 most wonderful discovery indeed. 1 Notwithstanding this fact, 
 
 1 Delafield, Antiq. of Am., pp. 42-7. M. Ed. Madier de Montjau has recently 
 added much to our understanding of Aztec picture-writin^ in his Chronologic 
 
 28 
 
434 MEXICAN MIGRATION MAP. 
 
 and many similar efforts, no marked analogy between the Aztec 
 picture-writing and the hieroglyphic systems of any other peo- 
 ples has yet been pointed out. 1 
 
 hieroglyphico-phonetic des rois Azteques de 1352-1522 retrouvee dans diverses 
 mappes americaines antiques, expliquee et precedee d'une introduction sur 
 1'Ecriture mexicaine. A valuable article on the same subject is found in the 
 Congres Americanistes, Luxembourg, 1877, torn, ii, pp. 346-362, by M. 1'Abbe 
 Jules Pipart, entitled Elements phonetiques dans les Escritures figuratives des 
 anciens Mexicains. 
 
 1 An excellent account of the various collections of Aztec picture-writing 
 will be found in the introduction to Domenech's Manuscrit Pictographique, 
 Paris, 1860, 8vo ; a book which would be valueless but for that feature. See 
 also account of M. Aubun's collection in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., 
 torn, i, pp. Ixxvi-lxxviii. For general description of hieroglyphic principles 
 see Tylor, Researches, pp. 89-101, and Humboldt, Vues, torn, i, pp. 177-9, 162- 
 202. See also Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 5, 77, 87, 96, 112, 116. Prescott, 
 Conq. Hex. (Kirk's ed., 1875), vol. i, pp. 94, 99, 107-9. Clavigero, Storia Ant. 
 del Messico, torn, ii, pp. 187-94. Mendoza, in Soe. Mex. Qeog. Boletin, 2d epoca, 
 torn, i, pp. 896-904. Gallatin in Amer. Ethtio. Soe. Transact., vol. i, pp. 126, 
 165-69. Kingsborough's Mex. Ant., vol. vi, p. 87, and Ixtlilxochitl's Hist. 
 Chick, in Kingsborough, vol. ix, p. 201. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn, i, 
 p. 149. Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, pp. 521-52. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY, CALENDAR SYSTEMS AND RELIGIOUS ANALOGIES. 
 
 No Mound-builder Chronology known Maya Calendar Landa on the Calendar 
 Maya Days Maya Months The Katun The Ahau Katun or Great 
 Cycle The Maya System Adjusted to our Chronology The Adjustment 
 by Perez Intercalary Days The Nahua Calendar The Sources Divi- 
 sions of Mexican Calendar The Aztec Year The Nemontemi Aztec 
 Months Aztec Days Nahua Ritual Calendar Mexican Calendar Stone 
 Sources of Interpretation History of the Stone Interpretation of the 
 Stone Date of the Origin of the Calendar Stone Date of the Nahua 
 Migration Analogies with the Nahua Calendar Religious Analogies 
 Jewish Analogies Deluge Traditions Supposed Parallels in Jewish and 
 Mexican History Analogies of Doctrine Analogies of Ceremonial Law 
 Yucatanic Trinity Myth Mexican and Asiatic Analogies Buddhism in 
 the New World Scandinavian Analogies Mexican and Greek Analogies 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg's Comparisons. 
 
 Chronology and Calendar Systems. No tablet or relic of 
 Mound-builder origin has yet been discovered, which can be 
 said to give any clue to the system of chronology employed by 
 that people. Several supposed calendar stones have been found, 
 such, for instance, as the Cincinnati Tablet referred to in Chap- 
 ter I, and the Tablet from Mississippi in the possession of Wm. 
 Marshall Anderson, Esq., of Circleville, Ohio. However, their 
 character is only a matter of conjecture, since no progress what- 
 ever has been made toward evolving any system from them. 
 Farther south, on the soil where a higher civilization flourished, 
 we meet with two calendar systems, which, while they have 
 several points of resemblance, are quite distinct from each other. 
 
 The first of these, the Maya, is probably the most ancient. 
 Bishop Landa is our chief authority in this field, though Don 
 Juan Pio Perez, a more recent writer, also familiar with the 
 
436 
 
 LANDA ON THE CALENDAR. 
 
 Maya language, has furnished us some material. 1 Bishop Landa 
 informs us that the Mayas had a year of 365 days and 6 hours 
 divided into months (a month being called a U) in two ways, 
 first into months of thirty days each, and second, into eighteen 
 months of twenty days each. As the Bishop makes no explana- 
 tion of the former statement, we are unable to determine whether 
 
 Cirar. 
 
 Mamk. 
 
 Lamat. 
 
 THE MAYA DAYS. 
 
 the months of thirty days each were employed in Yucatan prior 
 to the conquest, or not, but we are rather inclined to the opinion 
 that they were not. 
 
 The month of twenty days was called the Uinal-Hun-ekeJi, 
 and might commence on any of the days represented by the 
 hieroglyphics in the left-hand column of the table of days. These 
 months were eighteen in number, thus making a year of 360 days. 
 The Mayas, however, corrected the error by adding five inter- 
 
 1 Landa, Relation, pp. 204-316, and the work by Perez, entitled Cronologia 
 Antigua de Yucatan, with Brasseur's translation into French in the above 
 work, pp. 366-429. Also see English translation in Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i, 
 pp. 434-59. See also Orozco y Berra, Geogrqfia, pp. 104-8, and an able dis- 
 cussion in Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, pp. 755-67. 
 
LANDA'S MAYA MONTHS. 
 
 437 
 
 Tzee. 
 
 Chen. 
 
 Xul. 
 
 Yax. 
 
 Kankin. 
 
 Kayab. 
 
 Yixkin. 
 
 Zac. 
 
 Miian, 
 
 CurnhiL 
 
 THE MAYA MONTHS. 
 
 Tzoz. 
 
 CeL 
 
 Pax. 
 
 calary days and six hours to the 360 days ; and once every four 
 years, Landa informs us, they counted 366 days a year. The five 
 supplementary days were considered unlucky, and were known 
 as the " nameless days " because they were never called by any 
 
438 LANDA'S MAYA MONTHS. 
 
 particular designation. The accompanying cut is a photographic 
 reproduction of Landa's plate, and shows accurately the Maya 
 days in their proper order. 1 (Page 436.) 
 
 Though the intercalary days were " nameless " and character- 
 ized as the " bed or chamber of the year," " the mother of the 
 year," "bed of creation," "travail of the year," "lying days," 
 or " bad days," etc., still five of the above twenty were reckoned 
 for them in regular order. 
 
 The year began on a day corresponding to our 16th of July 
 " a date," as Mr. Bancroft observes, " which varies only forty- 
 four hours from the time when the sun passes the .zenith an 
 approximation as accurate as could be expected from observation 
 made without instruments." 2 
 
 The Maya months as figured in Landa's work are shown in 
 the accompanying photo-engraving. (Page 437.) 
 
 The translation of the names of the days and months is some- 
 what uncertain. The following equivalents are the same as those 
 given by Senor Perez, except in a few instances where Brasseur 
 and Kosny have made corrections. 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE DAYS. 
 
 1. Kan, "string of twisted hemp" (yellow). 
 
 2. Chicchan, signification unknown. 
 
 3. Cimi, preterit of cimil, to kill = " dead." 
 
 4. Manik, " wind that passes " (? ?) 
 
 5. Lamat, signification unknown. 
 
 6. Muluc, " reunion " (? ?) 
 
 7. Oc, " that which may be held in the palm of the hand." 
 
 8. Chven," hoard "(??) 
 
 9. m, "ladder." 
 
 10. Sen, "to distribute with economy " (? ?) 
 
 11. Ix, "fish-skin" (Rosny), "witch, witchcraft" (Brasseur), "roughness" 
 
 (Perez). 
 
 12. Men, "builder." 
 
 13. Gib, " gum copal." 
 
 14. Caban, " heaped up " (Brasseur). 
 
 15. Ezandb, " flint " (Brasseur). 
 
 1 Landa's Relation, p. 204. Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, p. 756. 
 
 2 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, p. 757. 
 
THE KATUNES. 439 
 
 16. Cauac, signification unknown. 
 
 17. Ahau, " king, or period of twenty -four years." 
 
 18. Ymix, signification unknown. " Corn " (? ?) 
 
 19. Ik, " wind," " spirit," according to Rosny, one of the symbols of Kukul- 
 
 can or Qtietzalcoatl. 
 
 20. Akbal, " approach of night " (Brasseur). 
 
 TRANSLATION OF THE MONTHS. 
 
 1. Pop, " mat of cane." 
 
 2. Uo, " frog." 
 
 3. Zip, "a tree" (Perez), "fault, error" (Brasseur). 
 
 4. Tzoz, " a bat." 
 
 5. Tzec, signification unknown. 
 
 6. Xul, " end or conclusion." 
 
 7. Yaxkin, signification unknown. " Summer " (? ?) 
 
 8. Mol, " to re-unite, to recover." 
 
 9. Chen, " a well." 
 
 10. Tax, "first," or Yaax, "blue." 
 
 11. Zac, "white." 
 
 12. Ceh, " a deer." 
 
 13. Mac, " a lid or cover." 
 
 14. Kaiikin, "yellow sun," " because in this month of April the atmosphere 
 
 is charged with smoke," owing to the work of clearing the soil. 
 
 15. Muan, " cloudy weather " (Brasseur). 
 
 16. Pax, " musical instrument." 
 
 17. Kaydb, " singing." 
 
 18. Cumhu, " thunder-clap," " detonation." ! 
 
 Though these translations may seem uninteresting by them- 
 selves, they are of great value when taken in connection with 
 Landa's alphabet and M. de Rosny's interpretations. They must 
 ever be important factors in attempts to translate the inscriptions 
 and codices. 
 
 Another division of time among the Mayas of a complicated 
 character was the Katun or Cycle of 52 years. The Katun was 
 composed of four periods (indictions or weeks) of 13 years 
 each, enumerated by a system of reckoning kept simultaneously 
 with the current reckoning of days, months and years. The 
 mode of computing the Katunes was, according to Landa and 
 
 1 See Perez's Appendix to Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i, pp. 458-59, and in 
 Landa's Relation, Appendix, pp. 370-382, and Brasseur in the same. Especially 
 Rosny,. Essai sur le Dech. de L'Ecrit. Hierat. de L'Amer. Cent., pp. 15-24. 
 
440 THE KATUNES. 
 
 Perez, briefly as follows : l The year was divided into twenty- 
 eight periods of thirteen days each. These periods for con- 
 venience have been called weeks, and the number of days of 
 which each is composed may have been suggested by the num- 
 ber of days embraced in the moon's increase and decrease, 
 twenty-six days constituting about the actual time in which 
 the moon is seen above the horizon during each lunation. 2 The 
 weeks were divided off by counting thirteen days from the begin- 
 ning of the list of days shown on paga 436, Kan constituting 
 the first day of the first week and according to usage applying 
 its name to the weeks. The week was consequently called by 
 the name of the day on which it began. Caban being the four- 
 teenth day of the current month, became the first day of another 
 week; but as not enough days remain to complete it, the enumera- 
 tion is begun again and continued down to Muluc, the sixth day 
 of the next month. Oc, the seventh day, then becomes the start- 
 ing point for another week, which assumes its name, and thus the 
 computation is carried on ad infinitum. A numeral preceded 
 each day designating its position in the week. The people of 
 Yucatan painted a small circle in which they placed the four 
 hieroglyphics of the initial days which constitute the left-hand 
 column of signs given on page 436. Kan was placed in the east, 
 Muluc in the north, Ix in the west and Cauac in the south. 
 These signs were termed the "carriers of the years" because no 
 month or year could begin on any of the twenty days, but on one 
 of these. Since twenty days constitute a current month, it is 
 apparent that every month in a given year must begin with the 
 same day. However, the introduction of the five intercalary 
 days at the end of the year, changed the initial day on which 
 the months of the different years began. In reckoning the 
 Katun it is further observed that the numeral which indicates 
 the day of the week (of thirteen days) which falls upon the first 
 of a given month, varies. Supposing the month to begin on Kan 
 and the numeral of the first day to be 1, the numerals indicative 
 
 1 Landa, Relation, p. 234. Perez in Landa, pp. 394 et seq., and in Stephens' 
 Yucatan, vol. i, p. 439 ; also sse Bancroft, vol. ii, pp. 759 et seq. 
 
 2 Perez in Landa, Relation, pp. 366-8 ; also cited by Bancroft, vol. ii, p. 759. 
 
THE AHAU KATUN OR GREAT CYCLE. 441 
 
 of the days of the week (composed of thirteen days) falling on 
 Kan throughout the eighteen months, would be, 8, 9, 3 ? 10, 4, 
 11, 5, 12, 6, 13, 7, 1, 8, 2, 9, 3. 
 
 The Katun year consisted, as we have seen, of twenty-eight 
 weeks of thirteen days each, and one additional day, making 
 in all 365 days. If the year commenced with number one of the 
 week, the additional day (the 365th) caused it to end on the 
 same number. The ensuing year would then begin with number 
 two, and so on through the thirteen numbers of the week, as 
 follows : 1. Kan, 2. Muluc, 3. Ix, 4. Cauac, 5. Kan, 6. Muluc, 
 7. Ix, 8. Cauac, 9. Kan, 10. Muluc, 11. Ix, 12. Cauac, 13. Kan, 
 thus completing an indiction or week of years.. The same com- 
 bination of names and numerals can only occur after the lapse 
 of the Katun or cycle comprising four of these indictions or 
 fifty-two years. Not only the years of the week, but also the 
 indictions themselves were named by the four initial symbols. 
 The first indiction of each Katun being named Kan, the second 
 Muluc, the third Ix, and the fourth Cauac. The completion of a 
 Katun or fifty-two years was celebrated with feasts and rejoicings 
 as an event of great moment. A monument was reared as a 
 memorial of the event. It is not impossible that the great num- 
 ber of pillars, observed by Stephens at Chichen-Itza were of 
 this character, serving as landmarks to Maya chronology. 1 
 
 A third division of time employed by the Mayas was the 
 great cycle of 312 years, composed, according to Senor Perez, 2 
 of thirteen periods of time, each embracing twenty-four years. 
 Each of these thirteen periods was called an Ahau Katun, and 
 was divided into two parts. The first part, embracing twenty 
 years, was enclosed in a square and called Amaytum lamayte, or 
 lamatjtum; and the other part of four years, which formed as it 
 were a pedestal for the first, was called Chek oc Katun, or lath 
 oc Katun, meaning "stool" or "pedestal." He affirms that the 
 latter were intercalated, therefore believed to be unfortunate as 
 were the five supplementary days of the year. This may account 
 
 1 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii, pp. 318-19. Stephens was unable to assign any 
 use to the pillars referred to. He counted upwards of 380. Dr. Le Plongeon 
 accords with our view. 2 Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i, pp. 441 et seq. 
 
442 
 
 SUCCESSION OF THE AHAU KATUNES. 
 
 for their not being reckoned with the Ahau Katun by any other 
 writer. Just here lies the discrepancy which has created most 
 of the confusion in the investigation of this subject. However, 
 if we accept the statement of Senor Perez, that the Ahau Katun 
 embraced twenty-four years instead of the testimony of every 
 other writer that it included but twenty years, we shall have 
 moderately fair sailing until we split upon the rock of his inac- 
 curacies as to dates. He tells us that these periods took their 
 name from Ahau, the second of those years that began in Cauac, 
 and from the order of the numerals accompanying those days 
 would succeed each other according to the numbers 13, 11, 9, 
 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. The Indians established the num- 
 ber 13 Ahau as the first, because some great event happened in 
 that year. If the 13 Ahau Katun began on a second day of the 
 year, it must have been the year which began on 12 Cauac, and 
 the 12th of the indiction. The next or the 11 Ahau would com- 
 mence in the year 10 Cauac, which combination in its rotation 
 would happen after a lapse of twenty-four years. The third or 
 9 Ahau would begin in 8 Cauac twenty -four years later, in illus- 
 tration of which we follow out the rotation of the four names of 
 the years, Kan, Muluc, Ix and Cauac, through the indictions of 
 thirteen years each, until we have noted the numerals accom- 
 panying them during twenty-four years. Our starting point 
 will be the commencement of the second Ahau Katun on the 
 second day of 10 Cauac. 
 
 Tear of 
 13 Year 
 Indiction 
 
 Name of Tear. 
 
 Tear of 
 Period of 
 2k Tears. 
 
 Year of 
 13 Year 
 Indiction. 
 
 Name of Year. 
 
 Year of 
 Period of 
 2k Years. 
 
 10 
 
 Cauac 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 Kan . ... 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 Kan 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 Muluc 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 Muluc 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 Ix 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 Ix 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 Cauac .... 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 Kan 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 Kan 
 
 18 
 
 3 
 
 Muluc ... .... 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 Muluc 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 Ix 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 Ix . ... 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 Cauac 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 Cauac 
 
 21 
 
 6 
 
 Kan 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 Kan 
 
 22 
 
 7 
 
 Muluc 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 Muluc 
 
 23 
 
 8 
 
 Ix 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 Ix 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 Cauac . 
 
 1st of anew 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 period. 
 
MAYA SYSTEM ADJUSTED TO OUR CHRONOLOGY. 443 
 
 As above stated the new Ahau Katun begins in the year 8 
 Cauac, and as it invariably began on the second day of the 
 year, that day would be 9 Ahau, as Ahau is the next letter in 
 the alphabet after Cauac. An extension of the table will show 
 that the next period will begin in 6 Cauac on 7 Ahau, and so 
 on in the order of the numerals given above. Thirteen Ahau 
 Katunes, as previously stated, constituted a great cycle of three 
 hundred and twelve years. Sr. Perez states that according to 
 all sources of information, confirmed by the testimony of Don 
 Cosme de Burgos, one of the conquerors and a writer (but whose 
 observations have been lost), the year 1392 A. D. corresponded to 
 the Maya year 7 Cauac, and as the second day of that year was 
 the beginning of an era of twenty-four years, it must have been 
 8 Ahau Katun. By dividing off the time between that date 
 and the beginning of the present century into periods of twenty- 
 four years each, and extending a table of the rotation of the four 
 names of the years, the reader will observe that 13 Ahau will 
 fall in the year 1800 ; 11 Ahau in 1824 ; 9 Ahau in 1848 ; 7 
 Ahau in 1872, and 5 Ahau in 1896, three hundred and twelve 
 years intervening before this, and any similar combination of 
 Ahau Katunes either have occurred or can be repeated. This 
 would be highly satisfactory if Sr. Perez could be relied upon 
 in this particular, which is doubtful. We are sorry to say that 
 he is certainly chargeable with inaccuracies, which impair the 
 value of his whole system. Most conspicuous of these is one 
 pointed out by Mr. Bancroft, to which we refer the reader 
 below. Senor Perez sets about the verification of his system 
 by citing the death of a notable personage named Ahpula. He 
 states that Ahpula died in the sixth year of 13 Ahau, when 
 the first day of the year was 4 Kan, on the day 9 Imix, the 
 eighteenth of the month Zip. It is seen that 13 Ahau is the 
 second day of the year 12 Cauac which falls in the year 1488, 
 also that the year 1493 is the sixth from the beginning of 
 13 Ahau, and that its first day is 4 Kan, which is the title 
 of the year. The day is the eighteenth of the month Zip, cor- 
 responding to the eleventh of September. The statement is 
 also made that this date fell on 9 Imix. This is tested as fol- 
 
444 THE ADJUSTMENT BY PEREZ. 
 
 lows : The first month of that year commenced on 4 Kan, 
 which combination names the year. The number (of the week 
 of thirteen days) is found by adding seven to the number of 
 the first day of each month successively. The number of the 
 first day of the first month, Pop, in this case being 4, the 
 number of the first day of the second month (Uo) would be 
 
 4 + 7 = 11, and that of the first day of the third month (Zip) 
 would be 11 + 7 18, but as the week consists of but thirteen 
 days, that number must be subs trac ted, leaving 5 Kan as the 
 first day of Zip. If Zip begins on the twenty-fifth of August, 
 the day 9 Imix will be found to correspond both with the eigh- 
 teenth of Zip and the eleventh of September, if the Katun 
 week of thirteen days is counted off regularly, beginning with 
 
 5 Kan. Sr. Perez is correct enough in his calculations, but un- 
 fortunately his system of twenty -four years to the Ahau Katun 
 or his informant as to the correspondence of the Ahau Katunes 
 with our chronology (no doubt the latter) is incorrect, since the 
 Maya manuscript furnished and translated by Perez and pub- 
 lished in the works of Stephens and Landa, states explicitly 
 that Ahpula died in A. D. 1536, instead of 1493 (incorrectly 
 printed 1403 in Bancroft's work), a date which is irreconcilable 
 with the system of twenty-four years to the Ahau, reckoned 
 from 1392 as a starting point. Neither will the statement of 
 Landa that the year 1541 corresponded with the beginning 
 of 11 Ahau relieve the difficulty, but rather increases it, since 
 it will neither harmonize with the date of Ahpula's death given 
 in the MS. nor with the system by Perez. Furthermore, while 
 Landa gives the same succession of numerals for the recur- 
 rence of the Ahaus, he states that they embraced but twenty 
 years each, thus making it impossible for the combinations of 
 names and numerals to correspond to the order which he lays 
 down for their succession. Landa is no doubt incorrect in his 
 statement. Sr. Perez is at least consistent in his adaptation of 
 the length of the Ahau Katun to the order of numerals given 
 by Landa and others. Recently, M. Delaporte, a member of the 
 Societe Americain de France, has, by a series of extended calcula- 
 tions, vindicated the correctness of the statement of Sr. Perez, 
 
INTERCALARY DAYS. 445 
 
 that the Ahau Katun embraced twenty-four years. M. de 
 Kosny agrees with M. Delaporte in his conclusions. The fault 
 of Perez, probably, lies in his adaptation of the Ahaus to 
 our chronology, and in carelessness. Amidst these discrepan- 
 cies it is impossible to fix accurately the dates of the Maya 
 history, though they can be approximated. 1 Senor Perez cites 
 Boturini as stating that the day introduced every four years to 
 compensate for the annual loss of six hours, was observed by 
 counting the symbol for the three hundred and sixty-fifth day 
 twice, as the Eomans did with their bissextile days, thus leaving 
 the order undisturbed. 2 
 
 The Naliua Calendar system closely resembles that of the 
 Mayas, a fact which adds to the abundant proof that both 
 civilizations had grown up under nearly the same influences, and 
 that they had largely affected each other. If the trifling differ- 
 ences of a few writers concerning some of the details of the 
 Aztec calendar be overlooked, and the best authorities (together 
 with a little exercise of judgment) be followed, the system be- 
 comes comparatively simple. Sahagun, Leon y Gama, Hum- 
 boldt, Veytia, Galatin, McCulloch, Miiller, Bancroft, Chavero, 
 and Prof. Valentini, are the authorities to whom we refer the 
 reader. 3 
 
 1 See Lancia, Relation, pp. 313, 400-412 ; Stephens, Yucatan, Perez, vol. i, 
 pp. 441-447, MS. cited in vol. ii, pp. 465-469 ; Bancroft, Native Races, vol. ii, 
 pp. 762-765 ; M. Delaporte, Le Calendrier Yucateque, MS. cited by Rosny, 
 Essai sur le dechiffrement de L'Ecriture Hieratique, p. 25. 
 
 2 Perez in Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i, p. 447. 
 
 3 Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, i, lib. ii, pp. 49-76 ; lib. iv, pp. 282-310, gives 
 a partial though very satisfactory account. Leon y Gaina, Dos Piedras, 
 is critical and learned, but often incorrect. Humboldt, Vues, furnishes an 
 elaborate account, which is very valuable though complicated. Veytia's ex- 
 planation is the result of thorough research, Hist. Ant. Mej., torn. i. Gallatin 
 is extremely clear and reliable in Amer. Ethno. Soc. Transactions, vol. i. 
 McCulloch's Researches in Amer., pp. 201-25. Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, 
 pp. 502-22, furnishes us an account, clear and full, as are all of his discus- 
 sions. Several cuts enhance the value of the chapter. We especially refer the 
 reader to his rich bibliography of the subject, appended in notes. A number 
 of additional authors are before us: Ixtlilxochitl, Muller, Herrera, Clavigero, 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Boturini, Prichard, but last and best is the ingenious 
 and masterly Vortrag uber den MexicaniscJien Calender-stein gehalten wn Prof. 
 
446 
 
 THE AZTEC YEAR. 
 
 The Mexican Calendar contains divisions as follows : The 
 age, called hueliuetiliztli, embraced two cycles of fifty-two years 
 each, thus equalizing one hundred and four years. The cycle 
 of fifty-two years was named xiulimolpilli, xiuhmolpia, and 
 xiulitlalpilli, signifying the " binding up of the years " and con- 
 sisted of four periods of thirteen years each. These periods or 
 indictions were called "knots," while the single years were 
 called xihuitl or " new grass/' because anciently, before the in- 
 vention of the calendar, the Nahuas were only able to distinguish 
 the revolution of the years by the annual appearance of fresh 
 vegetation and new grass. The age was but little used, the 
 cycle being the common measure for long periods. The years in 
 a given cycle were designated as among the Mayas, by means 
 of the consecutive rotation of four signs, each accompanied 
 with a numeral. The signs were tocMi, " rabbit " ; acatl, " cane " ; 
 tecpatl, "flint," and caUi, "house." The following table illus- 
 trates the rotation occurring in one cycle : 
 
 IST TLALPILLI. 
 
 SD TLALPILLI. 
 
 3n TLALPILLI. 
 
 4-TH TLALPILLI. 
 
 Names of Tears. 
 
 Names of 
 Years 
 Trans ated. 
 
 Names of Years. 
 
 Names of 
 Years 
 Translated. 
 
 Name* of Years. 
 
 Names r>f 
 Ytars 
 Translated. 
 
 Names of Years. 
 
 *r/ 
 
 Translated, 
 
 Ce Tochtli . . . 
 
 1. Rabbit. 
 
 Ce Acatl .... 
 
 1. Cane. 
 
 Ce Tecpatl . . . 
 
 1. Flint. 
 
 Ce Calli .... 
 
 1. House. 
 
 Ome Acatl . . . 
 
 2. Cane. 
 
 Ome Tecpatl . . 
 
 2. Flint. 
 
 Ome Calli. . . . 
 
 2. House. 
 
 Ome Tochtli . . 
 
 2. Rabbit- 
 
 Yey Tecpatl . . 
 
 3. Flint. 
 
 Yey Calli. . . . 
 
 3. House. 
 
 Yey Tochtli . . 
 
 3. Rabbit. 
 
 Yey Acatl . . . 
 
 3. Cane, i 
 
 Nahui Calli. . . 
 
 4. House. 
 
 Nahui Tochtli . 
 
 4. Rabbit. 
 
 Nahui Acatl . . 
 
 4. Cane. 
 
 Nahui Tecpatl . 
 
 4. Flint. 
 
 Macuilli ) 
 Tochtli f ' ' ' 
 
 5. Rabbit. 
 
 Macuilli ) 
 Acatl } ' ' ' 
 
 6. Cane. 
 
 Macuilli j 
 Tecpatl j ' ' 
 
 5. Flint. 
 
 Macuilli I 
 Calli j ' ' ' 
 
 5. House. 
 
 Chicoace j 
 Acatl f ' ' 
 
 6. Cane. 
 
 Chicoace ^ 
 Tecpatl f * V 
 
 6. Flint. 
 
 CUcoace ) 
 Calli J ' ' 
 
 6. House. 
 
 Chicoace | 
 Tochtli f ' ' 
 
 6. Rabbit. 
 
 Chicome [ 
 Tecpatl f ' ' 
 
 7. Flint. 
 
 Chicome ) 
 Calli f ' ' ' 
 
 7. House. 
 
 Chicome | 
 Tochtli f ' ' 
 
 7. Rabbit. 
 
 Chicome ) 
 Acatl ) ' ' 
 
 7. Cane. 
 
 Chico y Calli . 
 
 8. House. 
 
 Chico y Tochtli. 
 
 8. Rabbit. 
 
 Chico y Acatl . 
 
 8. Cane. 
 
 Chico y Tecpatl 
 
 8. Flint. 
 
 Chico Nahui 
 Tochtli J 
 
 9. Rabbit. 
 
 Chico Nahui j 
 Acatl. f 
 
 9. Cane. 
 
 Chico Nahui ) 
 Tecpatl f 
 
 9. Flint. 
 
 Chico Nahui j 
 Calli ) 
 
 9. House. 
 
 Matlactli ) 
 Acatl )' ' 
 
 10. Cane. 
 
 Matlactli j 
 Tecpatl f" 
 
 10. Flint. 
 
 Matlactli j 
 Calli f ' ' 
 
 10. House. 
 
 Matlactli ^ 
 Tochtli ) ' ' 
 
 10. Rabbit. 
 
 Matlactli occe ) 
 Tecpatl j 
 
 11. Flint. 
 
 Matlactli occe ) 
 Calli f 
 
 11. House. 
 
 Matlactli occe 1 
 Tochtli j 
 
 11. Rabbit. 
 
 Matlactli occe ) 
 Acatl f 
 
 11. Cane. 
 
 Matlactli om- ) 
 ome Calli f 
 
 12. House. 
 
 Matlactli om- | 
 ome Tochtli j 
 
 12. Rabbit. 
 
 Matlactli om- | 
 ome Acatl. j 
 
 12. Cane. 
 
 Matlactli om- ) 
 ome Tecpatl j 
 
 12. Flint. 
 
 Matlactli om- | 
 ey Tochtli J 
 
 13. Rabbit. 
 
 Matlactli om- ) 
 ey Acatl f 
 
 13. Cane. 
 
 Matlactli om- 1 
 ey Tecpatl f 
 
 13. Flint. 
 
 Matlactli om- ) 
 ey Calli } 
 
 13. House. 
 
 Ph. Valentini, am 30 April, 1878 (in Republican Hall, New York), vor dem 
 Deutsch ges. wissensctiaftlichen Verein, 32 pp. 8vo, recently translated and pub- 
 lished by Stephen Salisbury, Jr. 
 
THE AZTEC YEAR. 447 
 
 As in the Maya rotation of years no confusion could occur, so 
 with the Mexican, as the same combination could be made only 
 once in fifty-two years. The cycles themselves were distinguished 
 by numbers. Confusion is liable to arise in studying the early 
 writers, since the Toltecs and Aztecs began their reckoning on 
 different signs, the former on Tecpatl, and the latter on Tochtli. 
 The year consisted of eighteen months of twenty days each, to 
 which were added five days called nemontemi or " unlucky days/' 
 Every superstition seemed to centre in the nemontemi, for no 
 business of importance nor enterprise of the most insignificant 
 character would be undertaken upon these days. Both the 
 names of the months and the particular month which served to 
 begin the year, as well as the date of the first day of the year, 
 have been fruitful subjects of controversy between authors. 
 Mr. Bancroft has tabulated the names given by twenty-one 
 writers, and shown the disagreements existing between them. 1 
 The dates for the first day of the year range between the ninth 
 of January and the tenth of April. Gama, Humboldt and 
 Grallatin, by careful calculations, have shown that the first year 
 of a Nahua cycle commenced on the thirty-first day of Decem- 
 ber, old style, or on the ninth day of January, new style, with 
 the month Titill and the day Cipactli. 2 
 
 The names and order of the months, together with their 
 etymologies, as adopted by Mr. Bancroft, are as follows : 
 1. Titill, meaning "our mother," according to Boturini, or 
 " fire/' according to Cabrera ; 2. Itzcalli, translated " regenera- 
 tion" by Boturini, "skill" by the Codex Yaticanus, and the 
 " sprouting of the grass " by Veytia ; 3. Atlcahualco, meaning 
 the " abating of the waters." Another name (Quahuillehua) 
 applied to this month signified "burning of the mountains," 
 referring to the forests ; 4. Tlacaxipehualiztli, is translated 
 "the flaying of the people." Another name applied to this 
 month, Cohuailhuitl, means the "feast of the snake"; 5. Toz- 
 oztontli is rendered " small fast " or " penance "; 6. Hueytozoztli, 
 
 1 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, p. 508. 
 
 2 Mr. Bancroft also follows the opinion that the above date is the correct 
 one. Native Races, vol. ii, p. 515. 
 
448 AZTEC WEEKS DAYS. 
 
 means "great fast" or "penance"; 7. Toxcatl, a "necklace"; 
 8. Etzalqualiztli, "bean stew" or "'maize gruel"; 9. Tecuillm- 
 itzintli, "small feast of the Lord"; 10. Hueytecuilhuitl, "great 
 feast of the Lord"; 11. Miccailhuitzintli, translated "small 
 feast of the dead"; 12. Hueymiceailhuitl, "great feast of the 
 dead"; 13. Ochpaniztli, "cleaning of the streets"; 14. Teo- 
 tleco, " arrival of the gods." The names Pachtli, " moss 
 hanging from trees," and Pachtontli, " humiliation," were often 
 applied to this month ; 15. Hueypachtli, " great feast of 
 humiliation," sometimes called Tepeilhuitl, " feast of the moun- 
 tains"; 16. Quecholli, "peacock"; 17. Panquetzaliztli, "the 
 raising of flags and banners"; 18. Atemoztli, means the "dry- 
 ing up of the waters." 
 
 The month, consisting of twenty days, was divided into four 
 weeks of five days each. Mr. Bancroft states that each of the 
 weeks began with one of the four signs Tochtli, Calli, Tecpatl 
 or Acatl, used to designate the years ; but his own engraving of 
 the Aztec month, and the order of the days on the Calendar- 
 Stone, contradict this statement. 1 The following are the days 
 in their proper order, with their translations affixed : 1. Cipactli, 
 " sea-animal," " sword-fish," or " serpent with harpoons." 
 2. Ehacatl, "wind." 3. Calli, "house." 4. Cuetzpalin, "lizard." 
 5. Coatl, "snake." 6. Miquiztli, "death." 7. Mazatl, "deer." 
 8. Tochtli, "rabbit." 9. Atl, "water." 10. Itzcuintli, " dog." 
 11. Ozomatli, " monkey." 12. Mollinalli, " brushwood " or " tan- 
 gled grass." 13. Acatl, "cane." 14. Ocelotl, "tiger." 15. Quanhtli, 
 "eagle." 16. Cozcaquauhtli, "vulture." 17. Ollin, "move- 
 ment." 18. Tecpatl, "flint." 19. Quahuitl, "rain." 20. Xo- 
 chitl, "flower." 
 
 The day was divided into sixteen hours. 2 Sahagun and 
 several authors state, that the loss of six hours in each Aztec 
 year was counterbalanced by the addition of a day every four 
 years. Gama demonstrates this to be a mistake, and states that 
 they added twelve and a half days at the close of every cycle of 
 
 1 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. ii, p. 512. 
 
 2 Prof. Valentin! , Vortrag, p. 16. 
 
DIVISIONS OF THE RITUAL YEAR. 449 
 
 fifty-two years. Mr. Bancroft cites this fact, and states the time 
 added to have been thirteen days. 1 
 
 The Nahuas had also a ritual calendar, for the purpose of 
 reckoning their religious feasts, which was altogether different 
 from the civil system, except that it employed the twenty days, 
 the year of 365 days, and at the end of a cycle added the thirteen 
 days to compensate for the time lost during that period. 2 The 
 year consisted of two parts, the first composed of twenty weeks 
 of thirteen days each (for there were no months in the ritual 
 year) making 260 altogether. This portion of the year was 
 called Meztli pokuctUi or the "lunar computation," from the fact 
 that half of the time during which the moon is visible is thirteen 
 days. The smaller part, composed of 105 days reckoned by a 
 continuation of the periods of thirteen days, was called Toual- 
 pohuaUi or " solar computation." 3 The days were numbered 
 from one up to thirteen, the fourteenth day of the first solar 
 month being counted the first of another lunar week, and thus 
 the reckoning continued. However, it will be observed that the 
 same number would fall twice on one name in the course of a 
 year ; accordingly accompanying signs were provided for the 
 regular names of days. The duplication could not occur if the 
 second division embraced 104 days instead of 105. 
 
 The distinguishing signs were nine in number, called quccliolli, 
 "lords of the night." They were as follows: Tletl, "fire"; 
 Tecpatl, "flint"; Xochitl, "flower"; Centeotl, "goddess of 
 maize"; Miquiztli, "death"; Atl, "water"; Tlazolteotl, "god- 
 <dess of love"; Tepeyollotli, "a mountain deity"; Quiahuitl, 
 " rain," the god Tlaloc. The lords of the night, though reck- 
 oned from the first of the year, were not mentioned except in 
 connection with the 105 days of the second division. 
 
 The reader will more clearly understand the relation of the 
 
 1 Native, Races, vol. ii, p. 513. 
 
 2 Mr. Bancroft incorrectly states that thirteen days were intercalated at the 
 end of each tlalpilli (13 years). It is plain that if 365 days constitute a year, 
 the lost time would not amount to thirteen days before fifty-two years. 
 
 3 Prof. Valentini quotes the terms given above, and Mr. Bancroft states that 
 the same process of computation was pursued in both divisions. 
 
 29 
 
450 MEXICAN CALENDAR STONE. 
 
 two systems to each other by constructing a table of four paral- 
 lel columns. In the left-hand column place the months of one 
 year, numbering the days of each month in order, but beginning 
 on the ninth day of January. In the second column place the 
 names of the Mexican months, numbering the days of each month 
 from one to twenty in regular order. In the third column place 
 the names of the Mexican days, twenty in number, repeating 
 them in their regular rotation throughout the year, but in addi- 
 tion prefix to the names such numerals as will fall opposite to 
 each in the process of dividing them off into thirteens. These 
 divisions into thirteens represent the ritual weeks. Acatl being 
 the 13th day of the month will end the first week of the year, 
 and Ocelotl being the 14th day of the month will constitute the 
 1st day of the second week. In the fourth column place the 
 nine signs of the "lords of the night" in regular order. Divide 
 the year into periods of nines, and it will be found that the 
 same combination of days of the month (twenty days), of days 
 of the week (thirteen days), and the "lords of the night/ 7 will 
 not recur for a considerable period. 
 
 The most remarkable embodiment of this complex system is 
 found in the symbols and concentric zones graven upon the face 
 of the Calendar Stone, described in the last chapter. The inter- 
 pretation of its mysterious disk was partly accomplished by the 
 learned antiquarian Leon y Garna ; Gallatin, and after him Ban- 
 croft presented those investigations to the public. In 1875 
 (Nov.), Don Alfredo Chevero, of the Liceo Hidalgo of Mexico, 
 published his Calendario Azteca, in which it was shown that many 
 of Grama's interpretations would have to be abandoned. It was 
 proven that the " Calendar Stone " was a sun-disk or stone of 
 sacrifice, and that Gam a had pursued his investigations with a 
 mistaken view of its character. Chevero's account of the history 
 of the stone is full and satisfactory, Duran being the authority 
 cited. An interpretation of some of the concentric zones, two 
 in particular, is attempted with a result somewhat different 
 from that obtained by any other investigator. Kecently, Prof. 
 Ph. Yalentini, by the light of his extensive researches into Nahua 
 literature, has compelled the sun-disk to give up its secrets. The 
 
MEXICAN CALENDAR STONE. 
 
 451 
 
 THE MEXICAN CALENDAR STONE. 
 
452 HISTORY OF THE STONE. 
 
 illustration on the preceding page is a reproduction of a pen-and- 
 ink drawing made by the Professor from the most recent and 
 correct photograph which has been made of the Calendar Stone. 
 It was kindly furnished for this work. The same conclusion 
 concerning the character of the stone was reached independently 
 by both Chevero and Valentini. The latter's account of the 
 stone and its history is drawn from Tezozomoc, and though 
 agreeing in the main facts with Duran's account as rendered by 
 Chevero, bears the evidence upon its face of independent re- 
 search. 1 The originality of Prof. Valentini is vindicated in his 
 masterly interpretation of all the zones of the Calendar Stone. 
 Whether the interpretation will ever give way to some other is a 
 question of the future, though it is probable that it will not. 
 
 We are indebted to Professor Yalentini for a communication 
 on the History of the Calendar Stone, condensed from his unpub- 
 lished MS. Description and Interpretation of the Mexican Cal- 
 endar Stone. An extract from the communication is as follows : 
 "King Axayacatl of Mexico, 1466-1480, the builder of the 
 large pyramid, at the approach of the last year of the national 
 cycle (1479), ordered the altar standing on the platform of the 
 pyramid to be covered with a stone disk, the surface of which 
 was to be sculptured with the image of the Sun-god, and, as the 
 text says, ' to be surrounded by all the national deities ' (see 
 Alvaro de Tezozomoc, 1598, Chronica Mexicana, Ternaux-Com- 
 pans, vol. i, chap, xlvii, pp. 249 et seq.). A large slab, carried for 
 the purpose from the quarries of Cuyoacan, when rolled over the 
 bridge of Xoloc, crushed this structure, fell to the bottom of the 
 lake and remained there. Another slab was broken and a new 
 bridge built, and 50,000 Indians succeeded in transporting the 
 slab to the foot of the pyramid, where the sculptor accomplished 
 his task to the satisfaction of the king. The cyclical festival of 
 the sun (1479) was celebrated, and on the disk which now had 
 been inserted into the surface of the sacrificial altar, thousands of 
 captives were slaughtered. The king is said to have overworked 
 
 1 See The Nation for Aug. 8, 1878, p. 84, and for Sept. 19, 1878. Also Mr. 
 Salisbury's translation of Valentini's Vortrag, Worcester, 1879. 
 
INTERPRETATION OF THE DISK, 453 
 
 himself, slaying one hundred of the victims, and feasting upon 
 their flesh and blood that very soon after he died in conse- 
 quence of these exertions. In the year 1512, Montezuma IT, 
 for reasons unknown, expressed the wish to replace the altar 
 cover, which his father had consecrated, by a new and still 
 larger one. The people, horrified and out of patience with the 
 bloody proceedings connected with these consecration festivals 
 of sacrificial disks, contrived to let the slab, brought expressly 
 for the purpose, fall into the lake again, pretending as an excuse, 
 that the stone had spoken and said that it was to go back to the 
 quarry. Montezuma, superstitious as he was, took the accident 
 for a bad augury, desisted from his plan, and left the stone in its 
 place. We may thus infer that it was OUT disk on which, in the 
 year 1520, those Spaniards of Cortes' troops which were made 
 captives had been immolated, and the screams and cries of whom 
 reached the ears of their comrades, and as Bernal Diaz narrates, 
 ' filled their hearts with the most awful forebodings/ Cortez 
 demolished the pyramid, and with its debris filled the canals of 
 the city. The disk was preserved, for we know from Duran, 
 who wrote a Historia de la N. Espana, 1588, that he and many 
 of his fellow-citizens had often been standing before this disk 
 admiring it, until the Archbishop Montufar, scandalized by the 
 existence of such a barbarous relic, caused it to be buried in the 
 immediate neighborhood of the Metropolitan cathedral in the 
 year 1551. This procedure was forgotten ; so much so, that 
 when this disk was disinterred in the year 1790, even Gama the 
 archaeologist and its later interpreter, had not the remotest idea 
 what purpose it could have served, for the manuscript chronicles 
 of Duran and Tezozomoc still slumbered in the dust of the 
 archives. The viceroy, Eeviellagigedo, ordered the disk to be 
 fitted into the outer wall of one of the towers of the cathedral. 
 There it is to this day." 
 
 We now ask your attention to the stone itself. The central 
 circle contains the face of the Sun-god bedecked with ornaments, 
 earrings, and jeweled lip. In the next zone we observe four large 
 parallelograms containing hieroglyphic signs : Nahui Ocelotl, 
 Nahui Ehecatl, Nahui Quahuitl and Nahui All. Between the 
 
 
454 INTERPRETATION OF THE DISK. 
 
 upper and lower enclosures on both sides of the central disk are 
 circular figures containing hieroglyphics resembling claws, said 
 to represent two ancient astrologers, man and wife, who, according 
 to the early writers, invented the calendar. These four signs are 
 identical with the days on which, according to the traditions, the 
 world was destroyed at four different times. These destructions 
 mark four ages represented by the signs of the day on which 
 they occurred. These ages were also called suns. The first 
 destruction occurred in Ce Acatl, and is represented by the sign 
 Nahui Ocelotl, or 4 Tigre, seen in the upper right-hand tablet. 
 The small figure above and towards the left is the sign for 
 1. Tecpatl, a feast-day kept by the Aztecs in memory of the first 
 destruction. The second tablet bears the symbol for Ehecatl or 
 Wind, in memory of the destruction of the world by hurricane, 
 which occurred in the year Ce Tecpatl or Nahui (4) Ehecatl. 
 Between the tablet and the triangular figure to the right is a 
 sculpture in which a broken wall with towers appears. The 
 sign 1. Calli is associated with it, indicating a ritualistic feast- 
 day kept on that sign. The third tablet bears the symbol of 
 the rain-god Tlaloc, in memory of the destruction of the world 
 from frequent rains. The last tablet represents the fourth 
 destruction by a flood on Nahui Atl in the year Ce Calli. 
 
 The faces of Cox Cox, the Mexican Noah, and his wife are 
 delineated in the picture. The symbol for water is seen imme- 
 diately below the faces. Between the two lower tablets, two 
 small quadrilateral enclosures will be observed, each containing 
 five round points, supposed to mean 10 Ollin (the sun being 
 called ollin tonatiuh). Below the lower tablets and almost in 
 contact with the next concentric circle are the hieroglyphics 
 1. Quiahuitl and 2. Ozomatli. The first, namely 10 Ollin, cor- 
 responds with our twenty-second of September in the first year 
 of a cycle, and its hieroglyphic on this astronomical disk repre- 
 sents the autumnal equinox. At the extreme top of the Calendar 
 Stone is a central figure, well known to be the hieroglyphic for 
 13 Acatl. This fact known, the interpretation of the two 
 remaining symbols is easy. In the year 13 Acatl, the day 
 1. Quiahuitl would correspond to our twenty-second of March, 
 
ASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE AZTECS. 455 
 
 and represent the vernal equinox. In the same year 2. Ozomatli 
 would correspond with our twenty-second of June, or summer 
 solstice. Thus it is that the stone speaks and testifies to the 
 astronomical knowledge of the Aztecs, the accuracy of which 
 casts into the shade the imperfect Julian Calendar in use by 
 Europeans at the time of the conquest. In the next zone, encir- 
 cling that which contains the tablets of the cosrnological ages, are 
 twenty enclosures, containing the symbols of the twenty days. 
 The triangular pointer which extends upwards from the crest of 
 the sun-face indicates the dividing line between the first and 
 last days of the month. Cipactli, whose hieroglyphic stands 
 at the left of the pointer is unquestionably distinguished as the 
 first day of the month. The second symbol to the left is that of 
 the second day Ehecatl, wind, the third Calli, house, the fourth 
 Cuetzpalin, lizard, the fifth snake, and so on to the end of the 
 list. In the next zone we find a succession of small squares, each 
 enclosing five round points. The circle is divided into four parts 
 by four large triangular pointers or gnomens. In each division 
 of the zone are ten squares containing five points each, or in the 
 four, we have 200 points. Garna states that the space for sixty 
 additional points is occupied by the feet or curves of the large 
 indices. By experiment it is found that the mean of the space 
 occupied by the feet of the pointers is equal to the width of 
 one and a half of the square enclosures. Eight times this space 
 gives us twelve squares with sixty points. Thus we have the 
 ritualistic division or lunar reckoning (Metzli pohualli) of 260 
 days. In the next zone the symbols of the remaining 105 days 
 or solar reckoning of the ritualistic year is found. Eight pointers 
 divide the circle ; the six upper divisions of which contain each 
 ten figures resembling a grain of maize, while the two lower 
 divisions have but five figures in each. This gives us seventy 
 figures. Under each limb of the pointers is space for one and a 
 half of the figures, giving twenty-four more or ninety-four in all. 
 The space of ten additional figures is occupied by the helm- 
 plumes of the heads which are figured at the lower margin of the 
 stone. This gives us 104 figures, or one less than the required 
 number. It will be remembered that the five intercalary days 
 
456 FESTIVAL OF THE MEXICAN CYCLE. 
 
 called the nemontemi, or unlucky clays, though reckoned in regu- 
 lar order at the close of each year, were considered separate and 
 apart from it. The artist who executed the Calendar Stone has 
 carried out this custom in placing the figures of the nemontemi 
 between the tablets of the two last destructions of nature, where 
 they will be found by themselves. It will be observed that four 
 of the signs correspond to those wanting under the lower pointer 
 and the adjacent plumes, with this further departure from the 
 general plan of the design, that the central figure or maize grain 
 corresponds to the space between the limbs of the great pointer 
 below. Here, then, we have the missing symbol, and are able to 
 find the 105 hieroglyphics of days for the lesser division of the 
 year. The two zones consequently represent the complete year 
 of 365 days. 
 
 The most conspicuous of the remaining zones is the outer, 
 and last of all. The attention is asked to one of the twenty- 
 four quadrangular figures composing it. The Mexican Codices 
 in the Kingsborough collection furnish similar symbols for the 
 cycle of 52 years. 1 The ancient Mexicans had a superstition 
 that in the last night of the 52d year of their cycle the sun would 
 destroy the world. Consequently, at every recurrence of the 
 eventful night, all fires were extinguished, the people clothed 
 themselves in mourning, and forming a long procession, repaired 
 to a neighboring mountain, where at midnight a priest sacrificed 
 a man in their presence. A second priest placed a round block 
 of dry wood over the ghastly wound from which the heart had 
 
 1 Prof. Valentin! cites Codex Vaticanus, pi. 91, Codex Boturini, pi. 10, Codex 
 Tetteriamts, pi. 6 and 8. The Professor in making the comparison, remarks : 
 " Auf beiden senkt sich ein Schaft in ein rundes Loch, von welchem aus sicli 
 etwas volutenabnliches hervorwindet. Wir gewahren auf den gemalten Bil- 
 dern, dass jede der Voluten in 2 Halften getheilt ist, die eine grau die andere 
 roth gemalt. Dieselbe Abtheilung finden wir auch auf der Sculptur. Was 
 dieses Symbol bedeute, wird uns aus der Beobachtung klar, dass wir es in den 
 gemalten Jahrestafeln immer nur dann wiederkehrend finden, sobald 52 Jahre 
 verflossen sind. Wir sehen es immer gerade an das Symbol dieses 52ten Jahres 
 aiigehangt, an einer Stelle, in Cod. Tell. IV, PI. 8. 1. Kingsb. Coll., vol. i, es 
 erscheint auch mit einem erklarenden Texte. Er lautet : "Dieses ist das Zeichen 
 fur die Zusammeribindung der 53 Jahre" Vortraj, pp. 23. 24. 
 
THE SERPENT ZONE. 457 
 
 been torn ; while a third, kneeling over the corpse, rested a hard 
 shaft or stick upon the block, revolving it between his two hands 
 with pressure until the friction produced fire. This was con- 
 sidered a promise from the god that the destruction of the world 
 would be postponed until another cycle had elapsed. 1 A mo- 
 ment's observation will disclose the fire symbol in the hiero- 
 glyphics for the cycle as delineated on the stone ; the perpen- 
 dicular shaft with handles, surrounded by flames and smoke, 
 rising from a hole below. In the same zone, above, we have two 
 groups of pleats or bow-like figures, which are clearly proven to 
 be the symbol for the binding of two 52-year cycles into an age. 2 
 
 The zone immediately within the one we have been consider- 
 ing, contains the symbols of the rain-god Tlaloc. No writer has 
 as yet given a satisfactory explanation of the plumed head at 
 the bottom of the stone. It will be readily seen that the two 
 serpent heads, plumed, and with extended jaws, armed above 
 and below with great fangs, enclose two human faces. These 
 are but the heads of the serpents whose bodies constitute the 
 outer zone of the disk and terminate in the triangular points 
 above. 
 
 If the reader will but turn to our cut of the serpent temple 
 at Uxrnal (p. 394), the same symbol of Cukulcan or Quetzal- 
 coatl, the feathered serpent, will be seen. Dr. Le Plongeon, in 
 his recent researches, is convinced that Uxmal was built, or more 
 properly rebuilt, by Nahua invaders, who afterwards became 
 amalgamated with the Mayas. 3 Most of the Mexican historians 
 represent Quetzalcoatl as the founder of the Nahua civilization. 
 Torquemada states that he was their leader when they first 
 arrived in Mexico. 4 If the "Feathered Serpent" was the founder 
 
 1 Prof. Valentin!, Vortrag, pp. 24, 25, cites Codex Selden, pi. 10, Codex 
 Laud, pi. 8, and Codex Veletri, fol. 34. 
 
 2 Prof. Valentini cites a Codex from the Squier collection, where the symbol 
 occurs accompanied with the word Molpiynxiliuitl, which translated means " the 
 binding of the years." He also cites Codex Boturini, pi. 10, Kingsborough 
 Collection. Vortrag, pp. 25, 26. 
 
 3 Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, by Stephen Salisbury, Jr., p. 83. Worces- 
 ter, 1877. 
 
 4 Monarq. Ind,, torn, i, pp. 254 et seq. 
 
458 BATE OF THE CALENDAR STONE. 
 
 of their institutions, it was not inappropriate for the Aztec 
 artist to place the hero's face at the bottom of the stone, and 
 represent the symbols of the cycles as huge scales upon his body, 
 since the influence of the civilization which he established had 
 been felt throughout their entire history. To return to Prof. 
 Valentines investigations, it will be observed that there are 
 twenty-four of the cycle symbols, two of which are nearly hidden 
 under the helm-plumes. The product of 24 and 52 gives us a 
 period of 1248 years. But what have we to do with this result ? 
 The triangular-shaped figures which point to the central tablet 
 cut at the top of the stone, indicate that we must make a calcula- 
 tion, and it remains for us to interpret that symbol. It is recog- 
 nizable as the sign Acatl accompanied by the number thirteen ; 
 a year which, according to the authentic tables of reduction, 
 corresponds to the year 1479 A. D. ; a date .which is confirmed as 
 being the year in which the Calendar Stone was finished and set 
 up in the great pyramid of Mexico by the statement of the native 
 writer Tezozomoc, that its author, King Axayacatl, became ill 
 from his exertions at the tragic celebrations of the completion 
 of the temple and lived scarcely a year, at the same time fixing 
 the date of his death in 1480. If we subtract 1248 years from 
 the known date 1479 A. D., we have the year 231 A. D.; a date 
 which no doubt marks the beginning of the national era of the 
 Nahuas, and probably designates the year of their arrival in 
 Mexico by the ports of Tampico, Xicalanco and Bacalar. Thus 
 it is that the uncertainty of the traditions relating to the obscure 
 events of early Nahua history is removed, and we are enabled to 
 settle upon the third century of our era as the period when the 
 great migration took place. We will say more than Professor 
 Valentini or his predecessor ; we believe this to be the date of 
 the migration from Hue hue Tlapalan, the country of the Mound- 
 builders of the Mississippi valley, and we further think we are 
 sustained in this view both by the early writers and by the con- 
 dition of the mounds and shell-heaps of the United States. At 
 first thought, it would seem that the year 231 might be the 
 date in which the astrologers assembled in Hue hue Tlapalan 
 for the correction of the calendar (a fact to which we have pre- 
 
ANALOGIES WITH THE NAHUA CALENDAR. 459 
 
 viously referred), but it is distinctly stated that the assembly- 
 convened in the year 1 Tecpatl ; a date which, according to the 
 received reduction tables, corresponds to the year 29 B. c. 
 
 Humboldt by an elaborate discussion has satisfactorily shown 
 the relative likeness of the Nahua Calendar to that of Asia. 
 He cites the fact that the Chinese, Japanese, Calmouks, Mongols, 
 Mantchoux and other hordes of Tartars have cycles of sixty 
 years duration, divided into five brief periods of twelve years 
 each. The method of citing a date by means of signs and num- 
 bers is quite similar with Asiatics and Mexicans. 1 He further 
 shows satisfactorily that the majority of the names of the twenty 
 days employed by the Aztecs are those of a zodiac used since the 
 most remote antiquity among the peoples of Eastern Asia. 2 Ca- 
 brera thinks he finds analogies between the Mexican and Egyp- 
 tian calendars. Adopting the view of several writers (Acosta, 
 Clavigero and others) that the Mexican year began on the 
 26th of February, he finds the date to correspond to the begin- 
 ning of the Egyptian year. He also observes that both peoples 
 intercalated five days at the close of their year. 3 M. Jomard, 
 quoted by Delafield, denies that the Egyptians intercalated, but 
 believes sufficient analogies exist to prove a common origin for 
 the Theban and Mexican calendars ; 4 his argument, however, is 
 worthless, as are many others of a similar character. 
 
 Religious Analogies. In contrast with the obscure subject 
 of the calendar requiring such close attention, we present to the 
 reader a few of the analogies supposed to exist between Mexican 
 and other religious systems. The majority of our references will 
 be made more with a view to satisfying curiosity than for the 
 establishment of a theory. Argument from analogy is at best 
 unscientific it proves nothing. It is a matter of surprise how 
 much has been written to establish the theory that the Mexicans 
 
 1 Humboldt, Vues, pp. 148 et seq. (Ed. 1810.) 
 
 '-' Vu.es, p. 152. On page 150 he furnishes tables of comparison which show 
 unmistakably the analogy between the Mexican Calendar and that of the people 
 of Eastern Asia. 
 
 3 Cabrera, Teatro in Rio' 8 Description, pp. 103-5. 
 
 4 DelaSeld's American Antiquities, pp. 52-3. 
 
460 DELUGE ANALOGIES. 
 
 were descendants of the Jews both in race and religion. Mr. 
 Bancroft has collected many of Lord Kingsborough's arguments 
 in proof of the theory to which he devoted his fortune and 
 sacrificed his life. We have done a similar work with a some- 
 what different arrangement, and call the attention of the reader 
 to some of the fanciful and we must add mirth-provoking anal- 
 ogies to which the great Americanist attached so much impor- 
 tance. " The Mexicans spoke of their god as the invisible and 
 incorporeal Unity, and they furthermore believed man to be 
 created in his image." 1 He states further that the doctrine of 
 the trinity was also held by them. 2 He considers that Eden 
 and the temptation were portrayed by the American artists." 
 "The Toltecs had paintings of a garden with a single tree 
 standing in the midst, one especially drawn on coarse paper of 
 the Aloe, round the root of which' tree is entwined a serpent, 
 whose head appearing above the foliage displays the features 
 and countenance of a woman. * * * Torquemada admits the 
 existence of this tradition amongst them, and agrees with the 
 Indian historians who affirm this was the first woman in the 
 world who had children, and from whom all mankind are de- 
 scended." 3 
 
 Lord Kingsborough is no doubt warranted in holding that 
 the Nahuas were of old world origin at a very remote period 
 prior to their having developed any special tribal characteristics, 
 because of their singular and we think certain knowledge of the 
 Mosaic deluge ; but he is not justified in claiming for them any 
 particular relationship to the Jewish or any Shemitic people. 4 
 
 1 Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi, pp. 174, 182. 
 
 2 Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi, p. 163. 
 
 3 Mexican Antiquities, vol. viii, p. 19. 
 
 4 " It is impossible on reading what Mexican mythology records of the war 
 in heaven, and of the fall of Zoutemoque and the other rebellious spirits ; of the 
 creation of light by the word Touacatecutli, and of the division of the waters ; 
 of the sin of Yztlacohuhqui, and his blindness and nakedness ; of the tempta- 
 tion of Suchiquecal and her disobedience in gathering roses from a tree, and 
 the consequent misery and disgrace of herself and all her posterity not to 
 recognize scriptural analogies. But the Mexican tradition of the deluge is that 
 which baars the most unequivocal marks of having been derived from a Hebrew 
 
PARALLELS IN JEWISH AND MEXICAN HISTORY. 461 
 
 In a preceding chapter we have given the deluge tradition 
 from Ixtlilxochitl, who states that the waters rose fifteen cubits 
 (caxtolmoletltli) above the highest mountains, and that a few 
 escaped in a close chest (toptlipetlacali), and after men had mul- 
 tiplied, they erected a very high zacuali or tower, in order to take 
 refuge in it should the world be again destroyed. He further 
 states that then their speech was confused, so that they could 
 not understand each other, and that they dispersed to different 
 parts of the earth. 1 Whether the native historian of Tezcuco 
 who gives us this account, so remarkable for its similarity to the 
 Mosaic, was influenced by Spanish priests and warped from the 
 truth, we are not prepared to affirm at this distant day, since 
 such an assumption would strike the very keystone from the 
 arch upon which all historical evidence rests. Much of the 
 aversion to the view that the Mexican deluge legends are authen- 
 tic and of old world origin, has been generated by the unscientific 
 and presumptuous style of most of its advocates. Lord Kings- 
 borough himself is ever ready to catch at a straw, and out of 
 customs the most remote to evolve an analogy. Nevertheless, we 
 are not at liberty to reject the Mexican deluge legend as a fable 
 without assuming the burden of proof. 2 Remarkable parallels (?) 
 in the history of both Jews and Mexicans are thought to be dis- 
 covered by the sanguine Kingsborough. Of a number, two or 
 three specimens will suffice. Hue hue Tlapalan is claimed to 
 have been situated on the Californian coast since the Gulf of 
 California until a late period was called the red river or gulf, a 
 
 source. This tradition records that a few persons escaped in the Ahuehuete, 
 or ark of fir, when the earth was swallowed up by the deluge, the chief of 
 whom was named Patecatle or Cipaquetona ; that he invented the art of making 
 wine ; that Xelua, one of his descendants, at least one of those who escaped 
 with him in the ark, was present at the building of a high tower, which the 
 succeeding generation constructed with a view of escaping from the deluge 
 should it again occur; that Tonacatecutli, incensed at their presumption, 
 destroyed the tower with lightning, confounded their language and dispersed 
 them ; and that Xelua led a colony to the New World." Mex. Antiq., torn, vi, 
 p. 401. 
 
 1 Ixtlilxochitl's Relaciones in Mex. Ant., vol. ix, and this work, chap. vi. 
 
 2 Sec Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 66, 68. 
 
462 ANALOGIES OF CEREMONIAL LAW. 
 
 name they brought with them." 1 Again : " As the Israelites 
 were conducted from Egypt by Moses and Aaron who were 
 accompanied by their sister Miriam, so the Aztecs departed 
 from Aztlan under the guidance of Huitziton and Tecpalzin, the 
 former of whom is named by Acosta and Herrera, Mixi, attended 
 likewise by their sister Quilaztli, or as she is otherwise named 
 Chimalman or Malinatli, both of which names have some resem- 
 blance to Miriam as Mixi has to Moses." 2 " The destruction of 
 the rebellious Kohra (Gen. xvi) is repeated after the arrival of the 
 Mexicans at Tulan, who, enchanted with the land, were unwill- 
 ing to go further in search of their promised land. They mur- 
 mured at Huitzilopochtli, and suffered a dreadful punishment 
 at his hands that night by the death of every one who had 
 rebelled against his will." 3 
 
 Lord Kingsborough discovers in a Mexican painting in 
 the Bodleian library, a symbol resembling the jaw-bone of an 
 ass, from the side of which water flows forth. This, of course, 
 commemorated the story of Sampson. 4 Among the conspicuous 
 doctrines held by both Jews and Mexicans, we note that the 
 latter believed their children to be the gift of Tezcatlipoca as the 
 former ascribed them to the favor of Jehovah. 3 The doctrine of 
 sin and atonement was held by the Mexicans. Confession and 
 sacrifice of atonement were common, for " half the offerings 
 represented in the Mexican paintings were trespass-offerings, or 
 sacrifices for the commission of sins." G " The Mexicans, like the 
 Jews, were accustomed to do penance by sitting on the ground, 
 in which posture their priests are often represented in the Mexi- 
 can paintings." 7 " The Mexicans were as punctilious about 
 washings and ablutions as the Jews." 8 Baptism was consid- 
 ered the means of regeneration in Yucatan, 9 and was practised 
 by the Mexicans as a religious ceremony. 10 Both peoples had 
 
 1 Hex. Antiq., vol. viii, p. 27. 2 Mex. Antiq., vol. vi, p. 246. 
 
 3 Mex. Antiq., vol. vi, p. 253. 4 Me'x. Antiq., vol. vi, p. 361. 
 
 5 Mex. Antiq., vol. viii, p. 67. 6 Ibid, vol. viii, p. 137. 
 
 7 Ibid, vol. viii, p. 382. 
 
 8 Ibid, vol. viii, p. 238 ; washing of hands after meals, see p. 53, Appendix. 
 
 9 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 414 ; vol. viii, p. 18. 
 
 10 The following is Kingsborough's account of the Mexican baptism : " The 
 
ANALOGIES OF CEREMONIAL LAW. 463 
 
 devils and the leprosy, 1 both considered women who died in 
 child-bed as worthy of honor as soldiers who fall in battle. 2 
 The doctrine of hell, according to the most orthodox theology, 
 was held by the Mexicans. 3 Both Jews and Mexicans believed 
 in the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul. 4 
 The latter people sprinkled the face of a corpse with water as a 
 baptism after death. 5 Numerous analogies are found to exist 
 between the Mosaic and the religious code of the Mexicans, as 
 in profanity, sabbath-keeping, disobedience to parents, the smit- 
 ing of a servant to death, and in the punishment by stoning of 
 persons guilty of fornication and adultery. Kingsborough 
 maintains that circumcision was performed on the eighth day, 
 declaring it to have " prevailed thousands of leagues along the 
 coast of the Atlantic, amongst nations very remote from each 
 other, and who spoke very different languages." 7 Both peoples 
 had a mutual disgust for swine flesh, and refused to eat the 
 
 midwife took the infant in her arms naked, and carried it into the court of the 
 mother's house, in which court were strewed reeds or rushes, which they call 
 Tule, upon which was placed a small vessel of water, in which the said midwife 
 bathed the said infant ; and after she had bathed it, three boys being seated near 
 the said rushes, eating roasted maize mixed with boiled beans, which kind of 
 food they named Yxcue, which provision or paste they set before the said 
 boys, in order that they might eat it. After the said bathing or washing, the 
 said midwife desired the said boys to pronounce the name aloud, bestowing a 
 new name on the infant which had been thus bathed; and the name which they 
 gave it was that which the midwife wished." Mex. Antiq., vol. vi, p. 45. 
 
 1 Mex. Antiq., vol. vi, p. 248. 2 Ibid, vol. viii, p. 69. 
 
 3 Ibid, vol. vi, pp. 163 et seq. 4 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 167. 
 
 5 Ibid, vol. viii, p. 248. 
 
 6 Mex. Antiq., vol. vi, p. 125; Codex TeUeriano-Remen&s, pi. six; Mex. 
 Antiq., vol. vii, pp. 240-1, and Duran, MS., part ii, cap. 20; see further, Mex. 
 Antiq., vol. vi, pp. 135-218. 
 
 7 Mex. Antiq., vol. vi, pp. 121-2. He cites several authors to prove this 
 sweeping statement, and is not content with finding it among the Indians, but 
 is provoked by his zeal to discover the practice of the same rite among the Hot- 
 tentots. See Ibid, vol. vi, pp. 272, 383-5 ; vol. viii, pp. 143. 391, 20. On page 
 393, vol. vi, he makes this remarkable statement : " From an examination of 
 some of the Mexican paintings, it would appear that circumcision among 
 the Indians was not confined to the human species." Also vol. viii, p. 155 : 
 " The head of the Totonac high-priest, was anointed by the blood of circumcised 
 children." 
 
464 PROPHECY. 
 
 blood of any animal. 1 The latter statement is altogether un- 
 warranted in fact. The ceremonial of both peoples have many 
 features in common. As the Jews killed the paschal lamb in 
 the evening, so the Mexicans offered up their sacrifices at night. 2 
 The Jews in Mexico substituted llamas for sheep in their sacri- 
 fices. 3 Both Jews and Mexicans worshipped toward the east, or 
 toward their chief temples, and both called the south by the 
 designation of "right-hand of the world." 4 Both burned in- 
 cense toward the four corners of the earth. 5 As David leaped 
 and danced before the ark of the Lord, so did the Mexican 
 monarchs before their idols. 6 Both peoples had an ark, and 
 Duran states that in the ark of the Aztecs which figured so 
 prominently in their migration, was the image of their invisible 
 god. 7 Numerous analogies relating to astrology, omens, witch- 
 craft, dreams, etc., are recorded. 8 Keferences to prophecy are 
 not wanting : Quetzalcoatl predicted the destruction of the temple 
 of Cholula, furnishing a parallel to Christ's prophecy of the de- 
 struction of the temple. 9 In the Mexican mythology, by means 
 of an active imagination, he finds an allusion to the "stone 
 which was carved without hands." 10 A tiger represented in the 
 Bologna MS. he supposes to be the lion of the tribe of Juda 
 the Jews of the New World having metamorphosed it into a 
 tiger. 11 Kingsborough supposes that the crosses found in Mexico 
 may have been carried there by Irish monks, "especially," he 
 adds, "as M. de Humboldt informs us that the first Spanish 
 monks and missionaries gravely discussed the question of whether 
 Quetzalcoatl was an Irishman." 12 The fanaticism of the emi- 
 nent Americanist, however, reaches its culmination in his sup- 
 posed discovery of analogies to Christ in Mexican mythology. 
 The story of the virgin, the annunciation, and the identity of 
 
 1 Max. Antig., vol. vi, p. 273 ; vol. viii, pp. 157, 236, 160. 
 
 2 Hid, vol. vi, p. 504. 3 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 361. 
 4 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 257. 5 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 222. 
 
 6 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 142. ' Ibid, vol. viii, p. 258. 
 
 8 Ibid, vol. vi, pp. 301, 312 ; vol. viii, pp. 23-58. 
 
 9 Ibid, vol. viii, p. 27. 10 Ibid, vol. viii, p. 32. 
 11 Ibid, vol. viii, pp. 26-7. 12 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 190. 
 
NAHUA AND ASIATIC ANALOGIES. 465 
 
 Christ and Quetzalcoatl, are clearly discernible to his practised 
 eye. 1 Christ stilled the tempest, and, like Quetzalcoatl, was 
 god of the air. 2 In Yucatan, in the priestly fable of Bacab, he 
 finds a complete and true account of the trinity. 3 It is hardly 
 necessary for us to remark that these ingenious comparisons, 
 tinged with a coloring of fanaticism and yet so full of interest, 
 are useless to the cause of science and prove nothing. With 
 the single exception of the remarkable tradition of the deluge 
 and its literal correspondence in detail to the Mosaic account, we 
 must dismiss the multitude of supposed analogies between 
 Mexican and Hebrew traditions, customs and religion, which 
 Kingsborough and others have discovered, as either imaginary 
 or accidental. 4 
 
 The hypothesis that the Nahua religion may have received 
 some of its characteristics from India is altogether plausible 
 and not without support in resemblances. The cosmological 
 conception of the egg and serpent is found, as previously stated, 
 on Brush Creek, in Adams County, Ohio. It certainly comes 
 to us from Asiatic India. Serpent worship, not only among 
 the people of the mounds but especially of Mexico, is the 
 
 1 find, vol. vi, pp. 207-8. 2 Ibid, vol. vi, p. 261. 
 
 3 Hex. Antiq., vol. vi, pp. 207-8. He thinks the gospel must have been 
 preached at an early day in Yucatan, and in proof cites from the sixth chapter 
 of the Fourth Book of Cogolludo's History the following : " A certain ecclesiastic 
 wrote to a priest commissioned by Las Casas, that he met a principle-lord, who, 
 on being questioned respecting the ancient religion which they professed, told 
 him that they knew and believed in the God who was in Heaven, and that this 
 God was the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and that the Father was named 
 Yzona, who had created man ; and that the Son was called Bacab, who was born 
 of a virgin of the name of Chiribirias, and that the mother of Chiribirias was 
 named Yxchel ; and that the Holy Ghost was named Echvah. Of Bacab, the 
 Son, they said he was put to death and scourged and crowned with thorns and 
 placed with his arms extended upon a beam of wood, to which they did not 
 suppose that he had been nailed, but that he was tied, where he died and re- 
 mained dead during three days, and on the third day came to life and ascended 
 into heaven, where he is with his Father ; and that immediately afterwards 
 Echvah, who is the Holy Ghost, came and filled the earth with whatsoever it 
 stood in need of." 
 
 4 Mr. Bancroft in his fifth vol ., pp. 84-89, has collated a great number of 
 Lord Kingsborough's analogies. Our limited space forbids further treatment. 
 
 30 
 
466 MEXICAN AND GREEK ANALOGIES. 
 
 most patent fact revealed to us in ancient American sculp- 
 ture. " Humboldt thinks he sees in the snake cut in pieces, 
 the famous serpent Kaliya or Kalinaga, conquered by Vishnu, 
 when he took the form of Krishna, and in the Mexican Toua- 
 tiuh, the Hindu Krushna, sung of in the Bhagavata-Purana." ! 
 Count Stolberg and Tschudi have both made arguments in favor 
 of this view. 2 Humboldt characterizes Quetzalcoatl as the 
 Buddha of the Mexicans, the founder of the monastic estab- 
 lishments resembling those of Thibet and Western Asia. 3 He 
 further considers the flood of which they speak, identical with 
 that of which traditions are preserved by the Hindoos, the 
 Chinese, and the Shemitic peoples. 
 
 Advocates of Scandinavian analogies in religion are not 
 wanting. Although Viollet-le-Duc finds parallels existing be- 
 tween the Brahmanistic ideas of divinity and passages of the 
 Popol Vuhj still he is of the opinion that the strongest resem- 
 blances have been found to exist between the religious customs 
 of the Scandinavians and those recorded in the Popol Vuli.^ 
 Humboldt remarks, " we have fixed the special attention of our 
 readers upon this Votan or Wodan, an American who appears 
 of the same family with the Wods or Odins of the Goths and 
 of the peoples of Celtic origin. Since, according to the learned 
 researches of Sir William Jones, Odin and Buddha are prob- 
 ably the same person, it is curious to see the names of Bond- 
 var, Wodan sdag and Votan designating in India, Scandinavia, 
 and in Mexico, the day of a brief period." 5 
 
 Lafitau, in his Mceurs des Sauvages, is as enthusiastic in his 
 advocacy of the theory that the ancient Americans derived their 
 religion from the Greeks, as Kingsborough is certain that it was 
 of Jewish origin. He devotes his fourth chapter, and furnishes 
 numerous illustrations, in support of his view. 6 Our limited 
 space precludes the possibility of presenting in full the analo- 
 
 1 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 41 ; Humboldt's Vues, torn, i, p. 236. 
 
 2 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 41 ; Humboldt, Vues, p. 256 ; Tscliudi, 
 Peruvian Antiq., p. 211. 3 Vues, p. 230 (ed. 1810). 
 
 4 Viollet-le-Duc in Charnay's Ruins, pp. 41-2. Paris, 1863. 
 
 5 Vues, p. 148 (ed. 1810). 6 Maun des Saumges, pp. 108-455. 
 
BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG'S COMPARISONS. 
 
 gies discovered by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg between the 
 Mexican deities and those of Greece and Egypt. If we hesitate 
 sometimes in accepting his conclusions, we cannot but wonder at 
 his erudition and his zeal in research. He calls attention to the 
 fact that the cult of Pan and Hermes were identical in Greece, 
 and refers to Maia, a personification of the earth, and the 
 mother of the Hermes having been the consort of Zeus or Pan 
 himself. So in Mexico he finds Pan in the person of Cipactoual, 
 who, under the name of Cuextecatl, has for his consort Maia or 
 MaiaoeL This god was adored in all parts of Mexico and 
 Central America, and at Panuco or Panco, literally Panopolis, 
 the Spaniards found upon their entrance into Mexico, superb 
 temples and images of Pan. 1 The names of both Pan and 
 Maia enter extensively into the Maya vocabulary, Maia being 
 the same as Maya, the principal name of the peninsula, and pan, 
 making Mayapan, the ancient capital. In the Nahua language 
 pan or pani signifies " equality to that which is above," and 
 Pantecatl was the progenitor of all beings. The Abbe has 
 little difficulty in proving the identity of Zamna, Hunab-ku and 
 other JSlaya dieties, with the gods of Greece. 2 In the name of 
 the Egyptian god Horus, he finds the significance of hurricane, 
 or in the dialects of the Antilles, huracan or nrogan, the god 
 Hurakan of the Quiches. Also in the Egyptian hieroglyphic 
 symbol which Salvolini found equivalent to the phonetic K, 
 namely, the singular reptile Uraeus, which resembles a serpent 
 in an erect position with an enlarged body, and employed ex- 
 tensively as a decoration in hair of the Egyptian deities and 
 the Pharaohs ; he sees the emblem of Quetzalcoatl (Ketzal- 
 cohuatl) the feathered-serpent, called Gukumatz in Quiche, and 
 Kukulcan in Maya. The same symbol is represented on the 
 Egyptian monuments with a feather rising from the serpent's 
 crest. 3 It would be easy to pursue these ingenious comparisons 
 through a number of pages, but we question their value in throw- 
 ing any light on the subject in hand. The reader will find them 
 
 1 Brasseur in Introduction to Landa's Relation, pp. Ixx-i. 
 
 2 Landa's Relation, Introduc., pp. Ixxi et seq. 
 
 3 Brasseur de Bourbourg in Landa, pp. Ixvi-ix. 
 
468 BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG'S COMPARISONS. 
 
 scattered in profusion through the voluminous writings of the 
 learned Abbe. It is sufficient to say that most of the seeming 
 analogies between the new and old world religions cannot be 
 other than accidental, since it is probable that the aborigines 
 entered our continent at a very remote antiquity, long before the 
 religions with which theirs have been so persistently compared, 
 took on their distinctive features. If after they were separated 
 from the rest of the world by seas and mountains, the Ameri- 
 cans developed religious systems presenting analogies to those 
 of other lands, it furnishes us but another proof of the com- 
 mon parentage and brotherhood of the race, of the universal 
 outgoing of the human mind after the deity, and the sameness 
 of mental operations and processes under the same given condi- 
 tions." l 
 
 1 We have not thought it necessary to treat the mythology or religious 
 systems of the Mayas and Nahuas in any formal manner, but only incidentally 
 to call attention to some salient features, cropping out in connection with the 
 subject in hand. The religions of the ancient Americans have been so often 
 and so admirably treated, that anything relating to them in this connection 
 would be superfluous. See especially Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii ; Muller's 
 Oeschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen ; Squier's Serpent Symbol in Amer- 
 ica ; Brinton's Myths of the New World, and Ibid, Religious Sentiments in 
 the New World. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 LANGUAGE AND ITS KELATION TO NORTH AMERICAN 
 MIGRATIONS. 
 
 Diversity of Languages in America Causes of Diversity Richness of American 
 Languages Polysynthesis Grimm's Law The Maya-Quiche Languages 
 Stability of the Maya Oldest American Language The Maya compared 
 to the Greek, the Hebrew, the North European, the Basque, West African, 
 and the Quichua Languages Epitome of Maya Grammar The Mizteco- 
 Zapotec Languages The Nahua or Aztec The Classic Tongue Ancient 
 and Modern Nahua Epitome of Aztec Grammar Geographical Extension 
 of the Aztec In the South In the North-west Buschman's Researches 
 Sonora Family Opata-Tarahumar-Pima Family Moqui and Aztec Ele- 
 ments Aztec in the Shoshone and in the Languages of Oregon and the 
 Columbian Region Line of Aztec Elements The Nahua probably the 
 Language of the Mound-builders The Otomi Supposed Chinese Analogies 
 Japanese Analogies Geographical Names. 
 
 LANGUAGE in aboriginal America may be pronounced a 
 mystery of mysteries and a Babel of Babels. Mr. Bancroft 
 has catalogued nearly six hundred distinct languages, existing 
 between northern Alaska and the Isthmus of Panama. Many of 
 these, however, scarcely deserve to be called more than dialects ; 
 while each has its individuality, it is true that all have certain 
 characteristics in common, a fact which by some has been con- 
 sidered sufficient ground for belief in the unity of the American 
 race, a hypothesis which is by no means tenable. The geo- 
 graphical division and intermixture of languages, for instance, in 
 California, is without a parallel elsewhere in the world. By the 
 accidents attendant upon savage life, resulting from ceaseless 
 hostilities and the frequent inroads of tribes upon their neighbors, 
 a nation has often been scattered in fragments, and its refugees, 
 separated into small bands, have taken up their residence in the 
 
470 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST A LAW OF LANGUAGE. 
 
 midst of other tribes at localities far removed from their central 
 home. In a generation or two a modification of the parent 
 speech has been brought about by the surrounding influences, all 
 of which vary in the several localities in which the refugees have 
 found their new homes. New tribes thus formed, soon become 
 unintelligible to their brothers, who have developed a dialect 
 under different influences from theirs. When we consider that 
 for thousands of years this wholesale division and subdivision 
 of tribes and languages has been going on, as the result of cease- 
 less hostilities, we can easily account for the multitude of lan- 
 guages and dialects on the one hand, and the existence of a thread 
 of unity or similarity on the other, said to run through them all. 
 Supposing the continent to have received its population from 
 several different quarters, the natural expectation would be that 
 in the course of time this process of general intermixture would 
 result in developing in each language much that was common to 
 the others hence the foundation for the hypothesis of their 
 unity of origin. In the study of American languages it has often 
 been a matter of surprise that their structure and expressiveness 
 indicates a degree of perfection far in advance of the civilization 
 out of which they had sprung. This superiority, we think, can 
 be accounted for on the principle, first, that the evolution of 
 languages on this continent has been more active and constant 
 here than elsewhere, though unforturately not always operating 
 under favorable conditions ; and second, that in the frequent 
 catastrophes which have resulted from inter-tribal warfare, even 
 in language, the law of the survival of the fittest is apparent, 
 in the preservation of those etymological forms and principles 
 of structure which are most useful. We by no means agree with 
 the eminent philologist Dr. W. Farrar, F.K.S., chaplain to the 
 Queen, and others who, taking but a partial and second-hand 
 view of American languages, pronounce their elaborateness a 
 childish excess, and their vaunted wealth a concealment of their 
 poverty. 1 An examination of the poems of Nezahualcoyotl, 
 king of Tezcuco, recorded by Ixtlilxochitl, will afford sufficient 
 
 1 Families of Speech, pp. 134-6. London, 1873. 12mo. 
 
GRIMM'S LAW. 
 
 471 
 
 proof of the expressiveness and richness of the Aztec language. 1 
 The song on the " Mutability of Life " and the ode on the tyrant 
 Tezozomoc have often been translated and admired. 2 One of the 
 leading characteristics of American language, it has been said, is 
 "agglutination" but we must add that the term employed is 
 not sufficiently comprehensive. " Agglutination/' says Farrar, 
 " may be described as that principle of linguistic structure which 
 consists in the mere placing of unaltered roots side by side ; as 
 when to express i discipline ' the Chinese say ' law-soldier/ or for 
 'elders' ' father-mother/ or for ' enjoyment' ' luxury-play-food- 
 clothes/ " 3 
 
 The term poly synthesis, the synthesis of many words into one, 
 with a little explanation will describe the characteristic, so promi- 
 nent, to which we allude. In their polysynthesis, the syllables 
 or words which are compressed into one long word, no longer 
 retain their individual forms, but are clipped and altered so as 
 to be scarcely recognizable. A sentence by this process of fusion 
 is compressed into a single long word. Dr. Farrar cites the 
 following example from the Aztec ; achichillacachocan, means 
 " the place where people weep because the water is red." The 
 component parts are : ail " water," chichiltic " red/' tlacatl 
 "man," chorea " weep," all of which have nearly lost their iden- 
 tity in the inflection and contraction necessary in the synthesis. 4 
 As in the Aryan and other families, Grimm's system of Lautver- 
 schiebung sound changing, or shunting better known by Prof. 
 Max Miiller's designation as "Grimm's law" prevails, so there are 
 groups or families in northern Mexico pointed out by Buschman 
 to which this law is clearly applicable. No doubt the number 
 of relationships already established between aboriginal languages, 
 as the result of classification, will be greatly augmented when, 
 
 1 Spanish, in Kingsborough's Hex. Antiq., vol. viii, pp. 110-15. 
 
 2 English translation in Prescott's Mexico, vol. iii, and Bancroft's Native 
 Races, vol. ii, pp. 494-97. 3 Families of Speech, pp. 125-26. 
 
 4 The same author refers to the classification of languages adopted by Prof. 
 Steinthal in his Charafcteristik der Jiauptsacliliclisten Typen des Sprachbaues. 
 Languages are divided into cultivated and uncultivated, and each again are sub- 
 divided into isolating and inflectional. The American languages are classed as 
 uncultivated and inflectional by incorpo-ation. (Families of Speech, p. 127.) 
 
472 CLASSIFICATION OF THE MAYA-QUICHft LANGUAGES. 
 
 if ever, the subject receives special attention. 1 Mr. Bancroft 
 classifies the languages in his catalogue under three great fami- 
 lies, namely, the Tinneh, Aztec and Maya. The first, which 
 covers the territory around the northern extremity of the Kocky 
 Mountains, and sends its offshoots as far south as northern 
 Mexico, only concerns us incidentally in treating the ancient 
 languages of North America. 2 The two families (and their far- 
 reaching branches) in which w r e are interested, are the Maya and 
 the Aztec, the latter the survivor of the speech of the Nahuas. 
 
 To the Maya, or rather, the Maya-Quiche stock, no doubt 
 belongs the greatest antiquity assignable to any language or 
 languages on the continent. The mother tongue, the Maya, 
 prevails throughout all of Yucatan, and together with its dia- 
 lects extends itself over Tabasco, Chiapas and Guatemala, and 
 is even present in the states of Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz, in 
 the Huastic and Totonac languages. Numerous catalogues of 
 the branches of this family have been made, but the most recent, 
 and we think the most complete, is one constructed in 1876 on 
 Senor Pimentel's classification by the Mexican scholar, Senor 
 Garcia y Cubas. It is as follows : 1. Yucateco or Maya ; 
 2. Punctunc ; 3. Lacandon or Xochinel ; 4. Peten or Itzae ; 
 5. Chanabal, Comiteco, Jocolobal ; 6. Choi or Mopan ; 7. Chorti 
 or Chorte. 8. Cakchi, Caichi, Cachi or Cakgi ; 9. Ixil, Izil ; 
 10. Coxoli ; 11. Quiche, Utlatec ; 12. Zutuhil, Zutugil, A titeca, 
 Zacapula ; 13. Cachiquel, Cachiquil ; 14. Tzotzil, Zotzil, Tzin- 
 anteco, Cinanteco ; 15. Tzendal, Zendal ; 16. Mame, Mem, 
 Zaklohpakap ; 17. Poconchi, Pocoman ; 18. Atche, Atchi ; 
 19. Huastic, and probably 20. the Haytian, Quizqueja or Itis, 
 with their affinities, the Cuban, Boriguan and Jamaican lan- 
 guages. 3 
 
 1 See Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 559, 670-2. See on the latter 
 page especially a vocabulary of resemblances. 
 
 2 We refer tlie reader who is interested in the aboriginal languages of the 
 North-west to the Contributions to NortJi American Ethnology, published by 
 the Department of the Interior, under the direction of Major J. W. Powell, 
 Washington, 1877. 3 vols. 4to. 
 
 3 Garcia y Cubas, The Republic of Mexico in 1876. A political and ethno- 
 graphical division of the population, etc., translated by Geo. F. Henderson, p. G6. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT OF THE MAYA. 473 
 
 The author of the above list has compensated us for its 
 length by giving each of the names with its variation in orthog- 
 raphy according to different writers. The classification is alto- 
 gether superior to any other. The Maya is of peculiar interest 
 to us, especially since within the territory over which it extends 
 are found the most celebrated architectural remains known to 
 Central American archeology. The majority of the sculptured 
 tablets which are preserved are no doubt in the Maya or some 
 of its dialects. What is most satisfactory to us, is the proba- 
 bility that the language is spoken to-day by the mass of the 
 native population of Yucatan as it was anciently, for says Sefior 
 Pimentel, "the Indians have preserved this idiom with such 
 tenacity that to this day they will speak no other," and he adds 
 that it is necessary for the whites to address them in their own 
 tongue in order to communicate with them. 1 
 
 Senor Orozco y Berra furnishes us evidence that little change 
 has taken place in the language since the earliest times, in the 
 statement that all the geographical names of the peninsula are 
 Maya, which is considered proof in his judgment that the Mayas 
 were the first occupants of the country. 2 It is but a reasonable 
 expectation, therefore, that at no distant day, by the aid of 
 Landa's alphabet, the inscriptions will be compelled to reveal 
 their mysterious contents. The Tzendal, the language in which 
 Yotan is said to have written a history of the foundation of his 
 city, and still spoken near the ruins of Palenque, is said to have 
 been the oldest of American languages, but linguistic investiga- 
 tions have proven that it is an offshoot from the Maya, the 
 mother tongue. 3 It is probable that the Maya was first planted 
 at some point in the territory which it now occupies, and gradually 
 extended its domain until its colonies reached northern Yera 
 Cruz and southern Nicaragua. Whether at any time it was the 
 
 Mexico, 1876. Most of the above names are cited by Mr. Bancroft, Native Races, 
 vol. iii, p. 760 ; by Orozco y Berra, Geografia, pp. 18-25 et passim, and by 
 Pimentel, Lenguas Indigenas de Mex., vol. ii, p. 5 et seq. 
 
 1 Leng. Indig. de Mex., vol. ii, p. 3. 
 
 2 Geograjia de las Lenguas de Hex., pp. 129. 
 
 3 See Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, p. 760, and the literary apparatus 
 appended. 
 
474 THE MAYA COMPARED WITH THE GREEK. 
 
 language of a people inhabiting central and southern Mexico at 
 a date anterior to the arrival of the Nahuas, is unknown though 
 probable. Seilor Orozco y Berra has shown by linguistic studies 
 that probably the Mayas occupied the Atlantic seaboard of the 
 United States, having in their migration passed from the Flo- 
 ridian peninsula to Cuba and thence to the other Caribbean isles, 
 and to Yucatan. He states that the Mayas possess traditions 
 of a northern home from which they passed by means of the 
 islands of the Gulf to Yucatan. Both he and Senor Pimentel 
 agree that the languages of the West Indies belong to the Maya 
 family. 1 
 
 The characteristics of the Maya-Quiche languages are ; flexi- 
 bility, expressiveness, vigor, approximating harshness, yet on 
 the contrary rich and musical in sound. The Maya itself has 
 more than once been compared to the Greek, and even said to be 
 derived from it. Dr. Le Plongeon, who for four years has been 
 exploring the ruins of Yucatan and especially of Chichen-Itza, 
 writes thus in connection with the discovery of a well-sculptured 
 bear's head at Uxmal : "When did bears inhabit the peninsula ? 
 Strange to say, the Maya does not furnish the name for bear. 
 Yet one-third of this tongue is pure Greek. Who brought the 
 dialect of Homer to America ? Or who took to Greece that of 
 the Mayas ? Greek is the offspring of the Sanscrit. Is Maya ? 
 Or are they coeval ? A clue for ethnologists to follow the 
 migrations of the human family on this old continent. Did the 
 bearded men whose portraits are carved on the massive pillars of 
 the fortress at Chichen-Itza, belong to the Mayan nations ? 
 The Maya is not devoid of words from the Assyrian/' 2 He does 
 not hesitate to say that "the Maya, containing words from 
 almost every language, ancient or modern, is well worth the at- 
 tention of philologists," a statement which might with but little 
 breach of propriety be made as well concerning almost any other 
 language. In referring to its antiquity, the writer says, " I must 
 
 1 Orozco y Berra, Geografia, pp. 22, 128. 
 
 2 Communication of Dr. Le Plongeon to the Hon. John W. Foster, minister 
 of the United States at Mexico, dated Island of Cozumel, May 1, 1877, in Salis- 
 bury's Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, p. 83. 
 
MAYA COMPARED TO HEBREW. 475 
 
 speak of that language which has survived unaltered through 
 the vicissitudes of the nations that spoke it thousands of years 
 ago, and is yet the general tongue in Yucatan the Maya. 
 There can be no doubt that this is one of the most ancient lan- 
 guages on earth. It was used by a people that lived at least 
 6000 years ago, as proved by the Katuns, to record the history 
 of their rulers, the dogmas of their religion, on the walls of their 
 palaces, on the facades of their temples." l The Mexican scholar, 
 Seiior Melgar, is convinced that he sees resemblances between 
 the names employed by the Chiapenecs in their calendar, and the 
 Hebrew, and furnishes comparative lists to sustain his hopeless 
 theory. 2 
 
 1 Dr. Le Plongeon, communication to Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Esq., dated 
 Island of Cozumel, June 15, 1877. He remarks : " Notwithstanding a few 
 guttural sounds, the Maya is soft, pliant, rich in diction and expression, even 
 every shade of thought may be expressed." " Strange to say the language 
 remained unaltered. Even to-day, in many places in Yiicatan the descendants 
 of the Spanish conquerors have forgotten the native tongue of their sires, and 
 only speak Maya, the idiom of the vanquished." Communication above cited in 
 Salisbury's Le Plongeon in Yucatan, pp. 95 et seq. 
 
 2 The following is Senor Melgar's comparative list with the Spanish trans- 
 lated into English. 
 
 Hebrew. English. Chlapenec. 
 
 Ben, Son, Been. 
 
 Bath, Daughter, Batz. 
 
 Abba, Father, Abagh. 
 
 Chimah, Star in Zodiac ? the creator of rain. Chimax. 
 
 Maloc, King, Molo. 
 
 Abah, Name applied to Adam, Abagh. 
 
 Chanan, Afflicted, Chanam. 
 
 Elab, God, Elab. 
 
 Tischiri, September, Tsiquin. 
 
 Chi, More, Chic, 
 
 Chabic, Rich, Chabin. 
 
 Enos, Son of Seth, Enot. 
 
 Votan, To give, Votan. 
 
 Lambotas, River of Arica, Lambat. 
 
 He adds : " Todas estas coincidencias hacer suponer que en epocas muy 
 remotas existeron communicaciones entre el viejo y el nuevo mundo." He then 
 refers to Plato's Atlantis. Melgar in Sociedad Mex. de Oeog. Boletin, iii, fipoca, 
 p. 108. 
 
476 MAYA COMPARED TO THE NORTH-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 The speculations of the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg are 
 none the less remarkable and about equally as plausible as those 
 of Dr. Le Plongeon or Senor Melgar. The Abbe after years of 
 study among the peoples of Central America, was convinced 
 beyond a doubt that a marked relationship existed between the 
 Quiche-Cakchiquel and Zutugil and the languages of the north 
 of Europe. He considers the evidence sufficient that peoples 
 speaking the Germanic and Scandinavian languages migrated to 
 Central America and infused their idioms into the Maya. 1 
 
 With Mr. Bancroft we agree that no value can be attached 
 to these speculations, until impartial comparisons are made by 
 scholars who have no theories to substantiate. It is worthy of 
 note that several eminent scholars have observed the remarkable 
 similarity of grammatical structure between the Central Amer- 
 ican and certain transatlantic languages, especially the Basque 2 
 
 1 Brasseur's letter to M. Rafn in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 6th series, vol. 
 xvi, p. 263. He thinks the Scandinavians may have reached those remote parts 
 at an early day. On pp. 281-9 he gives a list of words chosen from the Quiche, 
 Cakchiquel and Zutohil, showing analogies with languages of Northern 
 Europe, especially with the Scandinavian. Also see the same author in the 
 Nom. Ann. des Voy., 6th series, vol. iii, 1855, pp. 156-7. The Abbe in a letter 
 to the New York Tribune, November 21st, 1855, in referring to the early inhab- 
 itants of Vera Paz, says ; " They came from the east not from the south-east, 
 but from the north-east. I speak only of the tribes of Quiche-Cakchiquel and 
 Zutohil. They came from the north-east, certainly passed through the United 
 States, and as they say themselves, they crossed the sea in darkness, mist, cold 
 and snow. I suppose they must have come from Denmark and Norway. They 
 came in small numbers, and lost their white blood by their mixture with the 
 Indians whom they found whether in the United States or in these regions, 
 certainly there must have been a Tula in our northern European countries. 
 But what is more convincing of this migration or passage, I find the same result 
 by a comparison of the languages. I cannot speak of the structure of them, 
 but by what I have observed is that the fundamental forms and words of the 
 languages of these regions (except the Mexican) are intimately connected with 
 the Maya or Tzendal, and that all the words that are neither Mexican nor Maya 
 belong to our languages of Northern Europe, viz. : English, Saxon, Danish, 
 Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish and German, some even appear to belong to the 
 French or Persian." 
 
 2 Dr. Farrar, referring to the Basque, says : " What is certain about it is, 
 that its structure is polysynthetic, like the language of America. Like them, 
 and them only, it habitually forms its compounds by the elimination of certain 
 
EPITOME OF MAYA GRAMMAR. 477 
 
 and some of the languages of Western Africa. 1 Dr. Le Plongeon, 
 after several years spent amid the antiquities of Peru and in the 
 study of the Quichua language, says, " The Quichua contains 
 many words that seem closely allied to the dialects spoken by the 
 nations inhabiting the regions called to-day Central America, 
 and the Maya tongue." In referring to the mural paintings at 
 Chichen-Itza, he further remarks, " By comparing them with 
 those of the Quichuas, I cannot but believe that Manco's ances- 
 tors emigrated from Xilbalba or Mayapan, carrying with them 
 the notions of the northern country." 2 Interesting as these 
 speculations are, they must be received with allowance and viewed 
 with doubt, until thorough linguistic researches test their value. 
 The most important features of Maya grammar are as fol- 
 lows : The letters of the alphabet are, a b c o e, ch, cA, h, i, k, 
 1, m, n, o, p, p, 6, pp, t, th, tz, u, x, y, y, z. The letter o is 
 pronounced like the English dj, h is not aspirated, th is hard, 
 and the k guttural. Much of the beauty of the pronunciation 
 depends on the elision of certain vowels and consonants, as for 
 instance instead of ma in Tcati they say min Jcati, or instead of 
 ti ca otoch they would say ti c otoch. The plural is distinguished 
 from the singular by the addition of ob (those). Verbs ending 
 in an take tac in the plural. The masculine of rational beings 
 
 radicals in the simple words ; so that, e. g., ilhun, twilight, is contracted from 
 hill, dead, and egun, day ; and belhaun, the knee, from belhar, front, and oln, 
 leg. It was this fact that made Larramendi give to his treatise on Basque 
 grammar the title of ' The Impossible Overcome.' The most daring of all the 
 hypotheses which have been suggested points to the conceivable existence of 
 some great Atlantis ; to the possibility of the ' Basque area being the remains 
 of a vast system, of which Madeira and the Azores are fragments belonging to 
 the Miocene period.' Be this as it may, the fact is indisputable and is emi- 
 nently noteworthy that, while the affinities of the Basque roots have never been 
 conclusively elucidated, there has never been any doubt that this isolated lan- 
 guage, preserving its identity in a western corner of Europe between two 
 mighty kingdoms, resembles in its grammatical structure the aboriginal lan- 
 guages of the vast opposite continent, and those alone." Families of Speech, 
 pp. 132-3. Also see Alfred Maury in Nott and Gliddon's Indigenous Races of 
 the Earth, p. 48. 
 
 1 See Maury in Nott and Gliddon's Indig. Races, pp. 81-84. 
 
 2 Salisbury's Le Plongeon in Yucatan, p. 96. 
 
478 
 
 EPITOME OF MAYA GRAMMAR. 
 
 is denoted by the prefix ab, the feminine by ix. The words xibil 
 and chupul, signifying male and female respectively, are used to 
 express the gender of animals. The case of nouns is determined 
 by their position in the sentence and their relation to the prepo- 
 sitions, the most frequent of the latter being ti, which has various 
 significations. Adjectives accompanying substantives always pre- 
 cede them, but the number is only expressed by the substantive. 
 The comparative is formed by adding I to the adjective, some- 
 times il, and prefixing u or y the pronoun of the third person. 
 The superlative is formed by prefixing hack to the positive. 
 The Maya pronouns are as follows : 
 
 Personal Pronouns. 
 
 Possessims. 
 
 Reciprocals. 
 
 Ten, en, I 
 Tech, ecb, Thou. 
 Lay, laylo, lo, He, that. 
 Toon, on, We. 
 Teex, ex, You. 
 Loob, ob, ' They, those. 
 
 In, u, Mine 
 A, au, Thine. 
 U, i, His, of that. 
 Ca, Ours. 
 Aex, auex, Yours. 
 Uob, yob, Of those. 
 
 Inba, Myself. 
 Aba, Thyself. 
 Uba, Himself. 
 Caba, Ourselves. 
 Abaex, Yourselves. 
 Ubaob, Themselves. 
 
 The verb has four conjugations and that of the auxiliary 
 teni, to be, the present tense of which is the same as the per- 
 sonal pronouns given in the left hand column, Ten-, Tech, etc. 
 The other cases are as follows : Imperfect, Ten cuclii; Perfect, 
 Ten hi; Pluperfect, Ten hi-illcuchi ; Future, Bin ten-ac; Future 
 perfect, Ten hi-ili cosJwm; Imperative, Ten-ac; Subjunctive 
 present, Ten-ac en; Imperfect, Hi ten-ac. 
 
 The verb Nacal, to ascend, of the first conjugation, is in- 
 flected as follows : 
 
 PRESENT INDICATIVE. 
 
 Singular, 1st per., Nacal in cali; 2d per., Nacal a cah; 3d 
 per., Nacal u cah. 
 
 Plural, 1st per., Nacal ca cah; 2d per., Nacal a-cah-ex; 3d 
 per., Nacal-u-cah-ob. 
 
 The Imperfect, Nacal in cah-cuchi; Perfect, Nac-en; Plu- 
 perfect, Nacen Hi cuchi; Future, Bin nacac-en; Future per- 
 fect, Nacen ili-cuchom; Imperative, Nacen. 
 
LORD'S PRAYER IN MAYA. 479 
 
 THE LORD'S PRAYER IN MAYA. 
 
 Cayum iaueeh ti caannob cilichthantabac akaba ; tac a 
 Our Father who art in Heaven blessed be Thy name ; it may come 
 
 ahaulil c' okol. Mencahac a nolah uai ti luum bai ti caane. 
 Thy kingdom us over. Be done Thine will as on earth as in heaven. 
 
 Zanzamal uah ca azotoon heleae caazaatez c' ziipil he bik c' zaatzic 
 Daily bread us give to-day us forgive our sins as we forgive 
 
 uziipil ahziipiloobtoone, ma ix appatic c' lubul ti tuntali caatocoon ti 
 their sins to sinners, not also let us fall in temptation us deliver from 
 
 lob. 1 
 evil. 
 
 In the state of Oajaca and occupying the western portion 
 of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in a position intermediate be- 
 tween the Maya on the one hand and the Nahua on the other, 
 is found the ancient family of languages known as the Mizteco- 
 Zapotec, the various dialects of which are spoken to this day by 
 the natives occupying those regions. No tradition throws any 
 light on the origin of this group, nor do any affiliations in vocab- 
 ulary or grammmatical structure seem to exist between them 
 and any other family, American or foreign. The Miztec lan- 
 guage is exceedingly difficult to acquire, being characterized by 
 words of extraordinary length. The Zapotec on the contrary, 
 with its several dialects, is elegant, sonorous, and less difficult. 2 
 
 The language pre-eminent above all others in Mexico for its 
 territorial extent, for the refinement and civilization which it 
 
 1 See on the Maya, Ruz, Gram. Tucateca ; Pimentel, Quadro Leng. Indig., 
 tom.ii, pp. 5 et seq., whose grammar we have followed above. Also vol. ii, 
 pp. 119, 221 ; vol. i, p. 229, for idioms; Gallatin in Am. EthnoL Soc. Transact., 
 vol. i, pp. 252 et seq.; Vater, Mithridatcs, torn. Hi, pt. iii, pp. 4-24 ; Brasseur de 
 Bourbourg, Grammaire in Landa's Relation, pp. 459 et seq., also Maya and 
 French Vocabulary ; Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 759-82, quotes prayer 
 as above. Further see literature cited in Ludewig's Literature of American 
 Aboriginal Languages, ed. of Triibner. London, 1858, pp. 102-3. 
 
 2 Full accounts of the grammatical structure of the languages of this family 
 may be found in Pimentel's Quadro, torn, i, pp. 35-78, 321-60 ; Orozco y Berra's 
 Geografia, pp. 25 et seq.; Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 748-58. 
 
480 THE NAHUA OR AZTEC. 
 
 represented, and its own inherent beauty and elegance, is known 
 as the Nahua or Aztec, or more modernly the Mexican. It was 
 the language of the Toltecs and of their advanced civilization, 
 and after them of the seven tribes of Nahuatlacas, that in the 
 year 1196 established themselves in the Mexican plateau. The 
 Aztecs, one of these tribes, in the course of events gaining the 
 ascendency, gave their name to the language which their con- 
 quests speedily extended over a territory four hundred leagues 
 in length, and in width from the Gulf to the Pacific, in the 
 latitude of the capital. The Aztec tongue prevailed continu- 
 ously from a point on the Gulf of California, under the twenty- 
 sixth parallel of latitude south-easterly to Eios Goatzacoalco 
 and Tobasco ; and southward to the fifteenth parallel, extending 
 along the coast of San Salvador and appearing in the interior 
 of Nicaragua. Its dialectical extension north of Mexico we 
 will consider on a future page. Twenty languages besides the 
 Aztec are said to have been spoken throughout Montezuma's 
 empire, but the Aztec alone was recognized as the official and 
 classic tongue. The Chichimecs are said to have spoken a lan- 
 guage of their own, until the ruler Techotlalatzin commanded 
 them to learn the Mexican. 1 Mr. Bancroft is of the opinion 
 that the Nahua was the original language of the Chichimecs, 
 and consequently does not agree with Senor Pimentel who ad- 
 vocates the opposite view, and, we think, sustains it. 2 The 
 copiousness and grace of the Aztec has furnished a theme for 
 many Spanish writers whose praises have found an echo in the 
 works of our most able scholars and historians. If the Maya 
 has been compared to the Greek, the Aztec has often been 
 likened to the Latin, not in structure or vocabulary, but in its 
 relation to ancient American civilization, in its expressiveness, 
 politeness, its capacity for the sublime, and for the romantic 
 coloring with which it is able to clothe that which is humble 
 and even insignificant. " It was the court language," says Mr. 
 
 1 Ixtlilxoclritl, Hist. Chic, in Kingsborougb/s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix, p. 217, and 
 cited by Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iii, p. 724. 
 
 2 Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 724-5 ; Pimentel, Quadro Leng. Indig. de Mex , 
 torn, i, pp. 154r-8, and our discussion in this work, chapter vi. p. 255. 
 
ANCIENT AND MODERN NAHUA. 481 
 
 Bancroft, " of American civilization, the Latin of medieval and 
 the French of modern times." 1 
 
 The Nahua attained its highest development during the 
 century preceding the conquest in the schools of oratory, poetry 
 and history, established at Tezcuco, to which the sons of nobles 
 were sent, as much to acquire the purity of the idiom as the 
 science which they taught. 2 Senor Orozco y Berra says that 
 the difference existing between the ancient Nahua and the 
 modern, may be compared to that difference observed between 
 the Castilian of the Komance of the Cid and that of the present 
 day. 3 
 
 The outlines of the Aztec grammar are briefly as follows : 
 The alphabet contains the letters a, ch, e, h, i, k, 1, m, n, o, p, 
 t, tl, tz, u, v, x, y, z, but lacks our consonants b, d, f, r, g, s. 
 No word commences with 1. The a is clear ; ch before a vowel 
 is pronounced as in Spanish, but before a consonant or when 
 final it differs somewhat ; e is clear ; h is moderately aspirated 
 and soft, but strong when it precedes u; t is omitted except 
 when it comes between two I's. The tl in the middle of a 
 word is soft as in Spanish, but at the end is pronounced tie, the 
 e being half mute. The pronunciation of tz is similar to the 
 Spanish s, but stronger. The v is pronounced by the women as 
 in Spanish and French, but by the men like liu in Spanish ; x, 
 soft like the English sh, and z like the Spanish s, but not quite 
 so hissing. 4 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 726-7. The same author refers to the Natural 
 History of Dr. Hernandez, written in the Aztec, as proof of its copiousness. 
 " Twelve hundred different species of Mexican plants, two hundred or more 
 species of birds, and a large number of quadrupeds, reptiles, insects and metals, 
 each of which is given its proper name in the Mexican language." (Quoted by 
 Pimentel, Quadro., vol. i, p. 168.) 
 
 2 See Prescott's Conq. of Hex., vol. i, p. 174 (ed. of 1875). " Tezcuco," says 
 Boturini, " where the noblemen sent their sons to acquire the most polished 
 dialect of the Nahuatlac language, and to study poetry, moral philosophy, the 
 heathen theology, astronomy, medicine and history." (Idea, p. 142, cited by 
 Prescott.) 
 
 3 Geografia de las Lenguas, p. 9. 
 
 4 Pimentel, Quadro, Lenguas Indig., p. 165, also copied by Bancroft, Native 
 Races, vol. iii, p. 731. From Pimentel we draw our extract of Aztec Grammar. 
 
 31 
 
482 AZTEC CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 By composition, words containing sixteen syllables are formed, 
 though many simple words are quite long. We have abeady 
 explained the process of polysynthesis or compounding by means 
 of clipping the syllables and words with a view to brevity and 
 euphony. The following example furnished by Pimentel and 
 copied by Mr. Bancroft, further illustrates the principle : tlazotli, 
 esteemed or loved ; maviztik, honored or reverenced ; teopixki, 
 priest ; tatli, father, and no, mine, furnishes as a result : not- 
 lazomavizteopixkatatzin, " my esteemed father and reverend 
 priest." An example of the termination tzin, signifying respect/ 
 is presented in this word. Several illustrations of the same 
 principle are furnished by Senor Pimentel, showing that often a 
 sentence is compounded into a single word. Indeed a great 
 many of the component parts of these long words, though words 
 in themselves, are incapable of being used separately. In com- 
 position the verb succeeds the nominative and is placed at the 
 end of the sentence. The adverb precedes the verb, as does the 
 adjective the substantive. 
 
 The Aztec is rich in terminations for the formation of the 
 plural. Generally no change is required for inanimate objects, as 
 multiplicity is expressed by means of numerals or the adverb miek 
 (much), e. g., ze tetl, one stone ; yei tetl, three stones ; miek tetl, 
 many stones, though often the terminations used for the plural 
 of persons is applied to inanimate objects, particularly when 
 they are connected with persons, as zoquitl, mud ; tizoquime, we 
 are earth ; however, there are exceptions to the rule, as in the 
 Aztec words for the heavens, the mountains and the stars. 
 Furthermore, the first syllable is often doubled in order to form 
 the plural of inanimate things. Senor Pimentel has embraced 
 the entire subject of the formation of the plural in six rules. 
 
 1. Primitive words form their plural in me tin or ke, as 
 ichkatl, a ewe, a sheep ; ickkame, sheep ; zolin, a quail ; zoltin, 
 quail ; kokoxki, sick ; kokoxke, sick (plural). 
 
 2. Derivatives form their plural as follows : the so-called 
 " reverentials " in tzintli, have the plural in tzitzintin ; the 
 diminutives in tontli form the plural totontin, and the dimin- 
 utives in ton Siudpil, augmentatives in pol and reverentials in 
 
THE CASES. 483 
 
 tzin double the final syllable ; as, tlakatzintli, person ; tlakatzi- 
 tzintin, persons, etc. 
 
 3. Words either primitive or derived into which the posses- 
 sive pronouns enter, form the plural in van (kuan according to 
 the common orthography) ; as, noichkavan, my sheep, noichka- 
 totonvan, my little sheep. 
 
 4. The words tlakatl, person ; zivatl, woman ; terms of gen- 
 tilitious character or expressive of office and profession, form 
 their plural by the omission of the final letters, as Mexicatl, a 
 Mexican ; Mexika, Mexicans ; in which case the final vowel is 
 accented. 
 
 5. Some words form the plural by omitting the terminals 
 and by doubling the first syllable, while others double the first 
 syllable without omitting the terminal ; as, teotl, god ; teteo, 
 gods ; zolin, quail ; zozoltin, quails ; telpochtli and ichpocktti, 
 double the syllable po. 
 
 6. Some adjectives have various plurals, as miek, much ; 
 whose plural is miektin, miekintin or miekin. 
 
 In most cases the adjective and its substantive agree in num- 
 ber. The only means of expressing gender is by adding the 
 words okichtli, male, and zivatl, female. 
 
 In the absence of a regular declension the cases are formed 
 as follows : The genitive is indicated by the possessive pronoun 
 or by the juxtaposition of the words, the dative by means of 
 verbs called applicatives, the accusative by certain particles 
 accompanying the verb or by juxtaposition, the vocative by 
 adding e to the nominative or by the change of i into e in words 
 ending in ill or li and the in into e in words ending in tzin. 
 
 The ablative is indicated by various particles and prepositions. 
 The language surpasses the Italian in the number of its augmen- 
 tatives and diminutives. The former take the syllable pol, the 
 latter tontli and ton. The Aztec is richer in verbal nouns than 
 any other language. Those derived from active, neuter, passive, 
 reflective and impersonal verbs, terminate in ni, oni, yd, ia, yan, 
 kan or ian, tli, li, liztli, oka, ka, ki, k, i, o, tl. 
 
484 
 
 CONJUGATIONS. 
 
 TABLE or PRONOUNS. 
 
 
 POSSESSIVES. 
 
 No, 
 
 Mine. 
 
 Mo, 
 
 Thine. 
 
 I, 
 
 His. 
 
 To, 
 
 Ours. 
 
 Amo, 
 
 Yours. 
 
 In or im 
 
 , Theirs. 
 
 Te, 
 
 Of or belonging to others. 
 
 PERSONALS. 
 Nevatl, neva, ne, I. 
 Tevatl, tern, te, Thou. 
 
 Yevatl, yeva, ye, He, or somebody. 
 Tevantin, teva, We. 
 
 Amevantin, amevin, You. 
 Yevantin, yevan, They. 
 
 " The possessives," says Pimentel, " are always used in com- 
 position, and change the final syllable of the word to which they 
 are joined ; as, teotl, God, nofeuh, my God/' etc. 1 
 
 The modes of the verb are : the indicative, imperative, opta- 
 tive and subjunctive. The indicative has the following tenses : 
 present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, future. The subjunctive 
 has one tense which is translated by the imperfect. 
 
 The following example of the conjugation is given from 
 
 Pimentel : 
 
 INDICATIVE. 
 
 Present. 
 
 Ni-chiva, I make. T-i-c7iiva, We make. 
 
 Ti-chiva, Thou makest. An-chiva, You make. 
 
 Chiva, 
 
 He makes. 
 
 They make. 
 
 Chiva, 
 
 Imperfect. 
 Ni-chiva-ya, I made. 
 
 Perfect. 
 Oni-chi-uh, I have made. 
 
 Pluperfect. 
 Oni-chi-uMa, I had made. 
 
 Future. 
 Ni-chiva-z, I shall make. 
 
 IMPERATIVE. 
 
 Present : Ma xi-chiva, Make thou. 
 Future : Ma ti-chiva-z, Make thou presently. 
 
 Quadro, Leng. Indig., torn, i, p. 183. 
 
THE LORD'S PRAYER IN AZTEC. 485 
 
 OPTATIVE. 
 
 Imperfect : Ma ni-chiva-ni, Would that I should make. 
 Perfect : Ma oni-chi-uh, Would that I have made. 
 
 SUBJUNCTIVE. 
 
 Imperfect : Ni-cliiva-zkia, or ) mi , T , , , 
 
 ^ J AT . , . , . ' \ That I should make. 
 
 There is no infinitive in the conjugation, it being expressed 
 by the future indicative. Only verbs in liztli have this mode. 
 The passive voice, save in a few exceptional cases, is formed as 
 follows : lo is added to the present indicative of the active voice. 
 In the perfect tense, Tc is added to the previously affixed o in the 
 singular and ke in the plural. The other modes and tenses form 
 their passive voice by adding to the present indicative passive 
 their own final termination, as, for instance, we have nichiva, I 
 make, nichivalo, I am made, onichivalok, I was made, onichi- 
 valoka, that I should be made, etc. The Aztec contains only 
 six irregular verbs. 
 
 THE LORD'S PRAYER IN AZTEC. 
 
 Totatzine in ilvikak timoyetztika ma yektenevalo in motokatzin 
 
 Our reverend Father who heaven in art be praised ( ) thy name 
 
 mavallauh in motlatokayotzin ma chivalo in tlaltikpak in motlanekilitzin in 
 may come ( ) thy kingdom be done ( ) earth above ( ) thy will ( ) 
 
 yuh chivalo in ilvikak. In totlaxkal mo moztlae totech moneki 
 as is done ( ) heaven in. ( ) our bread every day to us is necessary 
 
 ma axkan xitechmomakili, ivan ma xitechmopopolvili in totlatlakol in yuh 
 to-day give us and forgive us ( ) our sins ( ) as 
 
 tikintlapopolvia intechtlatlakalvia ivan makamo xitechmomakavili inik 
 we forgive those who us offend and not lead thou us that 
 
 amo ipan tivetzizke in teneyeyekoltiliztli, zanye ma xitechmomakixtili in 
 not in we fall ( ) temptation, but deliver us ( ) 
 
 ivikpa in amo kualli. 1 
 against () not good. 
 
 1 It will be observed in some portions of this abstract, I have used almost 
 the same words as are employed by Mr. Bancroft. This is owing to the fact 
 
486 SUPPOSED TRACES OF AZTEC AT THE XORTH. 
 
 Language has ever been an important factor in determining 
 the original home and the migrations of peoples. With this view 
 the Aztec has received the attention of some of the best scholars 
 of both continents. The most prominent results merit attention. 
 The Nahua language is unquestionably spoken far to the south, 
 in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and this fact has been 
 persistently cited as conclusive proof of the southern origin of the 
 Nahuas ; but even Mr. Bancroft, the most eminent of the advo- 
 cates of this hypothesis, admits that there " it is dialectic rather 
 than aboriginal in appearance, so that the testimony of language 
 is all in favor of the plateau of Anahuac having been the primal 
 centre of the Aztec tongue." 1 
 
 The reports of several of the adventurers into the unex- 
 plored north, were to the effect that the aborigines whom they 
 encountered spoke Aztec. Father Roque of Onate's expedition 
 into New Mexico at the close of the sixteenth century, and 
 Father Geronimo de Zarate subsequently at the Rio del Tizon, 
 are authority for the most positive statements that the Mexican 
 was encountered. Mr. Anderson, a companion of Captain Cook in 
 1778, discovered the Aztec terminal I tl or z of frequent occur- 
 rence among the Nootkas of the Northwest coast. With this 
 data and the traditions of the Aztecs, which all point to the 
 north as their ancient home, sufficient basis was found for a gen- 
 eral belief that the Mexican peoples had migrated down the coast 
 of California and left an unbroken linguistic line along the entire 
 route of their wanderings. At the beginning of the present 
 century, the great German philologist, Vater, sought to establish 
 this line by his extensive investigations, published in his Mitliri- 
 dates. 2 Unfortunately for his labors, later researches have shown ; 
 his generalizations too sweeping. Wilhelm von Humboldt 
 considered the Cora, under the twenty-second degree of latitude 
 
 that both he and I have translated certain passages literally from Senor Pimen . 
 tel, from whose work I have drawn this account throughout. See Quadro, 
 Lenguas Indig. de Mex., torn, i, pp. 164-216 ; Gallatin in Amer, Ethnol. Soc. 
 Trails., vol. i, pp. 214-246 ; Vater, Mithridates, vol. iii, pt. iii, pp. 85-106, and 
 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 721-37. 
 
 1 Native Races, vol. iii, p. 726. 
 
 2 Mithridates, torn, iii, pt. iii, pp. 75 et seq. 
 
DR BUSCHMANN'S RESEARCHES. 487 
 
 on the Kio de Santiago, to be a mixture of Aztec and some older 
 and rougher language. 1 In 1855-59, Dr. Buschmann of Berlin 
 issued two celebrated works, 2 in which the subject was critically 
 examined, and as far as possible, with the data at hand, the true 
 proportion of Aztec elements entering into all the languages 
 spoken north of the Mexican plateau, was indicated. The 
 researches were systematically made, beginning with the North 
 Mexican languages and proceeding northward in the supposed 
 line of the Aztec migration. In four languages of Northwestern 
 Mexico in particular, did Dr. Buschmann find the conspicuous 
 presence of Aztec elements. These are the Cora of Jalisco, 
 referred to above ; the Tepehuana of northern Sinaloa, Durango 
 and southern Chihuahua, spoken between the twenty-third and 
 twenty-seventh parallels, in a crescent-shaped territory the 
 points of which touch the Aztec on the west, intervening be- 
 tween it and the Gulf of California ; the Tarahumara, spoken 
 in the Sierra Madre, of the State of Chihuahua and Sonora, 
 and fourthly, the Cahita occupying the east coast of the Gulf 
 of California between the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth paral- 
 lels. By a liberty in classification, Buschmann calls this group 
 the Sonora family, although the languages are entirely different 
 from each other, with the exception that they are all pervaded 
 by the Aztec element. This is their only bond of union. They 
 contain about two hundred Aztec words, and about eight hun- 
 dred words derived from the Aztec in the several idioms. 3 " The 
 Aztec tl, and tli in the Cora, are found changed in ti, te and t; in 
 the Tepehuana into de, re and sci; in the Tarahumara into ki, 
 ke, ca and la, and in the Cahita, into ri. In all four of the 
 languages substantive endings are dropped, first, in composition 
 when the substantive is united with the possessive pronoun ; 
 secondly, before an affix ; thirdly, in the Cora alone, before the 
 ending of the plural and before affixes in the formation of 
 
 1 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 663-70, our authority for the facts stated 
 on p. 486. See his sketch of the theory and the reaction under Buschmann. 
 
 2 Die Lautveranderung AztekiscJier Worter in der Sonorischen Sprachen. 
 Berlin, 1855, 4to, and Die Spuren der AztekiscJien Sprachen. Berlin, 1859, 4to. 
 
 3 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iii, p. 663. 
 
488 BUSCHMANN'S SONORA FAMILY. 
 
 words." 1 Northeast of the Tarahumara and reaching to the 
 Eio Grande is the Cnocho, and directly to the east of the Cnocho, 
 is the territory of the Toboso, also bounded on the north by the 
 Bio Grande. It is uncertain whether the Aztec was ever .the 
 language of these large districts, though testimony is not want- 
 ing that it was understood by both peoples. 2 In fact throughout 
 all northern Mexico, the Aztec was understood, and, in some 
 instances, entered prominently into the languages of the north- 
 western tribes. Grimm's law of Lautveranderung , sound chang- 
 ing or shifting, is as conspicuous in its application to the Aztec- 
 Sonora family of Buschmann as it is to the members of the 
 Aryan family, and often far more so. Occupying the north- 
 western extremity of Mexico are the Pima-Alto and Bajo, and 
 the Opata, the principal dialect of the latter being the Eudeve. 
 Here again the Aztec appears both in the identity of words and 
 the similarity of grammatical structure. These languages are 
 recognized as branches of the Aztec-Sonora family, so much so 
 that Orozco y Berra has classified them together under the name 
 of the Opata-Tarahumar-Pima. He accounts for the presence 
 of the Aztec element upon the supposition that the language and 
 civilization of Mexico once extended over this region, but were 
 subverted and displaced by the incursions of northern peoples 
 toward the close of the twelfth century. 3 Not only is this 
 probable, but, on the other hand, it would be a matter of 
 surprise if traces of the Aztec were not found in languages 
 bordering upon so vast and powerful an empire as that of Mon- 
 tezurna. Still this fact alone is scarcely sufficient to account for 
 the prominence of the Aztec element in the northern languages, 
 while it is almost totally wanting in others more central and 
 southern. Crossing into the United States territory, we first 
 encounter the Moqui of the pueblo towns of Arizona ; to the 
 west in southeastern California, we meet the Cahuillo, Cheme- 
 
 1 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 667-8; William von Humboldt in 
 Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr. pp. 48-50 ; Orozco y Berra, Geografia, p. 39. 
 
 2 Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 172 ; Orozco y Berra, Geografia, 
 pp. 324-5 ; Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iii, p. 714. 
 
 3 Geografia, pp. 53, 147-8. 
 
THE MOQUI AND AZTEC. 439 
 
 huevi, Kizh, Netela and Kechi ; 'at the other extreme on the 
 east, we have the Comanche of New Mexico and Texas, while 
 to the north, in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Oregon, we have 
 the great Shoshone and Utah families. But why group these 
 languages in such a wholesale manner ? Is it because of inter- 
 linguistic affinities? No. Simply because of the Aztec element 
 (though insignificant it is true), which unquestionably pervades 
 them all. 1 Six of the Moqui towns speak the language which 
 bears their name. But, strange to say, Harno the Seventh uses 
 the Tequa, a language of one of the New Mexican Pueblos. 
 The Moqui language contains much that is Aztec, and because 
 of its substantive endings in pe and be, etc., is considered by 
 Buschmann a branch of ihis Shoshone-Comanche family of 
 the Sonora idiom. 2 Coupling this fact with the traditions of 
 the Moquis (see pages 302-304) descriptive of their migra- 
 tions from the North under the pressure of the hordes of 
 savages who deprived them of their cultivated lands and 
 slaughtered their families, we are at a loss to account for this 
 infusion of Aztec elements, except on the hypothesis that at a 
 remote day large numbers of Nahuas came in contact with the 
 ancestors of this people in their ancient home. Equally con- 
 spicuous is the Aztec element in south-east California lan- 
 guages and the great Shoshone and Utah families, which occupy 
 the great central basin and stretch away into Idaho and Oregon. 
 Grimm's law of sound-shifting is seen in their adjective and 
 
 1 " As regards this Aztec element, I do not mean to say that these languages 
 are related to the Aztec language in the same sense that other languages are 
 spoken of as being related to each other, for this might lead those who are 
 searching for the former habitation or fatherland of the Aztecs, to suppose that 
 it has been found. This element consists simply in a number of words identi- 
 cal or reasonably approximate to the like Aztec words, and in the similarity, 
 perhaps, of a few grammatical rules. How this Aztec word-material crept into 
 the languages of the Shoshones, whether by intercommunication, or Aztec 
 colonization, we do not know. Nor do I wish to be understood as attempting 
 to sustain the popular theory of an Aztec migration from the North ; on the 
 contrary, the evidences of language are all on the other side." Bancroft's 
 Native Races, vol. iii, pp. 660-1 . 
 
 9 Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 290 ; Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 
 iii, pp. 673-4. 
 
490 TRACES OF AZTEC IN OREGON. 
 
 substantive endings, p, pa, pe, pi, be, wa, ph, pee, rp, and rpe. 
 The Shoshone and Utah still retain ts, tse, and tsi, all of which 
 are but variations of the Aztec tl, tli, according to the law above 
 named. Buschmann pronounces this group the capstone of his 
 Sonora edifice. 1 In Western Oregon, from the source to the 
 mouth of the Willamette Biver, the Yamkally and Calapooya 
 languages preserve traces of the Aztec both in words and ter- 
 minal sounds. 2 The same is even more evident concerning the 
 Chinook, of the lower Columbia River, in which the Aztec till 
 and tl is a regular termination. 3 Throughout the entire region 
 drained by the Columbia and its tributaries, Dr. Buschmann 
 found well-marked Aztec elements. The Clallum and Lummi 
 languages of the great Salish or Flathead family, which touches 
 the coast opposite Vancouver's Island and extends into. the in- 
 terior, have the tl termination and other phonetic resemblances 
 to the Aztec. 4 Furthermore, Mr. Gibbs has discovered that the 
 cardinals employed by the Clallam and Lummi in their system 
 of enumeration are of a threefold character, and, as Mr. Gallatin 
 has shown, are similar to those of the Mexicans and Mayas. 5 
 
 1 Spuren d^r Aztek. Spr., pp. 349-51,391, 648-52 et seq.; Bancroft,- Native 
 Races, vol. iii, pp. 681-79, comparative table compiled from Busclimann, Turner, 
 Molina, Ortega, and others, on p. 678. 
 
 2 Busclimann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 629, and Bancroft, Native Races, 
 vol. iii, pp. 630-1. 
 
 3 ". The Chinook language is spoken by all the nations from the mouth of the 
 Columbia to the Falls. It is hard and difficult to pronounce for strangers, being 
 full of gutturals like the Gaelic. The combinations thl or tl are as frequent in 
 the Chinook as in the Mexican." Franchere, Narrative of a Voy. to N.W. Coast 
 of N. Am., p. 262. Swan, speaking of the Chinook, says : " The peculiar clucking 
 sound is produced by pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth, and 
 pronouncing the word ending with tl as if it were the letter k at the end of the 
 tl; but it is impossible in, any form or method of spelling that I know of, to 
 convey the proper guttural clucking sound. Sometimes they will, as if for 
 amusement, end all their words in tl; and the effect is ludicrous to hear three 
 or four talking at the same time with this singular sound, like so many sitting- 
 hens." North West Coast, p. 315. 
 
 4 Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 628-9 ; Bancroft, Native Races, 
 vol. iii, p. 619. 
 
 5 Gibbs' Alphabetical Vocab. of Clallam and Lummi Lang., p. 6 ; Gallatin, 
 in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., vol. i, p. 54. 
 
BUSCHMANN ON THE VANCOUVER LANGUAGES. 491 
 
 Whether the Aztec is represented in the language of the 
 Nootkas on Vancouver's Island is uncertain. Certainly strong 
 marks of similarity are observable. Buschmann, while admitting 
 the existence of resemblances, thinks that hardly enough of them 
 exist to warrant relationship. 1 The inquiry naturally arises, 
 how came this Aztec element which, three and a half centuries 
 
 1 Buschmann, Die Volker und Sprachen Neu- Mexico's, p. 370, calls attention 
 to the great resemblance of 
 
 Aztec Nutka. 
 
 tepuztli = copper = chipuz 
 tetl = stone = tenetschok 
 
 and adds that Esquiates the name of a society is entirely Mexican. We append 
 the result of his investigations : 
 
 "Von ahnlicher Art, gleich den Spanish gemodelten Gestalten Mexicani- 
 ssher Worter, sind viele Nutka-Worter der Spanischen Sammlung : nur mit 
 dem Unterschiede, dass sie auf keinar vorhandenen mexicanischen Worten 
 beruhen (da zufallig diese Buchstaben-combinationem in der Azt. Sprache nicht 
 vorkommen, aber ihren Wesen nach recht gut vorkommen konnten). Solche 
 Worter sind : iztocoti = Muschel (dazu Eigenname iztocoti No. 923) ; mojati = 
 jagd (caza), mamati = Hof, muztati = Regenbogen : cucustlati Nasenloch, 
 natlagcazte = Rippen ; otniquit = Jungfrau ; mamatle Schiff; oumatie = 
 Leib ; aguequetle =Hunger ; capitzitle = Dieb ; tahecMile = larga : temextixitle 
 = Kuss ; cuachitle = reisen ; cuchitle = pincher ; meyali = Schmerz. Es 
 giebt noch eine hohere Gattung von Nutka-Wortern (der Span. Reise), wetche 
 (besonders durch die Aechtheit ihrer Endung von der vorigen verschieden) 
 ganz und gar wie mexicanische Worter aussehen, und (so weit sie substantiva 
 sind) mexicanische sein wurden, wenn es der Sprache beliebt hatte diese 
 bestimmten Lautgestalten zu bilden : inapatl = Rucken ; tlexatl Matte ; 
 tzahuacatl = 9 ; chamieJitl = Iris ; naguatzitl = Zwerg ; naschitl = Tag ; 
 jacamitl viereckig ; huatzacchitl = Husten ; nectzitl = trinken ; pugxitl = 
 heben : cocotl = Seeotter ; amanuti = espinilla ; apactzutl = Bart ; ictlatzutl 
 = Mund ; iniyutl = Kehle ; jayutl = Fluth ; tlatlacastzeme = Blatter (wie ein 
 Mex. Plural in me) ; coyactzae = Fuchsbalg. Noch mehr Worter finden sich, 
 wenn man fiir die Mex. Sprache unnaturliche und zu harte Consonanten 
 Verbindungen ubersieht. Diese letze ho'here Gattung vorzuglich, doch auch 
 die erstere meint Alexander von Humboldt in der obigen Stelle (S. 363). So 
 gawinnet die Nutka-Sprache durch eine reiche Zahl von Wortern und durch 
 grosse Ziige ihres Lautwesens, einzig von alien anderen fremden, die ich habe 
 aufdecken konnen, in einem bedeutenden Theile eine tauschende Aehnlichkeit 
 mit der Azteckischen oder Mexicanischen ; und so wird die ihr schon friiher 
 gewidmete Aufmerksamkeit vollstandig gerechtfertigt. Ihrer Mexicanischen 
 Erscheinrung fehlt aber, wie ich von meiner Seite hier auspreche jede Wirk- 
 lichkeit." Ibid, p. 371. 
 
492 NAHUA THE LANGUAGE OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 
 
 after the overthrow of the Aztec empire, we observe in faint, 
 though unbroken lines running from the centre of Mexico to the 
 vicinity of Vancouver's Island to find its way into a multitude 
 of languages, some of which are separated from others by a vast 
 region more than two thousand miles in width ? How did it 
 come to be the only bond of union between so many languages 
 in all other respects so dissimilar ? It has been suggested that 
 this wide-spread dissemination of the Aztec is owing to the trade 
 probably carried on between Mexico and the North. However, 
 this is merely conjecture and is incapable of proof. It will be 
 observed that the linguistic line is faintest in the central basin 
 among the Shoshones and Utahs, where the relationship is estab- 
 lished mainly by the sound-shifting of the terminals according to 
 Grimm's law, but in the languages of the Columbia Eiver and 
 its tributaries, and especially of the Salish or Flathead family 
 bordering on the strait of Juan de Fuca, the Aztec terminal is 
 actually present and in constant use. The most critical re- 
 searches have established this as an incontestable fact. In this 
 connection it is worthy of note (as shown in our first chapter) 
 that the works of the Mound-builders abound in this region 
 in great numbers, extending into the interior, appearing upon 
 the upper Missouri and its tributaries, and continuing to the 
 Mississippi Valley and thence into Mexico instead of following 
 the coast or the central basin at the west. Whether the Nahua 
 was the language of the Mound-builders of the United States, we 
 are unable to determine, but the probabilities that it was are con- 
 siderable ; because (1) the people of the mounds built structures 
 similar to those which prevail all over Mexico, though in a less 
 degree of perfection ; (2) they carried obsidian from Mexico to 
 the North Mississippi Valley, showing both regions to have 
 enjoyed intimate commercial relations. This is no evidence that 
 the Mound-builders were colonists sent out from Mexico, since 
 it is improbable that colonists would have penetrated into the 
 extreme North-west by way of the Missouri Eiver. Further- 
 more we have the valuable argument of Baron von Hellwald 
 made at the Luxembourg session of the Congres International 
 de Americanistes in favor of a migration from north to south, in 
 
THE ANCIENT NAHUA. 493 
 
 his reply to Mr. Kobert S. Kobertson's paper on " the Mound- 
 builders/' namely, that no evidence exists of the Mexicans or 
 Central Americans having worked copper mines anterior to the 
 conquest ; hence it follows that since copper was employed by 
 both Mexicans and Mound-builders, it must have been carried 
 southward by the latter. 1 (3) We have testimony of the early 
 writers that the Nahuas came from the North-east ; Sahagun 
 says from the direction of Florida, which then embraced the 
 Mississippi Valley. (4) We have the statements of Acosta and 
 Sahagun that the Apalaches occupying the region east of the 
 Mississippi extended their colonies far into Mexico. According 
 to Acosta the Mexicans called them Apalaches, Tlautuics or 
 Mountaineers. " Sahagun speaking of them says : ' They are 
 Nahuas and speak the Mexican language/ This is by no means 
 improbable, as the Aztec is found eastward in the present states 
 of Tamaulipas and Coahuila, and thence the distance to the 
 Mississippi is not so far." 2 In their search for the Aztec element 
 in the North, every investigator Buschmann among the rest 
 has made a great oversight. They have expected to find resem- 
 blances to the Aztec as it was spoken at the time of the con- 
 quest after centuries of culture had been bestowed upon it in 
 the schools of Mexico and Tezcuco. It appears never to have 
 occurred to these scholars, that if Mexican similarities exist at 
 the North they are with the ancient form of the Nahua, which 
 Orozco y Berra tells us "differs as much from the modern Nahua 
 or Aztec as the Spanish of the Komance of the Cid from the 
 Spanish of to-day," or coming nearer home, we may say that it 
 probably differed as much as the Anglo-Saxon of King Alfred 
 and the English of the present. The linguistic researches 
 referred to have certainly been made over a wide chasm of time 
 and change, as viewed in this light, and when we consider the 
 instability of language in America, the wonder is that any 
 
 1 Compte-Rendu Seconde Ses. Cong. Interned, de Americanistes, Luxembourg, 
 vol. i, pp. 51-2. 
 
 2 Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, p. 727. Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 600. 
 Sahagun, Hist. Gen., torn, iii, lib. ix, cap. 9. 
 
494 OTOMI AND CHINESE COMPARED. 
 
 Nahua traces exist at the North-west at this late date. 1 This 
 phenomenon can only be accounted for on the supposition that, 
 at a remote period, large numbers of Nahua-speaking people 
 resided for a considerable length of time in those regions. The 
 presence of the mounds in such numbers in Washington and the 
 British possessions north of it, leads to this view, provided it can 
 be established that the Mound-builders were Nahuas. The fact 
 that the line of mounds is toward the interior precludes the 
 expectation that the Nahua is to be found prominently present 
 west of the Kocky Mountains. It is plausible to consider the 
 Moquis a branch from the Nahuas, separating from them at an 
 early day and establishing themselves in Southern Oregon and 
 Utah, whence, according to their tradition, they were driven by 
 the Utes. In the course of time, their language, which contains 
 a Nahua element, may have become changed and lost much of 
 its original character. To their residence, migration, and the 
 possible captivity of many of their number, the traces of Aztec 
 found in the Shoshone and Utah tongues may be due. 
 
 Analogies between the Nahua and all the other languages of 
 the world have been assiduously sought for, and supposed affilia- 
 tions advocated by theorists, but in the present unsatisfactory 
 state of philological science it would be presumptuous for us to 
 pretend that any claim for linguistic analogies with the old world 
 could be sustained. There is no doubt that strong analogies 
 are observable between the Otomi and the Chinese. Senor 
 Najera, to whom the former is vernacular, has appended to his 
 excellent grammar of the Otomi a comparative table of Chinese 
 and Otomi words, which while it shows strong resemblances, is 
 not sufficient in itself to establish relationship. 2 
 
 1 " To show how languages spring up and grow, Vancouver, when visiting 
 the coast in 1792, found in various places along the shores of Oregon, Washing- 
 ton and Vancouver's Island, nations that now and then understood words and 
 sentences of the Nootka and other tongues, some of which had been adopted 
 into their own language. When Lewis and Clarke, in 1806, reached the coast, 
 the jargon [Chinook] seems to have already assumed a fixed shape, as may be 
 seen from the sentences quoted by the explorers." Bancroft's Native Races, 
 vol. iii, p. 632. 
 
 2 I append a partial list from Senor Najera's Disertacion sobre la lengua 
 
MONOSYLLABISM. 
 
 495 
 
 Warden has treated the grammatical resemblances, which 
 in many respects are striking. 1 It is one of the most singular 
 phenomena met with in the whole range of ethnography and 
 philology, that a monosyllabic language should be found in the 
 very heart of Mexico surrounded by the most remarkable poly- 
 syllabism in the world, touching the capital on the south-east 
 and extending north-west into San Luis Potosi and over portions 
 of Queretaro and Guanajuato. It is no doubt a language of 
 great antiquity, and whether Chinese in origin is not fully 
 determined. 2 Numerous claims have been set forth that some 
 of the Californian languages bear a striking resemblance to the 
 Chinese, and that Indians and Chinese in some cases have found 
 so much in common in their respective languages as to be able 
 to hold conversations with each other. These claims have in 
 most instances been supported by persons having little knowl- 
 
 Othomi, Mexico, 1845, fol., pp. 87-8. I have rendered the Spanish list into 
 English. 
 
 Chinese. 
 
 Othomi. 
 
 English. 
 
 Chinese. 
 
 Othomi. 
 
 English. 
 
 Cho. 
 
 To. 
 
 The, that. 
 
 Pa. 
 
 Da. 
 
 To give. 
 
 Y. 
 
 N-y. 
 
 A wound. 
 
 Tsun. 
 
 Nsu. 
 
 Honor. 
 
 Ten. 
 
 Gu, Mu. 
 
 Head. 
 
 Hu. 
 
 Hmu. 
 
 Sir, Lord. 
 
 Siao. 
 
 Sui. 
 
 Night. 
 
 Na. 
 
 Na. 
 
 That. 
 
 Tien. 
 
 Tsi. 
 
 Tooth. 
 
 Hu. 
 
 He. 
 
 Cold. 
 
 Ye. 
 
 Yo. 
 
 Shining. 
 
 Ye. 
 
 He. 
 
 And. 
 
 Ky. 
 
 Hy (ji). 
 
 Happiness. 
 
 Hoa. 
 
 Hia. 
 
 Word. 
 
 Ku. 
 
 Du. 
 
 Death. 
 
 Nugo. 
 
 Nga. 
 
 I. 
 
 Po. 
 
 Yo. 
 
 No. 
 
 Ni. 
 
 Nuy. 
 
 Thou. 
 
 Na. 
 
 Ta. 
 
 Man. 
 
 Hao. 
 
 Nho. 
 
 The good. 
 
 Nin. 
 
 Nsu. 
 
 Female. 
 
 Ta. 
 
 Da. 
 
 The great. 
 
 Tseu, 
 
 Tsi, Ti. 
 
 Son. 
 
 Li. 
 
 Ti. 
 
 Gain. 
 
 Tso. 
 
 Tsa. 
 
 To perfect. 
 
 Ho. 
 
 To. 
 
 Who. 
 
 uan. 
 
 Khuani. 
 
 True. 
 
 Pa. 
 
 Pa. 
 
 To leave. 
 
 Siao, 
 
 Sa. 
 
 To mock. 
 
 Mu, Mo. 
 
 Me. 
 
 Mother. 
 
 1 Warden, in Antiquities Mexicains, torn, ii, div. ii, pp. 125 et seq. The same 
 author has furnished many linguistic analogies, though without following any 
 scientific classification. Ampere, Promenade en Amerique, vol. ii, p. 301, fur- 
 nishes a list of Chinese and Otomi resemblances. 
 
 2 Orozco y Berra, Geografia, p. 17. Pimentel, Leng. Indig. de Hex., torn, i, 
 p. 118. Bancroft, vol. iii, p. 737. Vater, Mithridates, torn, iii, pt. iii, p. 113. 
 Malte-Brun (V. S.), in Congres de Americanistes, de Luxembourg, Seconde Sea., 
 torn, ii, pp. 16-18. 
 
496 
 
 JAPANESE ANALOGIES. 
 
 edge of the principles of philology, and who are scarcely aware of 
 the difficulty of comparing two monosyllabic languages in which 
 the finest shade of pronunciation carries with it the greatest 
 significance. 1 Japanese claims have been urged with some rea- 
 son by ethnologists no less eminent than Latham, who is confi- 
 dent that the "Kamskadale, Koriak, Aino-Japanese and the 
 Korean are the Asiatic languages most like those of America." 2 
 Comparisons of the Indian languages with those of the old 
 world have often been made, most frequently in a haphazard 
 manner and to little purpose. Kecently, however, Herr Forch- 
 hammer of Leipzig published a truly scientific comparison of 
 the grammatical structure of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Musko- 
 gee and Seminole languages, with the Ural-Altaic tongues, in 
 
 1 " In 1857, a gentleman named Henley, a good Chinese scholar, who acted 
 as an interpreter of this state for some time, published a list of words in the 
 Chinese and Indian languages to show that they were of the same origin. 
 From this we make an extract supporting our remarks : 
 
 Indian. 
 Naug-a, 
 Yi-soo, 
 Keoka, 
 Aek-a-soo, 
 Yuet-a, 
 Yeeta, 
 Utyta, 
 Lee-lum, 
 Ho-ya-pa, 
 
 We have no means at hand of testing the following statement from the same 
 author: "The Chinese, who have become so numerous in California since the 
 discovery of gold, bear a striking resemblance to the Indians, and are known to 
 be able to converse with them in their respective languages to an extent that 
 cannot be the result of mere coincidence of expression." Cronaise, The Natural 
 Wealth of California, p. 31. Probably a mistake. 
 
 2 " Unhesitatingly as I make this assertion an assertion for which I have 
 numerous tabulated vocabularies as proof I am by no means prepared to say 
 that one-tenth part of the necessary work has been done for the parts in ques- 
 tion ; indeed, it is my impression that it is easier to connect America with the 
 Kuirle Isles and Japan, etc., than it is to make Japan and the Kuirle Isles, etc., 
 Asiatic." Latham, Man and His Migrations, pp. 195-6. Barton, New Views, 
 is certain that the languages of America originated in Asia ; see pp. Ixxxviii- 
 xcii. On p. 28 of Appendix he furnishes a comparative list of Japanese and 
 Indian words. 
 
 Chinese, 
 
 English. 
 
 Indian. 
 
 Chinese. 
 
 English. 
 
 Nang, 
 
 Man. 
 
 A-pa, 
 
 A-pa, 
 
 Father. 
 
 Soa, 
 
 Hand. 
 
 A-ma, 
 
 A-ma, 
 
 Mother. 
 
 Keok, 
 
 Foot. 
 
 Ko-le, 
 
 A-ko, 
 
 Brother. 
 
 Soo, 
 
 Beard. 
 
 Ko-chae, 
 
 To-chae, 
 
 Thanks. 
 
 Yuet, 
 
 Moon. 
 
 Nagam, 
 
 Yam, 
 
 Drunk. 
 
 Yat, 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Koolae, 
 
 Ku-kay, 
 
 Her. 
 
 Hoto, 
 
 Much. 
 
 Koo-chue, 
 
 Chue-koo, 
 
 Hog. 
 
 Ee-lung, 
 
 Deafness. 
 
 Chookoo, 
 
 Kow-chi, 
 
 Dog." 
 
 Ho-ah, 
 
 Good. 
 
 
 
 
ANALOGIES IN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 497 
 
 which he has developed many interesting points of resemblance. 1 
 Prof. Yalentini has called attention to the fact that Ptolemy 
 (Geography, Asia Minor, Chapter X, Armenia Major) gives in his 
 list of cities belonging to the Koman province in his time (A. D. 
 140), the names of five cities situated in the region of the historic 
 Ararat, which have nearly their counterpart in five proper names 
 applied to localities in Mexico by its ancient colonists. The cities 
 of Armenia Major, according to Ptolemy, are : Choi, Colua, 
 Zuivana, Cholima, Zalissa. " The first name Choi is contained 
 in Cholula; the second, Colua, in Coluacan; the third, Zuivana, 
 in Zuivan, which is the ancient name of the Yucatanic province 
 of Bacalab (see Perez in Stephens' Yucatan, Appendix, vol. ii, 
 Chronology of Yucatan). Cholima is to-day written Colima, 
 Zalissa is contained in Xalisco, the Spanish x sounding in the 
 Nahua language like the English sh" 2 Generally we have been 
 disposed to pronounce all such coincidences accidental, as most 
 of them certainly are. In this case we leave the decision to the 
 reader. In this chapter we have noticed two prominent families 
 of languages, (1) the Maya-Quiche, having such transatlantic 
 affinities as to furnish presumptive evidence that if it did not 
 originate from, it was at least influenced by the West European 
 or African languages. (2) The great Nahua family, which lin- 
 guistic researches, together with the circumstantial evidence 
 furnished by architectural remains, commercial intercourse and 
 the testimony of early writers, assign to at least a temporary 
 occupancy of the Columbian region on the North-west coast. 
 Concede this fact, and you must look elsewhere, possibly to the 
 opposite continent, for the early beginnings of a language so 
 ancient and polished. 
 
 While the proof is not conclusive, yet we think it is pre- 
 sumptive that both of these families, as well as some other 
 American languages, are of old world origin. 
 
 1 Vergleichung der Amerikanischen Sprachen mit den Ural-Altaischen liin- 
 sichtlich ihrer Grammatik. (Congres des Americanistes, Luxembourg, 1877, 
 torn, ii, p. 56 et seq.) Also see E. L. O. Roehrig " On the Language of the Dakota 
 or Sioux Indians," Smithsonian Report, 1872. 
 
 2 Prof. Valentini's communication to the author. 
 
 32 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PROBABILITIES THAT AMERICA WAS PEOPLED FROM THE 
 OLD WORLD, CONSIDERED GEOGRAPHICALLY AND PHYSI- 
 CALLY. 
 
 Legends of Atlantis Brasseurde Bourbourg's Theory The Subject Examined 
 Scientifically Retzius' View Le Plongeon's Observations Identity of 
 European and American Plant Types Revelations of the Dolphin and 
 Challenger Expeditions The Atlantic Floor Challenger and Dolphin 
 Ridges Challenger Plateau probably once Dry Land Identity of 
 European and South American Fauna Elevation and Depression of Coast 
 Level of Greenland, United States, and South America Gulf- Stream 
 Equatorial Current The Trade- Winds Accidental Discovery of Brazil 
 America Probably Reached by Ancient Navigators The Caras Atolls of 
 the Pacific Ocean A Pacific Continent Contiguity of the Continents at 
 the North Aleutian Islands Kuro-Suvo Behring's Straits Inviting 
 Appearance of the American Shore Remoteness of the Migration Prof. 
 Grote's View Prof. Asa Gray's Observations Conditions Favorable to a 
 Migration John H. Becker's Observations. 
 
 ~T Y7~E have observed that traditional and linguistic evidence 
 VV seems to point to a trans -Atlantic origin for some of the 
 American peoples. In a preceding chapter (iii), we quoted the 
 story of the Platonic Atlantis, as recorded in the Critias, and 
 alluded to the advocacy by the Abbe Brasseur cle Bourbourg of 
 the hypothesis that the submerged continent of Egyptian tradi- 
 tion was a reality. In support of this view, the Abbe has cited 
 the opinions of geologists and the remarkable traditions preserved 
 by the Central Americans, the Mexicans, and the Haytians, 
 concerning the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions which sub- 
 merged beneath the ocean a continent, of which the Antilles are 
 but its mountain summits. Attach as little importance as we 
 may to these ancient legends, which no doubt refer to some 
 extraordinary cataclysm, the memory of which was preserved 
 
LEGENDS OF ATLANTIS. 499 
 
 for ages by periodic feasts and religious celebrations, 1 in which 
 the gods were besought by princes and people for security 
 against a similar calamity, still our minds naturally associate 
 them with the story of the Platonic Atlantis. 2 
 
 1 Brasseur, in Landa's Relation, p. xxi, and Popol Vuh, chap. iii. Brasseur, 
 in Quatre Lettres, p. 24, speaking of the Codex Ckimalpopoca, says: "Oui, Mon- 
 sieur, si ce livre est en apparence 1'histoire des Tolteques et ensuite des rois des 
 Collmacan et de Mexico, il presente, en realite, le recit du cataclysnie que boule- 
 versa le monde, il y a quelques six on sept mille ans, et constitua le continents 
 dans leur etat actuel," pp. 40-41. He expresses his belief that the Cod. Chim. 
 has a double meaning, and that many names and symbols possessed by the 
 natives refer to the cataclysm which occurred six or seven thousand years 
 ago. " C'est le recit de ces bouleversements, c'est 1'histoire du cataclysme, dont 
 tous les peuples ont garde la memoire, que recontent tous mes documents." 
 
 2 The following are the legends, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg: "Ac- 
 cording to the tradition of the Sacred Book (Popol Vuh), water and fire con- 
 tributed to the universal ruin, at the time of the last cataclysm which preceded 
 the fourth creation. ' Then,' says the author, ' the waters were agitated by the 
 will of the Heart of Heaven, and a great inundation came upon the heads of 
 these creatures. * * * They were engulfed, and a resinous thickness 
 descended from heaven. * * * The face of the earth was obscured 
 and a heavy darkening rain commenced, rain by day and rain by night. 
 * * * There was heard a great noise above their heads as if produced by 
 fire. Then were men seen running, pushing each other, filled with despair; 
 they wished to climb upon their houses, and the houses tumbling down fell to 
 the ground ; they wished to climb upon the trees, and the trees shook them 
 off; they wished to enter into the grottoes, and the grottoes closed themselves 
 before them.' In the Codex Chimalpopoca, the author, speaking of the destruc- 
 tion which took place by fire, says : ' The third sun is called Quia-Tonatiuft, sun 
 of rain, because there fell a rain of fire ; all which existed burned, and there fell 
 a rain of gravel.' They also narrate that whilst the sandstone which we now 
 see scattered about, and the tetzontli (amygdaloide poreuse) boiled with great 
 tumult, there also rose the racks of vermillion color. Now this was in the year 
 Ce Tecpactl, One Flint, it was the day Nahui-Quiahuitl, Fourth Rain. Now, in 
 this day, in which men were lost and destroyed in a rain of fire, they were trans- 
 formed into goslings ; the sun itself was on fire, and everything, together with 
 the houses, was consumed." Brasseur recounts a Haytian legend concerning the 
 origin of the sea and isles : " There was, they say, a powerful man called laia, 
 who, having murdered his only son, wished to bury him ; but not knowing 
 where to put him, enclosed him in a calabash, which he placed afterwards at 
 the foot of a high mountain, situated a little distance from the place where he 
 lived ; on account of his affection for his son he often went to the spot. One 
 day, having opened it (the calabash), there came out whales and other very 
 large fishes, of which laia, full of fear, having returned home, told his neighbors 
 
500 BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURGPS THEORY. 
 
 Until recently the mere expression of belief in the former 
 existence of an Atlantic continent has been the signal for criti- 
 cism, and has called forth the smile of pity, if not of contempt. 
 Such, however, is no longer true, since scientific investigation, 
 consisting chiefly in deep-sea soundings and the study of the 
 fauna and flora of the opposite shores of the Atlantic, call for 
 the respectful attention of all who are interested in the ancient 
 history of this continent. Prominent among the men of science 
 who have expressed confidence in this hypothesis is Prof. Andres 
 Ketzius of Stockholm, who was convinced from a study of com- 
 parative craniology, that the primitive dolichocephalic skulls of 
 America, especially of the ancient Caribs of the Antilles, were 
 nearly related to the Guanches of the Canary Islands. 1 
 
 Dr. Le Plongeon observed that the sandals upon the feet of 
 the statue of Chaacmol, discovered at Chichen-Itza, and of the 
 statue of a priestess found on the island of Mugeres, a are 
 
 what had happened, saying that this calabash was filled with water and innu- 
 merable fishes. This news being spread abroad, four twin brothers, desiring to 
 obtain fish, went to the place where the calabash was. Just as they had taken 
 it in their hand to open it, laia came, and they seeing him, threw the calabash 
 on the ground, in their fear of him. This (the calabash) having burst, on 
 account of the great weight which was enclosed in it, the waters gushed forth, 
 and the interminable plain, which stretched farther than the eye could reach, 
 was flooded and covered with water. The mountains alone, because of their 
 great height, were not submerged in this great inundation. So they believed 
 that these mountains were the islands and the other divisions of the earth 
 which we see in the world." Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa's Relation, 
 pp. xxi-4v. < 
 
 1 " With regard to the primitive dolichocephalse of America, I entertain an 
 hypothesis still more bold, perhaps, namely, that they are nearly related to the 
 Guanches in the Canary Islands and to the Atlantic populations of Africa, the 
 Moors, Tauricks, Copts, etc., which Latham comprises under the name of 
 Egyptian- Atlantidae. * * .* We find, then, one and the same form of 
 skull in the Canary Islands, in front of the African coast, and in the Carib- 
 Islands, on the opposite coast which faces Africa. * * * The color of the 
 skin on both sides of the Atlantic is represented in these populations as being 
 of a reddish-brown. * * * These facts involuntarily recall the tradition 
 which Plato tells us in his Timceus was communicated to Solan by an Egyptian 
 priest respecting the ancient Atlantis. * * * This tradition deserves 
 attention in connection with facts which seem to point in the same direction." 
 Retzius, in Smithsonian Report for 1859, p. 266. 
 
DR. LE PLONGEON'S OBSERVATIONS. 5Q1 
 
 exact representations of those found on the feet of the Guanclies, 
 the early inhabitants of the Canary Islands, whose mummies 
 are yet occasionally met with in the caves of Teneriffe and the 
 other isles of the group/' 1 The great number of American 
 plant-types in the Miocene flora of Switzerland, led Prof. Unger 
 to espouse the view that a continent formerly existed in the 
 present Atlantic ocean. 2 Professor Heer, the celebrated bota- 
 nist of Zurich, for the same reasons promulgated this hypothesis, 
 and in his Flora Tertiaria Helvetice, defines the location of the 
 continent, which he believes to have been as wide as Europe. 3 
 In opposition to this view, it is urged by Professors Oliver and 
 Asa Gray, that the flora of America and Europe are united by 
 means of a former overland communication at Behring's Straits. 4 
 The conformation of the ocean-bed is the next matter of impor- 
 tance in examining the subject. The deep-sea soundings taken 
 for the submarine cable between Newfoundland and Ireland, 
 led to the impression that the Atlantic floor was comparatively a 
 level, forming but one great trough between the continents. The 
 United States exploring ship Dolphin, however, subsequently 
 dispelled this illusion, by revealing the fact that a great sub- 
 marine plateau or mountain chain which has been denominated 
 the " Dolphin Rise," divided the North Atlantic into two longi- 
 tudinal troughs running north and south. This is described as 
 a seal-shaped ridge with its tail joining a connecting ridge at 
 the south in 15 North Lat. and 45 West Long., while its body 
 widens as it runs towards the north, reaching its maximum 
 width under the forty-fifth parallel, and finally tapering to a 
 narrow isthmus at 52 North Lat. and 30 West Long., which 
 
 1 Salisbury, Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, pp. 57-61. 
 
 2 Unger, Die Versunkene Insel Atlantis, cited by Lyell, Antiquity of Han, 
 p. 440. 
 
 3 Published in Winterthal, 1854-58, 3 bde. Also by the same author, see 
 Urwelt der Schweiz, Zurich, 1865, and ErganzungsUatter, bd. ii (Hildburgh), 
 1867. See Meyer's Konversations-Lexicon, 3. Aufl., bd. viii, p. 603 ; bd. ii, 
 p. 125, where the above are cited. Dr. Otto Ule, Die Erde, bd. i, p. 27, concurs 
 with the above ; work published in Leipzig, 1874, 2 vols. large 8vo. 
 
 4 See Lyell, Antiquity of Man, p. 440, and Oliver, Lecture at the Royal 
 Institution, March 7, 18G2, cited by Lyell. 
 
502 DEEP-SEA SOUNDING EXPEDITIONS. 
 
 connects the ridge with the great northern submarine table- 
 land. 1 
 
 This work was prosecuted further by the German frigate 
 Gazelle, and by H. M. ships Lightning and Porcupine, with con- 
 firmatory results. 2 The most thorough and satisfactory work 
 of this character, however, was performed during the cruise of 
 H. M. ship Challenger, from December 30, 1872, until May 24, 
 1876, inclusive. Sir C. Wyville Thomson, the director of the 
 expedition, in his excellent work, The Atlantic, has contributed 
 much exact information relative to the contour of the sea-bed. 
 The frontispiece to his second volume is a chart illustrative of 
 the relative depths of different localities in the Atlantic ocean. 
 Almost its entire length from north to south, the great chain 
 whose loftiest summits tower above the sea in the Azores 
 Islands, St. Paul's Rocks, Ascension and St. Helena Islands, is 
 indicated by a white irregular belt representing a depth of one 
 thousand fathoms, but shading off into the blue, indicative of 
 the depths on either hand. Professor Thomson says, "Com- 
 bining our own observations with reliable data which have been 
 previously or subsequently acquired, we find the mean depth 
 of the Atlantic is a little over 2000 fathoms. An elevated ridge 
 rising to an average height of about 1900 fathoms below the 
 surface, traverses the basin of the North and South Atlantic, in 
 a meridional direction from Cape Farewell, probably as far south, 
 at least, as Gough Island, following roughly the outlines of the 
 coasts of the old and new worlds. A branch of this elevation 
 strikes off to the south-westward, about the parallel of 10 
 North, and connects it with the coast of South America at Cape 
 Orange ; and another branch across the eastern trough, joining 
 the continent of Africa, probably about the parallel of 25 
 South." 3 
 
 1 Sir C. Wyville Thomson, The Atlantic (voyage of the Challenger), vol. i, 
 pp. 190, 203, 213 ; vol. ii, 23, 232. New York, 1878. Also see Scientific Ameri- 
 can for July 28th, 1877. 
 
 2 Depths of the Sea, by Dr. Carpenter, F.R.S., J. G. Jeffreys, F.R.S., and 
 Dr. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S., London, 1873. 
 
 3 The Atlantic, Exploring Voyage of H. M. 8. Challenger, vol. ii, pp. 218-9. 
 
THE "CHALLENGER PLATEAU" ONCE DRY LAND. Q3 
 
 The width of the great land ridge as well as its relation to 
 the North. Atlantic islands is indicated in the following : " One 
 of the most remarkable differences between the Azores and Ber- 
 muda is, that while Bermuda springs up an isolated peak from 
 a great depth, the Azores seem to be simply the highest points 
 of a great plateau-like elevation, which extends for upwards of a 
 thousand miles from west to east, and appears to be continuous 
 with a belt of shallow water stretching to Iceland in the north 
 and connected probably with the c Dolphin Kise ' to the south- 
 ward, a plateau which in fact divides the North Atlantic longi- 
 tudinally into two great valleys, an eastern and a western." 1 A 
 member of the Challenger staff, in a lecture delivered in London 
 soon after the termination of the expedition, expressed the 
 fullest confidence that the great submarine plateau is the 
 remains of the "lost Atlantis," citing as proof the fact that 
 the inequalities, the mountains and valleys of its surface, could 
 never have been produced in accordance with any laws for the 
 deposition of sediment nor by submarine elevation, but, on the 
 contrary, must have been carved by agencies acting above the 
 water level. 2 The volcanic character of the Azores and Philip- 
 pines, together with the prevalence of volcanic deposits found 
 upon the entire ridge by the officers of the Challenger, lend 
 probability to the Egyptian and American legends of a tremen- 
 dous catastrophe in which a continent was submerged beneath 
 the waves. 3 
 
 Sir C. Wyvillo Thomson found that the fauna of the coast of 
 Brazil brought up in his dredging machine, were similar to that 
 of the western coast of South Europe. 4 This is of particular 
 interest, since at a short distance north of the Amazon an arm 
 of the central ridge connects the sunken plateau with the coast 
 of South America. Mr. J. Starke Gardner, the eminent English 
 geologist, is of the opinion that in the Eocene period a great 
 extension of land existed to the west of Cornwall. The extra- 
 ordinary mingling of American, Asiatic, Australian and African 
 
 1 The Atlantic, vol. ii, p. 23. s Scientific American, July 28, 1877. 
 
 3 The Atlantic, vol. ii, p. 254. 4 Ibid, vol. ii, p. 288. 
 
504 ELEVATION AND DEPRESSION OP COAST LEVEL. 
 
 genera in all European floras of the Tertiary period leads him to 
 the conviction that at a remote time they were all connected. 
 Referring to the locations of the Dolphin and Challenger ridges, 
 he asserts that a great tract of land formerly existed where the 
 sea now is, and that Cornwall, the Scilly and Channel islands, 
 Ireland and Brittany are the remains of its highest summits. 1 
 The question at once arises, " What ground have we for believing 
 that the great Atlantic ridges ever occupied a higher altitude 
 than at present ? " The answer is found in the comparison of 
 facts with the following theory set forth by Prof. Joseph Le 
 Conte : " Any increase in the height and extent of the whole 
 amount of land on the globe must be attended with a corre- 
 sponding depression of the sea-bottoms, and therefore an actual 
 subsidence of the sea-level everywhere. Hence if it be true, as is 
 generally believed, that the continents have been, on the whole, 
 increasing in extent and in height, in the course of geological 
 history, then it is true also that the seas have been subsiding, 
 and that therefore the relative changes are the sum of the two." 2 
 It cannot be denied that the processes of elevation and depression 
 are now actively going on along the eastern coast of both the 
 Americas. The coast of Greenland is sinking along a distance of 
 600 miles so markedly that ancient buildings on low rock-islands 
 are now submerged, and the Greenlander has learned by expe- 
 rience never to build near the water's edge. 3 The subsidence 
 along our Atlantic seaboard is slowly going on, being most 
 marked on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, while on the 
 other hand the elevation of the eastern coast of South America 
 has been accomplished by the hidden forces, volcanic or other- 
 wise, on a stupendous scale. "Raised beaches" have been traced 
 1180 miles down the eastern shore and 2075 miles along the 
 western, ranging from 100 to 1300 feet above the sea, and Alex- 
 ander Agassiz has recently identified them at a height of 3000 
 feet above the present sea-level by means of corals found adher- 
 
 1 Popular Science Review, July 1878, cited by Scientific American of August 
 24, 1878, vol. xxxix, p. 114. 
 
 2 Le Conte, Elements of Geolojy, New York, 1878, p. 131. 
 
 3 Lo Conte, Geology, p. 129. 
 
THE GULF STREAM. 5Q5 
 
 ing to the rocks. 1 In view of these facts, so familiar to any 
 student of geology, it is not difficult to conceive of the former 
 existence of Atlantis where the Dolphin and Challenger locate 
 the mid- Atlantic ridge, described as 1000 miles in width in the 
 latitude of the Azores. Supposing the existence of an Atlantic 
 continent in the Tertiary period conceded, we have no means at 
 present of determining the approximate time of its subsidence, 
 unless we associate it with the dim and uncertain legends of the 
 Egyptian priests and the ancient Americans. Whether the 
 Atlantidas who threatened to overthrow the earliest Greek and 
 Egyptian states, but who were swallowed up by the sea in the 
 engulfment of their island continent, were the inhabitants of the 
 Dolphin and Ohallenyer ridges and the colonists of Eastern 
 America, must for the present at least remain in doubt, though 
 strong probabilities point to the conclusion that they were. 2 
 
 The colonization of America by transatlantic peoples, it seems 
 to us, did not depend upon the existence of a land bridge at a 
 remote period, but could have been accomplished without the 
 aid of the compass, either intentionally or accidentally, through 
 the agency of the equatorial current and the trade-winds, two 
 mighty forces perpetually tending toward the shores of the new 
 world. The return current of the Gulf Stream which describes 
 a semicircle in the east Atlantic washes in its sweep the Azores, 
 the Madeira, the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, approaching 
 in its southern course the shores of Portugal, Morocco, and the 
 Sahara Desert, and finally uniting with the stronger equatorial 
 current which rushes up the coast of Africa, crosses the Atlantic 
 under the equator, and skirts the coast of South America until it 
 reaches the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. 3 The north- 
 east trade-winds blowing perpetually from the coast of Europe 
 in a belt from eighteen to twenty degrees in width (or from 
 1245 to 1275 miles) reach the coasts of the American continent 
 over an area which extends from the mouth of the Amazon to 
 
 1 Ibid, pp. 127-32. Dr. Otto Ule, Die Erde, bd. i, ss. 496-502. 
 
 2 See Plato's Critias and Timceas. Also Aristotle, De Mundo, cap. iii, and 
 Prince Henry the Navigator, chap, vii, by Major, Lond., 1868. 
 
 3 See Eeclus, The Ocean, pp. 70-82. New York, ed. 1873. 
 
506 AMERICA PROBABLY REACHED BY ANCIENT NAVIGATORS. 
 
 the northern boundary of Florida. Through the agency of these 
 mild but almost unvarying forces Columbus was steadily borne on 
 to the accomplishment of the greatest event of modern history. 
 The companions of the Admiral were dismayed by the per- 
 sistency with which they were wafted beyond the bounds of the 
 known world, and ascribed the unceasing east wind, which they 
 supposed offered them no hope of return to their homes, to a 
 device of the devil. In one of the houses on the island of Gua- 
 daloupe Columbus on his second voyage saw the stern-post of a 
 vessel, supposed to have been the fragment of some ship that had 
 drifted across the Atlantic and been cast, together with the crew, 
 upon unknown shores. How often and how long this same pro- 
 cess had operated it is impossible to conjecture. 1 The accidental 
 discovery of Brazil by Cabral furnishes an additional reason for 
 believing that anciently vessels may have reached the new world. 
 Pedro Alvarez de Cabral was dispatched by the Portuguese on 
 the 9th of March 1500, with a fleet of thirteen vessels on a voyage 
 around the Cape of Good Hope, to Calicut. After passing the 
 Cape Verde Islands he bore away to the west, in order to avoid 
 the calms prevailing on the Guinea coast. On the 25th of April, 
 to his surprise he discovered what proved to be the South 
 American continent, at a point which he named Porto Securo. 2 
 When we consider that the distance from the coast of Africa to 
 Cape Frio, Brazil, is but 1530 miles, and realize that twelve 
 centuries B. c. the Phoenicians and probably other maritime 
 peoples of the Mediterranean visited Britain at the north 
 and coasted Africa to the south, the probabilities are strong 
 that, through the natural agency of the Atlantic currents and 
 the trade- winds, some ancient mariners reached the American 
 coast. 3 
 
 1 Irving's Columbus, vol i, chap, iii ; vol. ii, p. 308. Reclus, Ocean, pp. 
 223, 229. 
 
 2 Irving's Columbus, vol. ii, p. 279. Lafiteau, Conqucstes des Portugais, 
 lib. ii, cited by Irving. 
 
 3 See Martius, Beitragc, etc., p. 180, for the origin-tradition of the Tupis 
 or Brazilians, where it is narrated that two brothers with their families landed 
 at a remote period on Cape Frio. The brothers Tupi and Guarani gave their 
 names to the two great South American families. 
 
THE CARAS. 5Q7 
 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the authority of Baron cle Eck- 
 stein and his own researches, points to the fact that the Barba- 
 rians who are alluded to by Homer and Thucydides, are a race 
 of ancient navigators and pirates called Cares or Garians, who 
 occupied the islands of Greece and a part of the coast of the 
 Peloponnesus, Arcanania and Illyria, before the Pelasgi. They 
 ruled in Phrygia and other states of Asia Minor, antedating the 
 Phoenicians in their sovereignty of the sea and the Indo-European 
 peoples in their domination of the land. The same people 
 extended their borders into Nubia and Libya and became the 
 ancestors of the nations of the Barbary States. The Abbe, to all 
 appearances, easily identifies them with Caracars or Caribs of the 
 Antilles, the Oaras or Cariari of Honduras, and even with the 
 Gurani of South America. We submit the question for the 
 investigation of the student, rather than with our endorsement. 1 
 Whether a great continent ever existed in the Pacific Ocean since 
 man's appearance on the earth, or whether the great area occupied 
 by Oceanica and the Coral Islands of the Central Pacific was 
 once a continent, are questions which cannot now be determined. 
 It is certain, however, as Professor Dana has shown in his study 
 of the atolls and barriers of the Pacific, that if not a continent, 
 at least a great archipelago measuring 6000 miles in length by 
 from 1000 to 2000 miles in breadth, has subsided to a depth 
 ranging from 3000 to 6000 feet. Professor Dana states that 
 two hundred islands have thus been lost. 2 Professor Le Conte 
 estimates the loss of land to equal 20,000,000 square miles, and 
 defines its boundaries by the Hawaiian and Fejee groups, north 
 
 1 Brasseur in Landa's Relation, pp. lii-lxv ; Eckstein, Les Cares or Cariens 
 de I'Antiquite, 2d part, vi, dans la Revue Archeologique, XV e annee; Brugsch, 
 Die. Geogr. der Nachfarlaender Egyptens, pp. 84-88, cited by Brasseur. " En 
 ces vieux jours du monde, dit encore M. d'Eckstein, ou Iberes et Libyans, 
 Laliabim et Phoutim s'enlacaient plus ou moins a travers 1'Europe occidentale, 
 et poussaient jusqu'au sein de 1'Irlande et de la Grande Bretagne, les monuments 
 de Mizraim semblent reveler des rapports maritimes de ces Libyens et probable- 
 ment de ces Ibe'res avec les Cares et avec les autres races ante-pelasgiques des 
 cotes de la Gr6ce et de 1 'Italic, ainsi quo des lies de 1'Archipel." Brasseur de 
 Bourbourg in Landa's Relation, pp. Ivii-lvm. 
 
 2 Manual of Geology, second ed., p. 583. 
 
508 A PACIFIC CONTINENT. 
 
 and south, and the Paumotu group and Pelews, east and west. 
 He fixes the extreme subsidence at 1000 feet, since the average 
 height of the high islands of the Pacific at present is not less 
 than 9000 feet above the sea level, while some of them reach 
 14000 feet. 1 Professor Dana is of the opinion that this vast area 
 has subsided since the Tertiary age. Whether such is the case 
 or not is a matter of conjecture, but it is certain that much of it 
 has been accomplished within the human era. That a higher 
 civilization once prevailed throughout Polynesia we need only 
 cite the remains found on Easter Island by Captain Cook, and 
 refer to the Appendix of Mr. Baldwin's work, where ruins of 
 a high order are named as existing on Ascension, Marshall, Gil- 
 bert, Kingsmill, Ladrones, Swallow, Strong's, Navigators and Ha- 
 waiian Islands. A quadrangular tower forty feet high and several 
 stone-lined canals are to be seen at the harbor at Strong's 
 Island. On the adjoining isle of Lele, cyclopian walls forming 
 large enclosures are overgrown by forests. " These walls are 
 twelve feet thick, and within are vaults, artificial caverns, and 
 secret passages." "Not more than five hundred people now 
 inhabit these islands ; their tradition is that an ancient city 
 formerly stood around this harbor, mostly on Lele, occupied by 
 a powerful people whom they called ( Anut,' and who had large 
 vessels, in which they made long voyages east and west, ( many 
 moons' being required for these voyages." 3 It is altogether 
 probable that not only a higher civilization once prevailed in 
 Polynesia, but that within the history of man, the greater 
 extent of land, now submerged, made the passage to America 
 comparatively easy. If we turn to the North Pacific, all doubts 
 vanish in the presence of the most favorable conditions for a 
 migration from our continent to the other. With Latham, we 
 believe that if America had first been discovered from the west, 
 and Alaska and the northwest coast been as well known as our 
 Atlantic coast, Northeastern Asia would have naturally passed 
 for the fatherland of Northwestern America. 3 It is scarcely 
 
 1 Le Conte, Elements of Geology, pp. 145-149. 
 
 2 Baldwin's Ancient America, Appendix C, pp. 288-293. 
 
 3 Man and His Migrations, pp. 120-80. 
 
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 5Q9 
 
 necessary to occupy space in pointing out the facilities which the 
 Aleutian Islands offer for a migration even in inferior boats, and 
 at all seasons of the year. The climate, though cool, is not 
 severe, owing to the proximity of the warm current of the Kuro- 
 suvo, and it only requires an inspection of the map to convince 
 the most conservative. Col. Barclay Kennon, formerly of the 
 United States North Pacific Surveying Expedition, after refer- 
 ring to the conspicuousness of the volcano Petropaulski on the 
 shores of Kamtschatka, says : " Proceeding along this coast to 
 Cape Kronotski, which lies north of Petropaulski, the distance 
 to Behring's Island is about one hundred and fifty miles course 
 east. Fifteen miles only from it is Copper Island, and about 
 one hundred and fifty miles south-west of it is Attou Island, 
 the most westerly of the Aleutian group, which is an almost 
 unbroken chain, connecting the American continent to the 
 peninsula of Alaska/' 1 It is evident that the voyage from the 
 Asiatic to the American coast can be made as far south as the 
 Aleutian Islands without losing sight of land but a few hours 
 at a time a matter of no consequence to the intrepid navigators 
 found everywhere among the aborigines upon the islands and 
 coast. 3 The Kuro-suvo or Japan current sweeps along the 
 Asiatic coast, bears away to the east, and describing a semicircle, 
 bends its course southward to the shores of California and 
 Mexico, until it reaches about the tenth parallel of north lati- 
 tude, when it returns to the Japanese coast. 
 
 1 Kennon in Leland's Fasang, p. 68. 
 
 2 " From the result of the most accurate scientific observation, it is evident 
 that the voyage from China to America can be made without being out of sight 
 of land more than a few hours at a time. To a landsman, unfamiliar with 
 long voyages, the mere idea of being ' alone on the wide, wide sea ' with noth- 
 ing but water visible, even for an hour, conveys a strange sense of desolation, 
 of daring and adventure. But in truth it is regarded as a mere trifle, not only 
 by regular seafaring men, but even by the rudest races' in all parts of the world ; 
 and I have no doubt that from the remotest ages, and on all shores, fishermen in 
 open boats, canoes, or even coracles, guided simply by the stars and currents, 
 have not hesitated to go far out of sight of land. At the present day, natives 
 of the South Pacific islands undertake, without a compass, and successfully, 
 long voyages which astonish even a regular Jack-tar, who is not often aston- 
 ished at anything." Kennon in Leland's Fusang, pp. 71-2. 
 
510 BEHRING'S STRAITS. 
 
 This Gulf Stream of the Pacific, which nearly every season 
 casts wrecks of Japanese junks upon our shores, no doubt has 
 been an active agent in giving character to our ancient popula- 
 tion. 1 Added to these twofold facilities for communication of 
 currents and an almost continuous chain of islands we have a 
 third in the narrow channel at Behring's Straits. These straits, 
 according to Sir John F. Herschel, are now " only thirty miles 
 broad where narrowest, and only twenty-five fathoms in their 
 greatest depth/' 2 Sir Charles Lyell, in alluding to the above 
 fact, remarks : " Behring's Straits happen to agree singularly 
 in width and depth with the Straits of Dover, the difference in 
 depth not being more than three or four feet." 3 With this 
 statement before us while standing upon the deck of a vessel 
 midway between Calais and Dover, with the shores of France 
 and England in full view, we felt, as never before, how absurd 
 is the opinion which has been advanced more than once, that 
 no general migration was likely to take place across Behring's 
 Straits. As well say that no general migration was likely to 
 take place across the Straits of Dover ; yet we learn that Britain 
 was known to be inhabited as early as the twelfth century B. c. 4 
 The weather at Behring's Straits, though cold even in summer, 
 is not nearly as cold as the winters of Japan. 5 In winter the 
 
 1 See Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, pp. 51-54, where the paper of the 
 Japanese Consul, Mr. Brooks, read before the Californian Academy of Sciences 
 in March, 1875, is cited, detailing forty-one instances in which Japanese j unks 
 were cast upon our coast since 1782. Mr. Brooks states that he has a record 
 of over one hundred similar disasters. Whymper, in his Alaska (N. Y. 1869), 
 p. 250, refers to other Japanese wrecks, and especially to one which, after 
 drifting ten months, reached the Sandwich Islands. The Hawaiians, on seeing 
 the crew, said, " It is plain now, we came from Asia," See also M. de Roque- 
 feuil, Journal d'un Voyage autour du Monde, pendant les annes, 1816-1819 ; 
 Smith's Human Species, p. 238. 
 
 2 Physical Geography, p. 41, cited by Lyell, Antiquity of Nan, p. 367. 
 
 3 Antiquity of Man, p. 367. 
 
 4 " There is as much reason to believe that America was peopled from Asia, 
 as that the primitive races of Europe and Africa should derive their origin from 
 an Eastern source." Macfie, Vancouver Island and British, Columbia. London, 
 1865. 
 
 5 " The weather is, it is true, cold at Behring's Straits, even in summer, 
 
AMERICAN SHORE INVITING. 51 1 
 
 waters of the straits are frozen over generally as late as April, 
 furnishing a continuous connection between the continents, while 
 in summer the communication at present between the abo- 
 rigines inhabiting opposite shores is continuous. 1 Frederick 
 von Hellwald furnishes an argument for the naturalness of a 
 migration to the American shores the fact that, " while the 
 Asiatic projection near Behring's Straits is almost a sterile rocky 
 waste, the opposite coast presents a much more inviting appear- 
 ance, abounding in trees and shrubs. Moreover, the climate 
 when we pass southward of the peninsula of Alaska, is of a 
 genial character, the temperature continuing nearly the same 
 as far down as Oregon/' 2 The difference in the two shores is 
 owin to the fact that the cold current from the Arctic Ocean 
 
 O 
 
 passes southward along the Asiatic coast, while a portion of 
 the water of the warm current passes up the American shore. 3 
 It is impossible to approximate the period of the world's history 
 in which the migration must have taken place. No doubt it was 
 in a remote age, before the old world peoples had developed their 
 present or even historic peculiarities and types of civilization. 
 
 but not one-fourth as cold as at Matsumai, Japan, in winter." Col. Kennon in 
 Leland's Fasang, p. 74. 
 
 1 Frederick von Hellwald in Smithsonian Report, 1868, p. 345. " Open 
 skin canoes, capable of containing twenty or more persons with tlieir effects, 
 and hoisting several masts and sails, are now frequently observed among the 
 seacoast Tehuktchis, and the inhabitants of northern Alaska." Whymper, 
 Alaska, p. 246-7. 
 
 2 He continues his statement that the Gulf Stream of the Pacific is the 
 warming agent, and adds the argument that "the present inhabitants of the 
 countries contiguous to Behring's Straits on the two sides, in manners, cus- 
 toms, and physical appearance are almost identical." Smithsonian Report, 
 1836, p. 345. 
 
 3 Gallatin, p. 156. Bancroft, in assuming the certainty of a migration by 
 Behring's Straits, says " it seems absurd to argue the question from any point," 
 vol. v, p. 54. Venegas, Noticia de la California, Madrid, 1757, vol. i, p. 71, 
 and London ed., 1759, p. 61, says the Californians at that date had clear tradi- 
 tions of having come from the north. Fontaine, How the World was Peopled, 
 (N. Y. 1872), pp. 147-9, thinks that the march of Genghis with 1,400,000 Tartars 
 caused the flight of his enemies in large numbers across the Aleutian archi- 
 pelago and Behring's Straits. Warden, Recherches, pp. 118-35, makes an argu- 
 ment for a migration through Behring's Straits from Tartary and China. 
 
512 PROFESSOR GROTE'S CONJECTURES. ' 
 
 If this be true, the futility of all old world comparisons, and the 
 unceasing search for analogies which has been going on since the 
 discovery of the continent, is at once apparent. 1 
 
 Prof. Grote thinks the first migration may have taken place 
 in the Tertiary period in Pliocene time, and that the subsequent 
 advent of the ice period cutting off all communication with the 
 old world until recent times, produced a modification in the race, 
 and that man retired with the glacier on its return to the north, 
 where we see his descendants in the Eskimo. 2 If Prof, droll's 
 theory of climatic change resulting from the maximum eccen- 
 tricity of the earth's orbit be true, or even if the ordinary time at 
 which the American glacial period is supposed to have occurred 
 be taken into consideration, we hardly think the evidences of 
 man's prc-glacial residence on this continent are sufficient on 
 which to base a safe hypothesis. 3 Of course Prof. Grote would 
 assign a comparatively recent migration to the civilized nations. 
 Whether a continuous land communication ever existed between 
 the continents at the Aleutian Islands 4 or at Behring's Straits 
 cannot be determined, though the probabilities seem to favor the 
 view that they were once united. 5 
 
 1 Gallatin, ID Amer. EtTinol. Soc. Trans., vol. i, p. 158, says : "That America 
 was first peopled by Asiatic tribes is highly probable ; but after the lapse of 
 several thousand years, the memory of that ancient migration was lost." He 
 inquires as to what we knew of Gaul or Britain before the Roman invasion. 
 Mr. W. H. Dall, in his thoughtful Memoir on the Origin of t7ie Innuit, says : 
 " I see no reason for disputing the hypothesis that America was peopled from 
 Asia originally, and that there were successive waves of emigration. The 
 northern route was clearly by way of Behring Strait ; at least, it was not to 
 the south of that, and especially it was not by way of the Aleutian Islands." 
 In Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. i, p. 95. Washington, 
 1877. 4to. 
 
 2 Aug. R. Grote, The Peopling of America, in American Naturalist, April 
 1877. 
 
 3 Croll, Climate and Time, New York, 1875, 12mo. Prof. McFarland in Am. 
 Jour, of Sci. and Arts, June 1876, p. 456. Newcomb on Croll's TJieory in same 
 journal for April 1876, p. 263. 
 
 4 Whymper, Alaska, pp. 246, 247, discusses the volcanic nature of the Aleu- 
 tian Islands, mentioning the fact that " There are records of very severe shocks 
 of earthquake felt by the Russian traders and nations dwelling on them." 
 
 5 Sir Charles Lyell, Antiquity of Man, pp. 273 et seq., has shown that 
 
CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO A MIGRATION. 513 
 
 Prof. Asa Gray has satisfactorily shown the intimate rela- 
 tionship between the North American and Asiatic vegetation, 
 while many of our fauna are clearly of Asiatic origin. 1 How- 
 ever, it is of little moment in this discussion whether the land 
 bridge ever existed ; the conditions for migration from one con- 
 tinent to the other are now, and no doubt ever have been favor- 
 able, and that different peoples at different times have availed 
 themselves of those conditions is equally certain. We have 
 already alluded to the climatic conditions south of Alaska which 
 would naturally allure a migrating tribe down the coast to 
 Oregon and the Columbian region. Once there, however, a 
 tribe of considerable numbers and enterprise would soon be 
 stimulated to push farther, because of the demands for a more 
 ample support than could be found on the Pacific coast in the 
 region of the Columbia and Frazier Kivers. Still, progress to 
 the south is practically cut off, since the dryness and sterility of 
 the Californian coast, the ice-capped mountains intervening 
 between the north and the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers 
 and the desert highlands which rise with bleak and forbidding 
 aspect between the Sierra Nevada and the eastern Kocky Moun- 
 tains, combine in forming a barrier sufficient to turn the course 
 of a migration. 2 Add to this the fact that the country south of 
 Oregon rises over 2000 feet above the head of the waters of the 
 Columbia and Missouri rivers, and it is apparent that an outlet 
 must be sought in another direction. Nature has provided the 
 highway. Alluding to this fact and to the unbroken line of 
 mounds from the north and west down the Missouri valley, Mr. 
 Becker remarks : " On the head of (canoe) navigation we have 
 
 Great Britain was separated from the continent by subsidence and glacial action, 
 thus producing the English Channel which, we have already seen, corresponds 
 singularly with Behring's Straits in width and depth, and formerly, no doubt, 
 both corresponded more nearly in climatic conditions. It is not unreasonable to 
 suppose that both passages were produced by the same agencies. 
 
 1 Presidential Address to the Am. Association for Adv. of Sci., 1872, and 
 published in his Darwiniana, pp. 203 et seq. 
 
 2 John H. Becker, The Migration of the Nahuas, Congres des Americanwtes, 
 Luxembourg, ses., torn, i, p. 349. Altogether the most enlightened treatment 
 of the subject yet published. 
 
 33 
 
514 MR. BECKER'S OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 what is known as ' portages/ These are depressions in the con- 
 tinuous range of the Rocky Mountains of such a nature that 
 they fairly invite a travelling tribe to cross from the river system 
 of the upper Columbia, emptying into the Pacific Ocean to that 
 of the Missouri, on which a canoe need but be floated in order 
 to arrive in the far distant Gulf of Mexico. Canoes can easily 
 be carried from one river system to the other. Nothing like it 
 exists in the whole mountain range southward, until we arrive at 
 Nicaragua Lake in Central America/' 1 It will not require long 
 for the matter of fact reader, who comprehends the well nigh 
 insurmountable difficulties which lie in the way of populating 
 America in tropical or southern latitudes, and compares with 
 them the facilities which the proximity of the continents and 
 the topography of our country afford, to determine from what 
 quarter America received the greater part of its inhabitants. 
 
 1 Becker in Ibid, pp. 348-9. The same author cites from the Trans, of 
 Am. Geoff. Soc., 1874, the following interesting statement made by Gen. Mil- 
 nor: "Nowhere else on the continent can similar great valleys such as the 
 Missouri and Columbia be found, meeting advantageously at a common point 
 on the main dividing backbone which separates the continental waters flowing 
 east and west to the two oceans. The heads of these main valleys are here only 
 from three to four thousand feet above the sea, while the great treeless plains 
 further eoutb are elevated more than six thousand feet." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE dim uncertainty which envelopes the most ancient period 
 of American antiquity, like that which obscures the begin- 
 nings of Egyptian, Assyrian and Trojan history, to say nothing 
 of the origin of the venerable Asiatic civilizations, renders much 
 of the effort in this field unsatisfactory. Still the results are of 
 surpassing interest. A new cosmogony, mythology and traditional 
 history full of weird poetic inspiration, an inspiration such as is 
 begotten in contemplating the struggles of nature's children after 
 a higher development, is added to the fund of human knowledge. 
 The poetry of the Quiche cosmogony must some day find expres- 
 sion in verse of Miltonic grandeur. The fall of Xibalba will 
 no doubt afford the materials for a heroic poem which will stand 
 in the same relation to America that the Iliad does to Greece. 
 The doctrines of the benign and saintly Quetzalcoatl or Cukul- 
 can must be classed among the great faiths of mankind, and their 
 author, alone of all the great teachers of morals except Christ 
 himself, inculcating a positive morality, must be granted a pre- 
 cedence of most of the great teachers of Chinese and Hindoo 
 antiquity. It is the custom of many Europeans to regard Amer- 
 ica as having no heroic or legendary period, no heroes like Achil- 
 les, jEneas, Sigfried, Beowolf, Arthur and the Cid ; but who 
 will review the romance of American antiquity and longer enter- 
 tain this view ? A few years ago, writers dated North Ameri- 
 can history from the discoveries made by Columbus and his 
 immediate successors. Now they go back to the Northmen for a 
 starting-point. May not the beginning be pushed even farther 
 back, and the ancient "history of America receive the attention 
 of the historiographer ? 
 
516 THE RELATIONSHIP OF AMERICA AND ASIA. 
 
 The origin of the North American population cannot be 
 positively settled at present, though the probabilities are that 
 new facts will be brought to light establishing the relationship 
 of the ancestors of the Nahuas with some ancient Asiatic race, as 
 the Eskimo have clearly been proven to belong to the Arctic race 
 which encircles the globe near the North pole. 1 We have seen 
 that groups of facts unquestionably point to Northern Asia as 
 the ancient home of a large share of the tribes of North America, 
 civilized and savage. The autochthonic hypothesis which had 
 its first great advocate in Dr. Morton, receives no support from 
 his mistaken argument for the unity of the American race. We 
 think we have shown, as did Prof. Wilson before us, that no 
 such fact as ethnic unity exists in America. Dr. Morton's own 
 measurements of crania which we have classified, and the recent 
 measurements of mound skulls, disprove the argument which he 
 sought to establish. The autochthonic hypothesis owed much 
 of its popularity to the support which it received from Prof. 
 Agassiz's doctrine of the separate creations of races of men, a 
 hypothesis which has rapidly lost ground since the decease of its 
 eminent advocate. It is impossible to determine whether the 
 people of the mounds of the United States were preceded in 
 this country by any other people. Certainly they had inter- 
 course with some race having a cranial type quite different from 
 their own, as several low-type skulls taken from the mounds 
 testify. If the rude weapons found in New Jersey are as old as 
 Dr. Abbott supposes 2 belonging to the inter-glacial age the 
 question of man's antiquity on this continent will have to be 
 viewed in a different light from that in which it has hitherto 
 appeared. It is conjectured that this supposed inter-glacial race 
 were the ancestors of the Eskimo of to-day, and retired or were 
 
 1 The expedition which the German government and the Berlin Geograph- 
 ical Society is about to send to the North Pacific under the intelligent direction 
 of my friend Dr. Van der Horck, will no doubt contribute largely to our infor- 
 mation concerning the ethnographical relationship of America to Asia. 
 
 2 Second Report on the Implements found in the Glacial Drift of New Jersey, 
 by C. C. Abbott in Eleventh Annual Beport of Pedbody Museum, pp. 225-57. 
 Cambridge, 1878. 
 
THE NAHUA MIGRATION. 517 
 
 driven to the Arctic regions, where their racial characteristics 
 became permanent. The traditional history of both Mayas and 
 Nahuas seem to indicate an old world origin. The former peo- 
 ple clearly claim an origin which, if their traditions are worth 
 anything, must be assigned to some Mediterranean country. 
 While, on the contrary, the Nahuas persistently state that they 
 came from the north or north-west. It is certain that many of 
 their cosmological traditions closely resemble those of Central 
 and Western Asiatic peoples. Why should the traditions of the 
 ancient Americans be less reliable than those of the most ancient 
 Egyptians, Greeks, or Hindoos ? 1 
 
 Tradition, language and architectural remains furnish us the 
 data by which to trace the migrations of peoples. In addition 
 to the testimony of tradition, the languages of the Mayas and 
 Quiches present affinities to the west European and African 
 languages ; also to the languages of the West Indies and 
 the Antilles. Whether the Quiche traditions concerning their 
 ancient home have reference to the Atlantic coast of the United 
 States is uncertain, though Senor Orozco y Berra believes their 
 ancestors to have migrated from Florida to Cuba and thence to 
 Yucatan. Linguistic and architectural evidences show that the 
 Maya-Quiche family extended its civilization north as far as 
 Panuco, and south as far as Honduras. 
 
 The Nahua migrations are more numerous and their accounts 
 somewhat obscure. It is not improbable that while few in num- 
 ber the Nahuas arrived on our north-western coast, where they 
 found a home until they had become a tribe of considerable 
 proportions. Crossing the watershed between the sources of the 
 Columbia and Missouri Rivers, a large portion of the tribe proba- 
 bly found its way to the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, where it 
 laid the foundations of a wide-spread empire, and developed a 
 civilization which reached a respectable degree of advancement. 
 
 1 Mr. Becker remarks : " Why should the Aztec priesthood and nobility, a 
 class bred and educated in the understanding of traditional lore and an elabo- 
 rate system of picture-writing, be considered as a set of metaphysical lunatics 
 who did not know or did not mean what they said." Migration of the Nahva$ 
 in Cong, des America nistes, Luxembourg, 1877, torn, i, p. 342. 
 
518 HUE HUE TLAPALAN AZTLAN TULAN ZUIVA. 
 
 The remainder of the Nahuas, we think, instead of crossing 
 the Eocky Mountains, migrated southward into Utah, and estab- 
 lished a civilization the remains of which are seen in the cliff- 
 dwellings of the San Juan Valley and such extensive ruins as 
 exist at Aztec Springs. It must be conceded that this hypothesis 
 rests on linguistic and traditional evidence, as no affinity between 
 the architecture of the Cliff-dwellers and either the Mexicans or 
 Mound-builders is traceable. We have in a preceding chapter 
 summarized our reasons for considering the Mound-builders to 
 have been Nahuas. The Olmecs, the first Nahuas to reach 
 Mexico, came in ships from the direction of Florida, landed at 
 Panuco, and journeyed southward until they came in contact with 
 the advanced and already old civilization of the Mayas. The 
 Toltecs came into Mexico by land from the North. The Chiehi- 
 mecs, their former neighbors in Hue hue Tlapalan, whether 
 Nahuas or not originally, followed them and adopted their lan- 
 guage. The Nahuatlaca tribes, speaking the same language, 
 arrived centuries afterward from the same quarter the North. 
 Finally the Aztecs, the last of the Nahuas, reached Anahuac 
 four centuries before the Spanish conquest. Mr. Becker has con- 
 jectured that Aztlan (land of whiteness) was the name applied 
 to the southern Mississippi Valley and the region of the Gulf 
 States ; that Hue hue Tlapalan (old red land), the ancient 
 empire of the Nahuas, was situated on the great plains of the 
 west and in the region occupied by the Cliff-dwellers and 
 Pueblos, and further, that the " seven caves " or " ravines/' the 
 Tulan Zuiva of the Quiches, is the region of the Colorado Eiver, 
 the land of canons. 
 
 At best these can be but conjectures, yet the probabilities 
 are that Hue hue Tlapalan bordered upon the great Mississippi 
 Valley. Traditional and architectural evidence lead us to this 
 conclusion. The linguistic argument is wanting, except the 
 statement of the historians that the people of the Floridian 
 region spoke Nahua. It remains for some one to compare the 
 Aztec with the languages of the southern Indians before the 
 investigation is complete. While the probability is pre-eminent 
 that the ancient Americans are of old world origin and that the 
 
PERFECTION OF THE NAHUA CALENDAR. 519 
 
 Mayas and Nahuas reached this continent from opposite direc- 
 tions, it is certain that the civilization developed by each people 
 is indigenous that it grew up on the soil where we find it, and 
 was shaped by the wants of man as influenced and modified by 
 the conditions of nature and physical surroundings. The most 
 persistent investigation has failed to disclose any marked resem- 
 blance between the architecture, art, religion and customs of the 
 North Americans considered as a whole and of any old world 
 people. It is true that occasional analogies suggest intercourse 
 and even relationship with particular races, as for instance the 
 serpent and phallus worship common to the aboriginal Amer- 
 icans and the people of India. Sun-worship, so wide-spread, may 
 also indicate an ancient community of residence for those peoples 
 who practise it. The Calendar systems of Mayas and Nahuas 
 present analogies to the systems employed by the Persians, 
 Egyptians and certain Asiatic nations, and the presumption is 
 very strong that the latter furnished the ground-plan upon 
 which the Nahua system was constructed. The accuracy of the 
 Aztec calendar must ever be a monument to their intellectual 
 culture, and an undeniable proof of the advanced state of ancient 
 Mexican civilization. The fact that Cortez found the Julian 
 reckoning, employed by his own and every other European nation, 
 to be more than ten days in error when tried by the Aztec sys- 
 tem a system the almost perfect accuracy of which was proven 
 by the adjustments which took place under Gregory XIII in 
 1582 A.D. excites our wonder and admiration. How the Nahuas, 
 whether Toltec or Aztec we know not, were able to approximate 
 the true length of the year within two minutes and nine seconds, 
 thus almost rivalling the accuracy of the learned astronomers of 
 the Caliph Almamon, is a mystery. The venerable civilization 
 of the Mayas, whose forest-grown cities and crumbling temples 
 hold entombed a history of vanished glory, no doubt belongs to 
 the remotest period of North American antiquity. It was old 
 when the Nahuas, then a comparatively rude people, first came 
 in contact with it, adopted many of its features, and engrafted 
 upon it new life. Like Kome, overwhelmed by the Teutons of 
 the North, it no doubt succumbed to the vigorous aggressions 
 
520 THE AMERICANS OF OLD WORLD ORIGIN. 
 
 of the invaders., and was compelled to resign the dominion of 
 much of its northern territory. The powerful empire of the 
 Quiche-Cakchiquels was the result of the union of the old and 
 new races. The otherwise inviting picture of ancient Amer- 
 ican civilization is marred by the introduction of human sacri- 
 fices which in each instance occurred in the period of the political 
 decadence of the people practising it, and no doubt was the most 
 potent factor in the downfall of both Toltec and Aztec mon- 
 archies. Still, when we reflect upon the Druidical horrors of 
 the Britons at the time of the Koman conquest, and realize that 
 our Anglo-Saxon ancestors in the sixth century sold their rela- 
 tives and even their own children into slavery, and were but 
 slightly removed from the condition of cannibals if they were 
 not actually such, the ancient American civilization with its 
 many humane features and advanced culture rises up in splen- 
 dor before us, in marked contrast with our barbarous origin. 
 Although this civilization was indigenous and peculiar to itself, 
 we find all of the American tribes possessed of certain arts 
 and traditions which seem common to mankind in all parts 
 of the world. The character of flint weapons and implements 
 are the same among all primitive peoples. The modes of pro- 
 ducing fire by friction and of grinding grain differ little, if any, 
 in America, from those employed by ancient peoples elsewhere. 
 The first efforts toward the development of the architectural 
 idea all round the globe, seem to find expression in the rude 
 mound and then in the more perfect pyramid. These and other 
 considerations which have been noted in the preceding pages, 
 lead us to the conclusion that at a remote period, before racial 
 and national characteristics had been well defined, this continent 
 received its population from the old world, at different times 
 and from different quarters. 
 
 The uniformity with which the human mind operates in all 
 lands for the accomplishment of certain ends, has in many 
 instances resulted in the independent development of institutions 
 common to several peoples. This fact, together with the proba- 
 bility that occasionally foreigners were cast upon the American 
 shores, will be sufficient to account for many features which have 
 
THE AMERICANS OF OLD WORLD ORIGIN. 521 
 
 been discovered in Mexican and Central American architecture, 
 art, and religion, presenting analogies with the old world. The 
 fact that civilizations having such analogies are developed in 
 isolated quarters of the globe, separated from each other by 
 broad seas and lofty mountains, and thus indicating a uniformity 
 of mental operation and a unity of mental inspiration, added to 
 the fact that the evidence is of a preponderating character that 
 the American continent received its population from the old 
 world, leads us to the truth that God " hath made of one blood 
 all nations of men." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 .A. 
 
 MADISONVILLE EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 SINCE the greater part of this work was put in type, the 
 exploration of ancient mounds in several localities in the 
 United States has yielded gratifying results. Most conspicuous for 
 rich returns, both in pottery and human remains, are the researches 
 which have recently been prosecuted with such rare intelligence 
 and vigor by the Literary and Scientific Society of Madison ville, 
 Ohio, in the aboriginal burying-grounds and among the mound- 
 works of the Little Miami Valley. Through the liberality of the 
 society and the courtesy of its secretary, Mr. Frank W. Langdon, 
 we are enabled to present an authorized account of the explora- 
 tions. We take this opportunity of expressing our obligations to 
 the society, and especially to Mr. Langdon, who has kindly pre- 
 pared the following report : 
 
 NOTICE OF SOME EECE^TT ARCH^OLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN THE 
 LITTLE MIAMI VALLEY. By FRANK W. LANGDON, Secretary 
 of the Literary and Scientific Society of Madisonville, Ohio. 
 
 The valley of the Little Miami Eiver, in Southwestern Ohio, 
 has long been noted for the number and extent of its pre-historic 
 earthworks, which, distributed on either side of the river, from its 
 confluence with the Ohio to the well-known Fort Ancient and 
 beyond, form an almost continuous chain of mounds, forts, circles, 
 and embankments, extending for more than fifty miles, and consti- 
 tuting an important division of the great earthworks system of the 
 Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Of the few publications relating more especially to the ancient 
 works of this series, one of the most important, perhaps, is the 
 paper by Dr. Charles L. Metz, entitled "The Prehistoric Monu- 
 
524 MADISONVILLE EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 ments of the Little Miami Valley," * accompanied by a chart show- 
 ing the location and character of more than forty of these earth- 
 works, situated in Columbia, Spencer and Anderson Townships of 
 Hamilton County. The Hon. Joseph Cox, H. B. Whetsel, Esq., 
 Mr. Charles F. Low, and the several other gentlemen composing 
 the organization known as the Literary and Scienti6c Society of 
 Madison ville, have also, at various times, given considerable atten- 
 tion to archaeological investigations in this vicinity, and the valua- 
 ble and interesting collections of objects of prehistoric art accumu- 
 lated by these gentlemen afford abundant evidence of the long- 
 continued occupation of this region by a numerous and somewhat 
 intelligent people of whom we have no historic record. 
 
 A renewed interest in the subject has been recently developed 
 by the discovery, near Madisonville, of one of the cemeteries of this 
 unknown people, and the explorations therein by the above-named 
 society, are perhaps among the most interesting that have ever been 
 conducted in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 This cemetery, which is distant about one and one-half miles 
 southeast from Madisonville, occupies the western extremity of an 
 elevated plateau overlooking the Little Miami River, and situated 
 from eighty to one hundred feet above the water-line. It is bounded 
 on the south by the river " bottom "; on the north and west by a deep 
 ravine, through which flows a small stream known as Whisky Run ; 
 on the east the plateau slopes gradually up to the general level of the 
 surrounding country, of which it is in fact a continuation or spur, 
 its character of an isolated plateau being derived from its position 
 between the eroded river valley and the deep ravine above referred 
 to. The precipitous but well- wooded bluff which forms the southern 
 limit of this plateau extends eastward, facing the river, for perhaps 
 half a mile, and distributed along its edge are a number of mounds 
 and other earthworks ; at its base are the Cincinnati and Eastern 
 and Little Miami Railways, the nearest station being Batavia Junc- 
 tion, distant about half a'mile east of the cemetery. 
 
 The original forest still covers the site of the cemetery, and 
 measurements of some of the principal trees are recorded by Dr. 
 Metz in his paper before mentioned, as follows : a walnut, 15|- feet 
 in circumference; an oak, 12 feet; a maple, 9f feet; an elm, 12 
 
 * Vide Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Vol. I, No. 3, 
 October, 1878. 
 
NORTH AMERICANS OF ANTIQUITY. 525 
 
 feet. The locality has long been known to local collectors and 
 others interested in archaeological matters, as the " Pottery Field," 
 so called on account of the numerous fragments of earthemvare 
 strewn over the surface ; and it was until recently supposed to be 
 a place where the manufacture of pottery had been carried on by 
 the ancient inhabitants of the valley, the fragments found being 
 considered the debris. A few scattered human remains had also 
 been found in the adjoining ravines, but it was not until some time 
 in March, 1879, that its true character and extent as a cemetery 
 were brought to light. 
 
 It then became apparent that some concerted action would be 
 necessary, in order to secure the best scientific results from the 
 discovery ; and early in April excavations were begun under the 
 auspices of the before mentioned organization, the proprietors of 
 the premises, Messrs. A. J. and Charles K. Ferris, having kindly 
 granted to it the exclusive privilege of making a thorough and 
 systematic exploration of the ground. From that time until the 
 present (July 19, 1879) excavations have been continued with a 
 force varying from one to three men, assisted by members of the 
 society, every foot of the ground gone over being thoroughly 
 explored, and full notes taken as the work progressed. 
 
 The following brief outline of the results, taken from the records 
 of the society, will but serve to convey an idea of the general 
 features of the discovery and of its importance to archaeological 
 science, time and space not permitting a detailed account in the 
 present connection. 
 
 Of the four or five acres of ground over which the cemetery is 
 believed to extend, only a small segment of the south-western por- 
 tion has been explored. The exploration, however, has been exceed- 
 ingly thorough and comprises an extent of perhaps half an acre of 
 ground, from which have been exhumed in all one hundred and 
 eighty-five skeletons. Of these, however, but a small proportion 
 are in a good or even tolerable state of preservation, as with the 
 utmost care only about forty crania could be preserved sufficiently 
 well for measurement. The preservation of even this number 
 must probably be attributed to the favorable character of the soil, 
 a compact gravelly drift, as the various surroundings, position of 
 some skeletons under large trees, etc., all indicate for these inter- 
 ments a remote antiquity. 
 
526 MADISONVILLE EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 With respect to the mode of burial, this is far from being uni- 
 form. A large majority of the skeletons are found at a depth of 
 from two to three feet, in a horizontal position, face upwards ; but 
 exceptions to this rule are numerous, many interments being made 
 in a sitting position, and some in groups of from three to six indi- 
 viduals irregularly disposed. There has been no attempt in any 
 instance at the construction of a stone coffin, but in one case the 
 skeleton was covered with a layer of small flat limestone from the 
 adjacent stream. The heads of those in the horizontal position are 
 generally directed to the east or south-east ; but this rule is not con- 
 stant, several being found at right angles to these. It is worthy of 
 note, however, that, with scarcely an exception, those skeletons 
 accompanied by the finer vases, pipes and other choice relics, have 
 their heads directed east or south-east. 
 
 During the progress of the work on April 12, a cranium, unac- 
 companied by other bones, was exhumed ; in searching for the rest 
 of the skeleton, a circular excavation, three and a half feet in 
 diameter and four and a half feet in depth, was made, from which 
 were taken bones sufficient to represent twenty-two skeletons. But 
 two of the crania, both evidently those of females, could be pre- 
 served ; they are remarkable for their whiteness and smooth texture 
 as compared with the average crania from this cemetery. A sacrum 
 taken from this pit has imbedded in its anterior surface, near the 
 promontory, one of the small triangular flints known as "war 
 arrows," which had passed obliquely from above downwards, and 
 to the right, necessarily penetrating the abdominal walls and viscera 
 in order to reach its final lodging place. The bottom of the pit 
 was paved with the common river mussel shells (unios), and there 
 appeared to have been some attempt at a natural disposition of the 
 bones, those of the lower extremities being placed at the bottom, 
 the crania at the top. 
 
 Among the human remains from this cemetery are many pos- 
 sessing features of surgical and anatomical interest, as, for in- 
 stance, an adult male cranium in which complete anchylosis of the 
 atlas to the condyles has occurred, the posterior arch remaining 
 free. Other crania show evidences of severe injury with subsequent 
 repair, and among the long bones are several showing characteristic 
 lesions strongly indicative of rachitis and of syphilis, a fact of 
 considerable interest in its relation to the geographical distribution 
 
NORTH AMERICANS OF ANTIQUITY. 
 
 527 
 
 of the latter disease, and also as bearing on the theory of its intro- 
 duction into Southern Europe from America in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Among the graves opened are several of children, who are 
 usually buried in close proximity to adults, and with them are 
 found various ornaments or toys of perforated shell, bone, etc., as 
 well as small earthen vessels. 
 
 The pottery ware which accompanies the skeletons is usually 
 situated near the head and presents many features of special inter- 
 est. It is made of clay, 
 finely tempered with 
 pounded unio shells, and 
 much care has evidentty 
 been bestowed upon its 
 manufacture, some pieces 
 being scarcely thicker 
 than an ordinary teacup. 
 Many specimens are in 
 a perfect condition, or 
 nearly so, and they usu- 
 ally contain a single unio 
 shell when found, the 
 shell being evidently in- 
 tended for use as a spoon. 
 The vessels range in ca- 
 pacity from a third of a 
 pint, or even smaller, up 
 to a gallon or more, the 
 smaller ones, as before 
 stated, being usually 
 
 found in the graves of children. They are symmetrical in shape 
 and varied in design, some being artistically ornamented with scroll 
 work, handles representing lizards, human heads, etc., and are 
 almost invariably provided with four handles. Among the few 
 exceptions to this latter rule is an eight-handled bowl (see cut), 
 in the collection of W. 0. Kogers, Esq., which is a two-story 
 affair, apparently made by combining two distinct vessels, and 
 then removing the bottom of the upper one. Vessels having 
 but two handles occasionally occur, and others with holes in 
 
 BOWL FROM ANCIENT CEMETERY, LITTLE 
 
 MIAMI VALLEY. 
 (Collection of W. C. Rogers, Madisonville, O.) 
 
528 MADISONVILLE EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 lieu of handles ; but these- are exceptions to the general rule as 
 above noted. 
 
 The total number of vessels taken from the cemetery to date is 
 eighty-eight. There is good reason to believe, however, that each 
 interment has been originally accompanied by a vessel, the present 
 disparity between the number of vessels and the number of skele- 
 tons being accounted for by the fragments thickly strewn over the 
 surface and intermingled with the surrounding soil, which have 
 doubtless at one time constituted portions of the missing burial 
 urns. To the growth of trees, action of frost and rooting of hogs, 
 the destruction of so much of this valuable ware must be attrib- 
 uted, and to the latter cause, irregularities observed in the disposi- 
 tion of some of the skeletons are probably due. 
 
 Among the other articles of utility or ornament found in the 
 graves are twelve pipes, of various patterns, three of them being 
 made from the Minnesota Catlinite or Red Pipestone ; also stone 
 disks, axes and chisels, flint knives and spear-heads, and many 
 ornaments and implements of bone, such as beads, awls, needles, 
 perforated teeth, etc., together with others of unknown uses. Two 
 small cylinders of rolled copper, about two inches in length, and 
 two flat pieces of the same metal an inch or more square, are among 
 the collections, as are also two stones bearing inscriptions as 
 follows: one, an irregular piece of sandstone, measuring about 
 3x2x1 inches, on the flat surface of which are cut two parallel 
 figures made-of straight lines and apparently intended to represent 
 arrows ; this specimen is now in the writer's collection. The other 
 stone, which is in the collection of E. A. Conkling, Esq., is a flat- 
 tened dark-green boulder measuring about 3^ x 2^ inches, one side of 
 which is completely covered with a network of lines from to J- of 
 an inch apart and crossing each other at nearly right angles, thus 
 forming quadrangular divisions of various sizes. 
 
 An interesting feature of these excavations has been the dis- 
 covery of what may be designated as "ashpits"; being circum- 
 scribed deposits of ashes, shells, sand, etc., from two to three feet 
 in thickness, placed at varying distances below the surface. A per- 
 pendicular section made of one of these pits answers to the follow- 
 ing description, which will serve to convey a fair idea of them all. 
 Diameter of pit, three feet ; the first eighteen inches consisted of 
 leaf mold and sandy soil ; then followed nine inches of clay, burnt 
 
NORTH AMERICANS OF ANTIQUITY. 529 
 
 earth and charcoal; next, ashes and charcoal, twelve inches ; clay, 
 three inches ; white ashes, two inches ; sand and unio shells, six 
 inches; pure ashes, twelve inches; total depth, five feet two inches. 
 
 Of these ashpits, more than fifty have been opened, situated in 
 continuous rows near the edge of the bluff. They are quite uniform 
 in size, measuring from three to four feet in diameter and from 
 four to six feet in depth, and with one or two exceptions have not 
 been found in any other than the above mentioned situation. In- 
 termingled with the ashes are pipes, implements of bone, shell, and 
 stone, a mastodon's tooth, bones of various wild animals, including 
 birds and fishes, and in some of them large sherds of pottery-ware in- 
 dicating vessels of from ten to twelve gallons capacity or even larger. 
 With the exception of a single dorsal vertebra no human remains 
 have yet been found in these pits, unless the ashes be so considered. 
 
 From the uncharred condition of the above articles it is evident 
 that the ashes has been placed in the pits as ashes, after having 
 been burned elsewhere, as in no case do the relics or the walls of 
 the pits show any traces of the action of fire. 
 
 With respect to the length of time that has elapsed since these 
 interments, mention has already been made of the situation of some 
 of the skeletons under large trees, an instance of which may be 
 cited: On Saturday, April 5, the ground was visited by Judge 
 Cox and Mr. Low, in company with Dr. Metz, and in excavating 
 beneath an oak tree, six feet two inches in circumference, a skele- 
 ton was discovered, its lower extremities extending under the tree ; 
 overlying the lower extremities of this skeleton was another, its 
 body situated directly under the trunk of the tree and the skull so 
 surrounded and penetrated by roots as to prevent its removal except 
 in fragments. The bones of both skeletons were much decayed 
 and exceedingly fragile. 
 
 In forming an estimate as to the probable antiquity of these 
 interments, the time that must necessarily have elapsed between 
 the abandonment of the cemetery and the springing up of the 
 forest; the age of the trees now present and of others that have 
 fallen and decayed ; the advanced state of decay in which the 
 human remains are found; the character of the pottery- ware ; and 
 lastly, the total absence of any evidences of communication with 
 civilization, in the shape of glass beads or other trinkets, must all 
 be taken into account ; and it does not appear at all unreasonable 
 34 
 
530 IOWA ELEPHANT PIPE. 
 
 to conclude that the use of this ground as a cemetery probably 
 antedates the discovery of America by Columbus. 
 
 As regards the particular race to which this people belonged, 
 whether they were identical with, or related to, the celebrated 
 " stone-grave people" of Tennessee,* as some of their pottery-ware 
 and the shape and dimensions of their crania would seem to indi- 
 cate ; or whether they were the last remnants of the once powerful 
 nation that erected Fort Ancient and other gigantic works in this 
 region, these and similar queries remain as yet unanswered. More 
 extended investigations and a careful comparison of large amounts 
 of material from this and other localities, may be expected to assist 
 in the solution of these obscure but interesting problems. 
 
 At the present writing excavations are still in progress, with 
 new developments daily, and a publication of the entire results, 
 with full details and illustrations, may be looked for in due season. 
 
 MADISONVILLE, Hamilton County, Ohio, July 19, 1879. 
 
 B. 
 
 THE question as to whether man and the mastodon were con- 
 temporaneous in America, has long been a matter of dispute 
 as the reader is aware after the perusal of our second chapter and 
 
 other sources. The "ele- 
 phant pipe " figured in the 
 accompanying cut has been 
 the means of calling fresh 
 attention to the subject. 
 Dr. E. J Farquharson, of 
 the Davenport Academy of 
 
 Sciences, who kindly fur- 
 ELEPHANT PIPE FROM LOUISA Co., IOWA. ^^ ng fte photQ from 
 
 which our illustration is a reduction, states that six or seven years 
 ago Mr. Peter Mare, a farmer (whose estate was situated on both 
 
 * Vide Archaeological Explorations in Tennessee, by F. W. Putnam. Eleventh 
 Annual Eeport of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, 
 Cambridge, Mass., 1878. 
 
NORTH AMERICANS OF ANTIQUITY. 531 
 
 sides of the line dividing Muscatine and Louisa Counties, Iowa) 
 found the elephant pipe while plowing corn on his land in Louisa 
 County. The finder, who had no idea of its archaeological value, 
 kept it with a number of " Indian stones," as he termed them, until 
 last year (1878), when it became the property of the Davenport 
 Academy. Dr. Farquharson says : " The ancient mounds were 
 very abundant in that vicinity (Louisa Co.), and rich in relics 
 which are deposited on the surface of the soil (not in excavations), 
 as we found in exploring a number. In such a case it is not strange 
 that a mound having been gradually removed by long cultivation, 
 the relics so deposited should be reached and turned up by the 
 plow." * * * "The pipe, which is of a fragile sandstone, is of 
 the ordinary Mound-builder's type, and has every appearance of 
 age and usage. Of its genuineness I have no doubt. Together 
 with the "Elephant mound" of Wisconsin, the elephant head of 
 Palenque (depicted in Lord Kingsborough's great work), our pipe 
 completes the series of what the French would call ' documents ' 
 proving the fact of the contemporaneous existence on this con- 
 tinent of man and the mastodon."* The above facts, as stated 
 by Dr. Farquharson, were substantially embodied in a paper read 
 by Mr. Pratt before the Davenport Academy, April 25, 1879. 
 
 * Letter to tlie author, dated Davenport, Iowa, May 24, 1879. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abbott, discoveries in New Jersey, 127-8 ; 
 view of Eskimo, 128. 
 
 Aboriginal painting of sun, 65 ; trade, 98 ; 
 Rau on, 98. 
 
 Aborigines, American, 21. 
 
 Acolhuas, Nahua tribe, 256. 
 
 Agassiz on Floridian jaw-bone, 112; on 
 origin of nations, 158-9; on physical 
 life and nature, 158 ; views of untena- 
 ble, 159, 516. 
 
 Ages of stone and bronze in Mississippi 
 valley, 27. 
 
 Age of trees on mounds, 104. 
 
 Agglutination in languages, 471. 
 
 Alabama mounds, 71-72. 
 
 Alaska, climate of, 511. 
 
 Alleghany Mts., boundary of Mound 
 country, 58. 
 
 Alligator mound, 34. 
 
 Allighewi, 10.2. 
 
 Allouez, Father, on aboriginal copper, 
 
 Al-Mamoun, state of learning during 
 
 kalifate of, 132. 
 
 Altar mounds, 37 ; Squier and Davis on, 
 83-87 ; stratification of, 83-84; Prof. An- 
 drews on, 83, n. 1. 
 Alton, mounds at, 41. 
 Aleutian islands, 509 ; migration by, 509. 
 Amaquemecan, Chichimec home, 248, 256. 
 American civilization (ancient) contrasted 
 
 with that of Britons, 520. 
 "Bottom," recent discoveries in, 
 
 43-44. 
 languages, number and variety of, 
 
 190 ; instability of, 190. 
 race not unique, 165; of old world 
 
 origin, 201-2. 
 Anahuac, 249. 
 
 Analogies in geographical names, 497. 
 in religion, 459-68. 
 of ceremonial law, 463. 
 Scandinavian and Mexican, 464. 
 Hindoo and Mexican, 465. 
 Greek and Mexican, 466. 
 Egyptian and Mexican, 467. 
 Anchylosis (bony) observed in mound- 
 builder remains, 184. 
 Ancient copper mines, 89-94. 
 Ancient forts of New York, 28 ; of Lake 
 Erie, 28; Col. Whittlesey on, 28; Dr. 
 Foster on, 28. 
 
 Anderson' s,W. M., " Calendar Stone," 70. 
 Andrews, E. B., explorations by, 55. 
 
 Antiquity of man, chap, ii.; testimony of 
 
 geology, 102 ; in Europe, 24, n. 1. 
 Antiquity of mounds, 101, 103, 104. 
 
 Red man, 22. 
 Antipodes, St. Augustine on, 132 ; Aris- 
 
 tarchus of Samos on, 132. 
 Apes, American group of, 194. 
 Ararat, Mt., 497. 
 
 the Mexican, 261-63. 
 Arch, pueblo, 292. 
 
 Architecture, analogies in, real and fan- 
 cied, 339. 
 Maya, 340-55. 
 classification of styles, 340. 
 Palenque, 340; Yucatan style, 346; 
 
 Uxmal, 347. 
 
 Kabah, 352 ; Zayi, 353 ; Labna, 354. 
 Quiche, 355-59. 
 Nahua, 359-83 : Mitla, 360-64. 
 Maya and Nahua compared, 381. 
 Architectural progress in mound works, 
 
 79-80. 
 
 Argyll, Duke of, on Negroid type, 197. 
 Art, unity of style in savage, 196. 
 
 high order at Palenque, 389, 392 ; at 
 
 Uxmal, 393, 395; at Copan, 404. 
 Palenque and Egyptian compared, 
 
 418. 
 Astronomical knowledge of Aztecs, 455. 
 
 Mound-builders, 94-6. 
 Atlantic Ocean, floor of, 502, 505. 
 submerged land ridge of, 503. 
 mean deoths of, 502. 
 sea-board, changes in level of, 504. 
 continent, 505. 
 Atlantis, Platonic, tradition of, 142, 498- 
 
 505. 
 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg on, 498-500. 
 Legends of from Popol Vuh and Co- 
 dex Chimalpopoca, 499. 
 Retziuson, 500; Unger, 501; Heer,501. 
 Atolls of the Pacific, 507 ; Dana and Le 
 
 Conte on, 507-8. 
 Atoyac, Mexican river, 234. 
 Autochthenes, mound-builders not, 97. 
 Autochthon, the American an, 192. 
 Autochthonic origin of Americans, 155. 
 Axayacatl, Mexican king, 452. 
 Azores, volcanic character of, 503. 
 Aztec calendar, 446-59; year, 447; months, 
 447 ; weeks and days, 448 ; inter- 
 calation, 448 ; Ritual year, 449, 455 ;. 
 Lords of night, 449. 
 Stone, 450 ; lunar reckoning, 455. 
 chronology, 458. 
 
534 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aztec language, richness of, 471, 480, 481 ; 
 
 extent of, 480, 492. 
 the classic tongue, 480 ; ancient and 
 
 modern, 481. 
 grammar, 481-85 ; Lord's prayer in, 
 
 485. 
 
 traces of north of Mexico, 486-90, 491. 
 elements in Nootka languages, 491. 
 Aztec picture-writing, 428-33. 
 Aztec springs, 300, 324-26 ; Aztec-Sonora 
 
 languages, 487-8. 
 "Aztec theory," the, 331. 
 Aztecs, migrations of, 259-263 ; date of, 
 259 ; stations, 260-61 ; southern origin 
 of considered, 266, n. 1. 
 Aztlan, Nahua home, 257-9, 518; location 
 
 of, 257-9, 264-65. 
 description of by Duran, 258. 
 Aztlan, "VVis., mound works at, 36. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babel myths, 140 ; tower of, 205 ; Cholu- 
 
 la, 235-37. 
 Bacab myth, 465. 
 
 Balam-Agab, Quiche progenitor, 214. 
 Balam-Quitze, Quiche progenitor, 214. 
 Baldwin, J. D., on mounds of North-west, 
 
 31, 32. 
 
 Bancroft, H. H., on Hue hue Tlapalan, 
 251-53. 
 
 resume of Toltec annals by, 255. 
 observations'on Cox-cox myth, 263. 
 on Maya chronology, 438. 
 on Aztec language, 476, n. 2. 
 :Baptism, Mexican, 4(32. 
 Barber, E. A., 305. 
 Barrandt on Dakota mounds, 31. 
 Basque and Maya languages compared, 
 
 476 ; Dr. Farrar on, 476, n. 2. 
 Bartlett's exploration of Casas Graudes, 
 
 276-83. 
 
 Bayou St. John, earthworks on, 76. 
 Beard mound, 56. 
 Bearded men at Chichen-Itza, 401. 
 Beau Relief in Stucco, 388. 
 Becker, J. H., on traditions of Nahua 
 Mound-builders, 102, n. ; on ancient 
 home of Nahuas, 248 ; on Toltec migra- 
 tion, 248-50. 
 Behring's Straits, Bancroft's remarks on, 
 
 147. 
 
 width and depth of, 510 ; Lyell and 
 Herschel on, 510 ; Hellwald on mi- 
 gration by, 511 ; Dall, W. H., on 
 migration via, 512, n. 1. 
 Berthoud, E. L., stone implements col- 
 lected by, 124. 
 
 Big Harpeth valley works, 60-65. 
 Blake, J. H., collection of Peruvian skulls 
 
 by, 176-7. 
 Bollaert's interpretation of hieroglyphics, 
 
 Books used by Mayas, 420. 
 by Aztecs, 428. 
 
 Bourbeuse River, mastodon discovered 
 at, 116. 
 
 Brasseur de Bourbourg, estimate of by 
 
 Bancroft, 142, n. 1. 
 on the Platonic Atlantis, 142, 498-500 
 on Igh and Imox, 205, n. 1; on 
 Maya hieroglyphics, 421-25 ; on re- 
 ligious analogies, 467-8; on Scan- 
 dinavian and Maya languages, 476. 
 
 Brachycephalic crania classified, 162-3. ' 
 
 Brazil, accidental discovery of by Cabral, 
 
 Brent wood, Tenn., stones graves at, 60. 
 Brick, sun-dried, from mounds. 72-75. 
 Brinton, Dr., phonetic alphabet, 427; 
 Buddha and Quetzalcoatl compared by, 
 
 Brown, Thos., mounds of, 63-4. 
 Browne, Ross, explorations by, 282-3. 
 Buckle, on learning in Spain, 133, n. 2. 
 Buddhist missionaries in America, 148-50. 
 Burial, " intrusive " in mounds, 85 ; cer- 
 emony, 40 ; in stone coffins, 60 ; vase 
 from Mexico, 410. 
 Butler, J. W., on Chaac-Mol, S99. 
 Buschmann's researches on American 
 
 languages, 487-88. 
 
 Sonora family, 487; on Aztec ele- 
 ment in Nootka language, 491. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cabots, 22. 
 
 Cabral, discovery of Brazil by, 506. 
 
 Cabrera on the origin of the Votanites, 
 
 208-9 ; on Votanic document, 207. 
 Cahita, language of New Mexico, 487. 
 Cahokia mound, 41. 
 Calapooya language, traces of Aztec in, 
 
 4y(J. 
 
 Calaveras Co. (Cal.) cranium, 125; views 
 of Whitney, Wyman and others on, 125. 
 Calendar systems, mound-builder, 40. 
 Maya, 435-45 ; days, 436 ; months, 
 437 ; the Katun, 439^0 ; Ahau Ka- 
 tun, 441 ; succession of, 442. 
 Nahua or Mexican, its construction, 
 243, 446-59; perfection of, 519; 
 year, 447 ; days and weeks, 448 ; in- 
 tercalation, 448 ; Ritual year, 449 ; 
 lords of night, 449 ; Calendar Stone, 
 408-9 ; interpreted by Gama, Che- 
 vero and Valentini, 450-58 ; history, 
 452-3, 457, 
 California, traces of antiquity of man in, 
 
 125. 
 California languages and their affinities 
 
 to Chinese, 495 ; Japanese, 496. 
 Canals constructed by Mound- builders, 
 
 98-100. 
 Caras or Carians ancient navigators, 507 ; 
 
 Brasseur on, 507. 
 Carr's Measurements of Crania, 173 ; on 
 
 low-type mound crania, 174. 
 Carter, 22; Carter, Dr. J. Van A., on 
 stone implements, 24, n. 1. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 535 
 
 Carthaginian colonization of America 
 145-6. 
 
 Cara Gigantesca, 404. 
 
 Casa del Eco, 312. 
 
 Gobernador (Uxmal), 347-50. 
 
 Grande of Zayi, 353. 
 
 de Monjas, sculptures of, 394. 
 
 Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, 276 ; Aztec 
 
 station at, 277. 
 of the Gila, 284. 
 
 Cataclysm, traditions of a, 499. 
 
 Cave explorations, 26. 
 
 dwellings, 292-311, 313. 
 village of Rio Chelley, 313. 
 shelters of San Juan, 319. 
 fortresses of Rio Mancos, 320. 
 
 Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, Toltec king, 272. 
 
 Cemetery, aboriginal, 65. 
 
 Centennial Report of Ohio Arch. Asso., 82. 
 
 Centla, pyramid of, 365^6. 
 
 Cephalic index of crania, 160. 
 
 Ceremonial law, analysis of, 463. 
 
 Chaac-Mol, statue of, 397-400. 
 
 Chaco Valley, ruined pueblo in, 291 ; pe- 
 culiarity of architecture, 292. 
 
 Chalcas, Nahua tribe, 256. 
 
 Chalco, lake, 264. 
 
 Challenger, voyage of, 502; "Challenger 
 plateau," 502-3. 
 
 Chalcatzin, Toltec chief, 244. 
 
 Chamber, interior in mound, 75. 
 
 Chanes, ancient races, 206. 
 
 Charencey, 425. 
 
 Chelly Canon, antiquities of, 293; cave 
 village of, 313-14 ; house in, 315. 
 
 Chevero, interpretation of Mexican Cal- 
 endar Stone by, 450-2. 
 
 Chiapan architecture, 340. 
 
 Chiapas, ancient civilization of, 203. 
 
 Chichen-Itza, antiquities of, 353-5, 397- 
 403 ; mural paintings at, 401. 
 
 Chichilticale, "red house," 281. 
 
 Chichimecs, Mexican nation, 243 ; dynas- 
 ty of, 254; language of, 255, 480; Pi- 
 mentel on, 255-6. 
 
 Chicomoztoc (Chichimostoc) Nahua 
 home, 256-7; identical with "seven 
 caves," 261, n.; 264-66. 
 
 Chihuahua, Casas Grandes of, 275 ; origi- 
 nal descriptions of, 276 ; material and 
 dimensions of, 276-77. 
 
 Children's graves in Tennessee, 66-S. 
 
 Chimalhuacan, Toltec station, 245. 
 
 Chinook language, traces of Aztec in, 
 490, n. 3. 
 
 Cholula pyramid, 235 ; not related to a 
 flood, 235, 237 ; origin according to Du- 
 ran: 236, 368-70. 
 
 Christ myth in Yucatan, 231, 464. 
 
 Christy collection. Mosaic knife from, 412. 
 
 Chinese colonization of America, 148. 
 
 Chronology, accepted faulty, 199, 200: 
 
 Duke of Argyll on, 200. 
 Maya, 435-45 ; adjusted to ours, 443- 
 
 Cibola, seven cities of, 288. 
 
 Cincinnati mound-works, 44-6; tablet, 
 
 44 o 
 
 Circumcision, 463. 
 Cists, stone, 60. 
 Civilization, American contrasted with 
 
 that of ancient Britons, 520. 
 Clallam and Lummi languages, Aztec ele- 
 ment in, 490. 
 
 Clarke, Robert, on Cincinnati Tablet, 44-6. 
 on Morgan's Pueblo theory, 55, n. 2. 
 Classification of crania, 160-3. 
 
 of mound- works by Squier and Davis, 
 
 and Foster, 81. 
 
 of mound relics by Rau, 82, n. 1. 
 Clavigero, views on origin of Americans, 
 
 140, 11. 1. 
 
 on first colonists of America, 204. 
 Cliff-dwellers, 293 ; their traditional his- 
 tory, 302. 
 Cliff-dwellings of the Mancos Canon, 298 
 
 -99, 319. 
 
 McElmo Canon, 302. 
 Hovenweep: 305-7. 
 San Juan, 307, 308, 319. 
 and Rock Shelters on San Juan, 309. 
 house of Chelly Canon, 315. 
 in Montezuma Canon, 316. 
 Cloth from mounds, 37, 43. 
 Coast level, elevation and depression of, 
 
 405. 
 
 Coffins, stone, 60. 
 Columbus, 22; stern-post of ship seen 
 
 by, 506. 
 
 Colonists, first in Mexico, 242. 
 Color, variety in human races, 197, 198 ; 
 
 Darwin on origin of, 199. 
 Color of ancient Americans, 189; Pritchard 
 
 on, 189, n. 2. 
 
 Colorado River, ruins in Grand Canon of, 
 285. 
 
 Major Powell's exploration, 285-87. 
 Colorado Chiquito, antiquities of, 287. 
 Columbia River languages, 492. 
 Conant, A. J., explorations by, 76, 77 ; 
 
 on ancient canals, 98, 100. 
 Conflict of science and dogmatism, 131. 
 Confusion of tongues, 238. 
 Connett mound, 56. 
 Conquest of Xibalba, 222-5. 
 Copan, 221 ; ruins of, 356-59 ; sculpture 
 
 of, 404-5. 
 
 Copper in mounds, 85 ; ancient mines of, 
 89-94 ; theory of Mexican supply, 
 93, 493. 
 
 relics from Wisconsin, 99. 
 Cora language and its relation to Aztec, 
 
 486-7. 
 
 Cosmogonic egg, 416, 419, 465. 
 Coronado's journey to New Mexico, 281, 
 
 n. 1. 
 
 Cox, Prof., discoveries cited, 75. 
 Cox-cox, Mexican Noah, 262, n. 1. 
 Cox-cox, Bancroft's observations on, 263, 
 
536 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Crania Americana, measurements of, clas- 
 sified, 161-8. 
 
 Cranial measurements, 159-60. 
 Crania from mounds, testimony of, 105-6. 
 River Rogue, 167 ; measurements by 
 
 Gillmau, 168. 
 
 Davenport, Farquharson's measure- 
 ments, 169-70; from Ohio, 170; 
 from Kentucky, 171 ; from Tennes- 
 see, 171 ; comparison, 174 ; com- 
 pression of common, 178, 184 ; 
 among Chinooks, 182 ; among olher 
 American tribes, 183. 
 Cranium, low type, discovered by Co- 
 
 nant, 174. 
 
 Cremation probable, 85. 
 Cristone of McElmo Canon, 301. 
 Cross, subterranean temple of, 363. 
 
 Tablet of, 390. 
 
 Cruciform works at Trenton, Wis;, 35. 
 Crux Ansata at Palenque, 416-17. 
 Cukulcan culture hero, 230-31, 272, 394, 
 
 457. 
 
 Culhuacan, 226. 
 Culhuas (Nahuas) sometimes applied to 
 
 Mayas, 209. 
 Curtiss, Ed., explorations by, 65. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dablon, Father, on aboriginal use of cop- 
 per, 92-3. 
 
 Dakota mounds, 31, n. 2. 
 
 Dall, W. H.. on migration by Behring's 
 Straits, 512, n. 1. 
 
 Dana, J. D., review of Dr. Koch's dis- 
 coveries, 120. 
 
 Darwin on old world origin of Americans, 
 194. 
 
 Davenport Academy, explorations con- 
 ducted by, 37-40. 
 
 Davenport Tablet, 38, 40. 
 
 Davenport mound crania, 169-70. 
 elephant pipe, Appendix B. 
 
 Days, Maya, 436-38. 
 
 Deguignes, 148. 
 
 Deluge myths, Mexican, 262-3, notes. 
 Tezpi, 263, n. ; Analogies, 460. 
 
 Development of American Race (see Evo- 
 lution). 
 
 Dickson, Dr., examination of "Mammoth 
 Ravine" by, 113-14. 
 
 Diseases of Mound-builders, 184. 
 
 Dogmatism and science, 131. 
 
 Dolechocephalic crania classified, 161. 
 
 14 Dolphin Rise," the, 501. 
 
 Domenech, Abbe, note on works, 139, 
 n. 4. 
 
 Dowler, Dr., skeleton discovered by, 123 ; 
 estimate of antiquity, 123. 
 
 Drake, account of works at Cincinnati 
 by, 44. 
 
 Drift, (modified), fossil from, 121. 
 
 Dwellings of Mound-builders, 67. 
 
 E. 
 
 Earth, globular form discovered, 133. 
 
 Echevarria y Veitia on the origin of the 
 Americans, 138. 
 
 Eckstein, Baron de, on the Caras, 07. 
 
 Eden, Mexican analogies with, 400. 
 
 Edificios de Quemada, 379. 
 
 Education of Aztec children, 432. 
 
 Effigy mounds of Wisconsin, 33-36; of 
 Ohio, 34 ; of Georgia, 35. 
 
 Egypt and Teotihuacan compared, 383. 
 
 Egyptian influence on American civiliza- 
 tion, 147. 
 
 Egyptian painting, 197. 
 
 Egyptian Tau at Palenque, 416. 
 
 El Castillo, pyramid, 366. 
 
 Elephant mound. 35-tf; "Trunk," 385, 
 395 ; pipe, 530. 
 
 El Moro, ruins on, 290. 
 
 Elyria cave, AVbittlesey on, 26. 
 
 Engleman, Dr. J. G., 43. 
 
 Enoch, H. R., discovery by, 44. 
 
 Epsom Creek, antiquities of, 315 ; eleva- 
 ted tower on, 316. 
 
 Eric the Red, 153. 
 
 Ericson, 32. 
 
 Eskimo, the first occupants of America, 
 512. 
 
 Estufa (Pueblo sanctuary), 292 ; entrance 
 peculiar, 322. 
 
 Etowah valley mounds, 72. 
 
 Europe, antiquity of man in, 24, n. 1. 
 
 Evolution, origin of the Americans by, 
 191 ; views of Hellwald on, 191 ; re- 
 garded improbable by Hseckel and 
 Darwin, 195. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fanaticism of early writers on America, 
 
 133. 
 
 Farquharson, Dr., reports by, 38. 
 Farrar, Dr. W., on American language, 
 
 470. 
 Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl, Gucu- 
 
 matz Cukulcan), 272, 394, 457. 
 Festival of the Mexican Cycle, 456. 
 Flood myths of the Mexicans, 262, n. 1, 
 
 499 ; of Pueblos, 335-6. 
 Floors of burnt clay, 66. 
 Florida, ancient home of Mayas, 517. 
 Floridian jaw-bone, Agassiz and Pour- 
 tales on, 112-13. 
 Fontaine, Mr., on Tennessee valley 
 
 mounds, 71. 
 
 Forchhammer on Indian languages, 496. 
 Forest growth on mounds, 104. 
 Forshey, Prof. C. G., on southern mounds, 
 
 77-79. 
 Foster's Pre-Mstoric Races, importance of, 
 
 100, n. 2. 
 Foster, Dr. J. W., on Cahokia mound, 42 ; 
 
 classification of mound-works by, 81 ; 
 
 on Indian traditions, 102; on age of 
 
 "New Orleans skeleton," 124. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 537 
 
 Fort Ancient, 51 ; Judges Dunlevy and 
 
 Force on, 51, 52. 
 Fortifications (ancient) in New York, on 
 
 the Lakes, and in Butler Co., Ohio, 50 ; 
 
 in Miami valley, 51, 75. 
 Fossil from drift, Jersey Co., 111., 121; 
 
 Foster's observations on, 121. 
 Fremont, Montezuma legend by, 334. 
 Frio, Cape, distance from Africa, 506. 
 Fuentes, description of Copan by, 356. 
 Funeral ceremony, 39, 40. 
 Fusang, 148-51 ; views of Neuman on, 
 
 149 ; Bretschneider, 150 ; Klaproth, 150; 
 
 D'Eichthal, 151. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gama, Leon y, on Mexican Calendar 
 Stone, 450-55. 
 
 Garcia on origin of Americans, 136-7. 
 
 Gardner, J. Starke, on Dolphin and Chal- 
 lenger ridges, 503. 
 
 Gas3,'Rev. J., discoveries of, 37, 40. 
 
 Gemelli Carreri, migration map of, 261-3. 
 
 Geometrical knowledge of Mound-build- 
 ers, 49. 
 
 Geographical names, analogies in, 497. 
 
 Gest, Mr. E., 46. 
 
 Giants, race of, 232 ; destruction of, 235. 
 
 Gila river, Casa Grande of, 279. 
 
 accounts of, 279 ; ground plan of, 281. 
 view of, 283. 
 
 Gillman, Henry, explorations of, 29. 
 on crania from River Rogue, 167-8. 
 on crania from Chamber's Island, 169. 
 
 Goazacoalco (various spellings) river and 
 province, 251. 
 
 Gobernador, Casa del, 347-50. 
 
 Grammar of Maya language, 477-9. 
 Aztec language, 481-85. 
 
 Grave Creek mound, 87. 
 
 Gravier on Northmen, 153. 
 
 Gray, Asa, on American and European 
 flora, 501 ; on Asiatic flora, 513. 
 
 Graphic systems, see Hieroglyphics. 
 
 Great Serpent, mound-work, 34, 70. 
 
 Grecques at Mitla, 363. 
 
 Greek analogies of religion, 468. 
 
 Greek colonization of America, 113; ad- 
 vocates of, 146. 
 
 Greek gods in Yucatan, 467. 
 
 Green County, Missouri, mound, 74. 
 
 Greenland, subsidence of coast. 504. 
 
 " Grimm's Law," 471-483. 
 
 Grote, Prof. A. R., observations on Eski- 
 mo, 128, 512. 
 
 Guatemalans, origin and flood myths of, 
 228-9. 
 
 Gucumatz, Quiche, deity, 213, 223, 236, 
 
 search for maize by, 241, 272. 
 Gulf Stream, 505. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hacavitz, mountain and deity, 215-16. 
 Haeckel, on origin of Americans, 195. 
 
 Hair of ancient Americans, 186. 
 
 Hair cloth from mounds, 43. 
 
 Hanno's naval expeditions, 145. 
 
 Hands, prints of ancient cliff-dwellers, 
 
 Hay wood, mummies described by, 187. 
 Head-flattening, history of, 178-80 ; prac- 
 ticed in America, 180-84 ; Prof. Wilson 
 on, 180 ; among the Chinooks, 182 ; 
 among Mound-builders, 183. 
 Headlee, Dr., cited, 75, n. 
 Hearths (ancient) in Ohio valley, 122. 
 Helena, Missouri, sun-dried bricks at, 75. 
 Hellwald, F. von, and copper in Mexico, 
 
 Jo. 
 
 Herrera on origin of Americans, 137. 
 Heroic period of American history, 515. 
 Hieroglyphics, from the mounds, 419. 
 of cliff-dwellers, 420 ; of Mayas, 420- 
 
 28 ; Landa's key to, 223-25. 
 Mexican, 429-34. 
 
 Hill, S. W., on ancient copper mines, 91. 
 Hindoo and Mexican analogies, 465. 
 Hiram and Solomon's fleet, 154. 
 Hitchcock, Prof. Ed., on age of Missis- 
 sippi delta, 128. 
 
 Hivites, ancestors of Votanites, 208-9, n. 
 Hod-Shin, report on Fusang, 148. 
 Holmes, W. H., explorations of, 297, 305, 
 
 317. 
 
 on Rio de la Plata, 318 ; mound-works 
 reported, 318 ; discoveries on San 
 Juan, 319. 
 
 in Mancos Canon, 320-24. 
 Hooker, Sir Joseph, 43. 
 Hopetown works, 49. 
 Hosea, S. M., on sacrificial mounds, 74, 
 
 n. 2. 
 
 Houses of Mound-builders, 67. 
 Hovenweep, ruined city of, 304; niche 
 
 stairway of, 306 ; cliff -house of, 307. 
 Howland, H. R., discoveries by, in u Amer- 
 
 ican bottom," 43-4. 
 Huastecs, Maya nation, 234. 
 Hueman (Huematzin), Toltec astrologer 
 
 and leader, 245, 253. 
 
 Hue hue Tlapalan, ancient Nahua home, 
 238, 240, 248; date of migration 
 from, 240, 241, 244, 245, n., 4,;>8 ; lo- 
 cation of, 244, 518. 
 in Mississippi Valley, 253; not in 
 
 North-west, 253. 
 Huehuetan, in Chiapas. 206. 
 Huemac, Toltec king, 268. 
 Hueyxalan, Toltec station, 245. 
 Humboldt, William von, on Aztec lan- 
 guage, 486. 
 Humphries and Abbott's estimate of age 
 
 of Mississippi delta, 124. 
 Hunahpu, Quiche, hero, 223 ; exploits of, 
 
 2323. 
 
 Hunab Ku (only god), 231. 
 Hunbatz, 223. 
 Hun Came, 222-24. 
 Huuchouen, 223. 
 
538 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hunhunahpu, Quiche, chief, 223-3. 
 Hurakan, Quiche, deity, 212, 222, 226. 
 
 I. 
 
 laia, tradition of, 499, n. 
 
 Igb, one of the first colonists of Chiapas, 
 
 204. 
 Imox, one of the first colonists of Chiapas, 
 
 <wU4:. 
 
 Inca-bone, 173. 
 
 India and Mexico, religious analogies of, 
 465. 
 
 Indiana mounds, 57, n. 2. 
 
 Indigenous Americans, 155. 
 views of writers on, 156. 
 
 Infant burial in Tennessee, 60, 66. 
 
 Ingersoll, Mr., tradition of cliff- dwellers 
 recorded by, 302-4. 
 
 Intercalary days, 445, 455. 
 
 Interglacial race, 512-516. 
 
 relics from Waynesville, Ohio, 126 ; 
 President Orton on, 126-7. 
 
 Interglacial man in New Jersey, 127-8. 
 
 Iqi-Balam, Quiche, deity, 214-15. 
 
 Irish colonists of America, 152. 
 
 Israel, lost tribes of in America, 135-6 ; 
 views of Duran on, 135 ; Thorowgood. 
 136 : L'Estrange, 136 ; Garcia, 137 ; Pin- 
 eda, 138; Echevarria y Veitia and 
 Kin^sborough, 143. 
 
 Isle Royal, copper mines on, 91 ; Henry 
 Gillman. 91, n. 1; Foster on, 92-3; 
 Aboriginal use of copper, 92-3. 
 
 Issaquena County, Mississippi, mounds, 
 70 ; Anderson's Calendar Stone from, 70. 
 
 Ixtlilxochetl's Relaciones, 240, 250. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jackson, W. H., discoveries by in the 
 
 McElmo and Mancos canons, 294. 
 in the Hovenweep, 305-7. 
 
 Janos river, antiquities of, 278. 
 
 Japanese and American affinities, 496. 
 colonization of America, 148. 
 
 Jaredites, colonists of America, 144. 
 
 Jaw-bone from Florida, Agassiz and 
 Count Pourtales on, 112-13. 
 
 Jewish theory of colonization, 143. 
 
 Jewish and Mexican historical analogies, 
 461. 
 
 Jones, George, on Phoenician colonization 
 of America, 146 ; estimate of his work, 
 146, n. 2. 
 
 Jones, Prof. Joseph. Mound explorations 
 in Tennessee, 171-3 ; cranial measure- 
 ments by, 172. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kabah, peculiarity of architecture at, 353. 
 Kamucu, Quiche national song, 217. 
 Kennebec valley mound, 28. 
 Kennon, Col., on Aleutian islands, 03. 
 
 Kentucky mound crania, 171. 
 
 Kinich-Kaknio, queen of Chichen-Itza, 
 400. 
 
 Kingsborough's fancied analogies, 460- 
 65. 
 
 Kitchens of the Mound-builders, 76. 
 
 Kitchen-middens, see Shell-heaps. 
 
 Knapp, S. O. , discovery of ancient copper 
 mines by, 89. 
 
 Koch, Dr., discoveries of, 116-121; J. D. 
 Dana on, 120-21; Koch, valuable ser- 
 vices of, 121, n. 2. 
 
 Kuro-suvo, or Japan current, 509. 
 
 L. 
 
 Labna, architecture of, 353. 
 Lake Superior copper mines, 90-92. 
 Lamnites, colonists of America, 144. 
 Landa's Alphabet, 423-25. 
 
 Maya days and months, 436-7. 
 Languages (American), multiplicity of, 
 190, 469 ; instability of, 493-4, n. 1. 
 survival of the fittest, 470. 
 the Maya-Quiche, 472 ; classification 
 of, 472 ; stability of the Maya, 473. 
 the oldest American, 473 ; Orozco y 
 Berra on, 473, 493 ; Maya-Quiche 
 characteristics, 474; Dr. Le Plon- 
 geon on, 474. 
 
 the Aztec, 479-90 ; epitome of gram- 
 mar, 481-85; affinities to Asiatic, 
 495-96 ; bearing on migrations, 486. 
 Lapham, Dr., survey of mound- works in 
 
 Wisconsin, 34-5. 
 
 Lascarbot on origin of Americans, 137. 
 Las Casas, on origin of Guatemalians, 
 
 2:28. 
 on flood myth, 228 ; on creation myth, 
 
 228, n. ; on Christ myth, 231. 
 Latham, on Morton's -theories, 165, n. 
 Lautverschiebung, 471, 488. 
 Leather relic from mound, 56. 
 Le Conte, Prof., on changes of coast 
 
 level, 504. 
 Legendary period of American history, 
 
 515. 
 
 Leidy, Prof. Joseph, on stone imple- 
 ments, 24. 
 
 L'Estrange on origin of Americans, 136. 
 Leroux, M., discoveries of, 284. 
 Le Plongeon, Dr., explorations in Yuca- 
 tan, 3^6-403 ; on Maya language, 474- 
 77 ; on analogies between Yucatan and 
 Canary Islands, 500. 
 Liberty, Ohio, works at, 48. 
 Lief, Norse discoverer of America, 153. 
 Lord's prayer in Maya, 479. 
 
 in Aztec, 485. 
 Louisiana mounds, 77-79. 
 
 Prof. C. G. Forshey on, 77; pyra- 
 midal mounds, 78. 
 Low type crania from mounds, 174. 
 Lund, Dr., explorations by, 116. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 539 
 
 Lyell, Sir Charles, on remains at Santos 
 River, Brazil, 118 ; observations on Nat- 
 chez bone, 113-14 ; on age of Missis- 
 sippi delta, 123 ; on New Orleans skele- 
 ton, 123. 
 
 M. 
 
 McElmo Canon, cliff-dwellings of, 300, 
 803. 
 square tower in, SOI ; triple-walled 
 
 tower of, 224. 
 
 McGuire on antiquity of Red man, 27, n. 
 McKinle}^ William, mounds described 
 
 by, 73. 
 
 Madisonville explorations, 523. 
 Mahucutah, Quiche progenitor, 214. 
 Maize, discovery of, 241. 
 Man, antiquity of in South America, 109- 
 
 10, 129 ; four creations of. 214. 
 Man's influence on nature, 110-11 ; meas- 
 ure of antiquity, 110 ; Martius on, 111, 
 n. ; Dr. Brinton on, 111 ; Dr. Meigs on 
 Santos River remains, 113. 
 Man of recent origin in America, 130 ; 
 Lubbock's remarks on. 130 ; Foster on, 
 130, n. 
 
 Manchester stone fort, 59. 
 Mancos Canon, cliff -houses of, 294, 285, 
 298, 299 ; watch-tower of, 290-97, <m ; 
 cave fortresses of, 320-24. 
 Manuscripts of Mayas, 421 . Troano MS, 
 
 422. 
 of Mexicans, 429; Mendoza Codex, 
 
 431-33. 
 
 Maps, Aztec migration, 201-63. 
 Marietta mounds, 54. 
 Marsh, Prof. O. C., exploration by, 87-9. 
 Mastodon discovered by Dr. Koch, 116-18. 
 Mayas, traditional origin of, chap. v. ; 
 earliest home, 210 ; venerable civiliza- 
 tion, 519; architecture of, 340-55; 
 sculpture, 384-403 ; compared to Egyp- 
 tian, 415; calendar of, 435-45; Katun 
 or Cycle, 439-40; Ahau Katun, 442; 
 intercalary days, 445 ; system adjusted 
 to our chronology, 443-45 ; observa- 
 tions of Landa, Perez, Bancroft and 
 Delaport on, 443-45. 
 Maya-Quiche languages classified, 473 ; 
 
 stability of, 473 ; antiquity of, 474-5. 
 Maya Grammar, 477-79; Maya, Lord's 
 
 prayer in, 479. 
 Maya and Hebrew compared, 475. 
 
 compared to Scandinavian languages, 
 
 compared to the Basque, 476; to 
 
 West African languages, 477. 
 Maya writing, see Hieroglyphics. 
 Mazatepec, Toltec station, 246. 
 Mecitl (or Mixi), Aztec leader, 259. 
 Meigs on mean of Indian cranium, 167. 
 Melgar on two idols near Mexico, 416 ; on 
 
 Maya language, 475. 
 Mendminees, ' White 
 
 hite Indians," 139. 
 
 Mexican baptism. 462-3 ; crania, 175. 
 Calendar, divisions of time, 440 ; the 
 Cycle, 446 ; festival of, 456 ; months 
 447 ; New Year, 447. 
 Calendar Stone, 450 ; its interpreters, 
 450 ; dates furnished by, 458 ; Lunar 
 reckoning, 455. 
 
 Mexican language, see Aztec language. 
 Mexico, pyramid of, 374 ; sculpture from, 
 408-11 ; vases from, 410 ; vases in the 
 United States National Museum, 413- 
 
 Miami Valley, aboriginal cemetery in, 523. 
 
 Mamisburg mound, 52. 
 
 Mica, use of by Mound-builders, 98. 
 
 Michigan mounds, 29. 
 
 Migration, the first to America, 512. 
 
 conditions favorable in North-west, 
 olo. 
 
 Becker on, 513-14. 
 
 of the Quiches, 215. 
 
 of the Toltecs, 244-251. 
 
 of the Aztecs, 259-63; of Tarascos, 
 
 261. 
 
 Migration map of Boturini, 433. 
 of Gemelli Carreri, 261-63, 433. 
 Gemelli interpreted by Ramirez, 263. 
 Minas Geraes, caves of, 116. 
 Mississippi delta, age of, 122-24 ; estimate 
 by Lyell, 122 ; by Dr. Dowler, 133 ; by 
 Dr. Hitchcock, 123 ; by Humphries and 
 Abbott, 123. 
 
 Mississippi mounds, 69-70, 71. 
 Mitchell, Dr. A., explorations cited, 73. 
 Mitla, antiquities of, 361-62. 
 Mixteco-Zapotec languages, 479. 
 Miztecs, Mexican tribe, 234. 
 Mongol colonization of America, 151. 
 Monjas, Casa de, 350. 
 Montezuma Cafion, cliff-dwellings of, 316. 
 Montezuma, culture-hero, 333 ; legend of 
 his birth, 334 ; legend concerning by 
 Papagoes chief, 334; Montezuma II., 
 Mexican emperor, 453; languages of 
 his empire, 480. 
 Months, Maya, 437-39. 
 Monosyllabism, 495. 
 
 Moqm towns, Becker on origin, 332 ; 
 name, 333 ; Lieutenant Ives' description 
 of, 326-30; pottery, 327; interior of 
 dwellings, 328. 
 
 Moqui language, Aztec traces in, 489. 
 Mooshahueh, Moqui town, 328. 
 Morgan, L. H., Pueblo theory of, 55; 
 
 Robert Clarke on, 53, n. 
 Mormon colonization of America, 144; 
 
 Bancroft on, 144. 
 
 Morton, Dr., classification of American 
 races by, 157-5!) ; table of cranial meas- 
 urements by, 158, n. 1 ; views untena- 
 ble, 159-165, 516 ; measurements of 
 Crania Americana classified, 161-63. 
 Moody, J., on Rockford Tablet, 44. 
 Moss, Captain, 303. 
 Mosaics at Mitla, 362-3. 
 
540 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mosaic knife, 412. 
 
 Mosaic deluge. Mexican analogies with, 
 460. 
 
 Mound-builders, geographical distribu- 
 tion of works, 27 ; Mica mines of, 
 28 ; copper mines of, 92-94. 
 no tradition of, 102-3 ; Mound-build- 
 ers and Indians distinct, 65. 
 language of, 492 ; diseases of, 184. 
 
 Mound-works at St. Clair river, 30; in 
 British Columbia, 30 ; in Oregon, 31 ; 
 Bonhomme's island, 31 ; Missouri val- 
 ley, 31, 33; on Butte prairies, 31, n. 1 ; 
 in Dakota, 31, n. 2 ; in Wisconsin, 33 ; 
 at Davenport, 37 ; heart of country, 40 ; 
 St. Louis and American bottom, 41 ; 
 in Ohio, 48 ; at Newark, 53-55 ; in Wa- 
 bash valley, 57, n. 2 ; in Tennessee, 53- 
 63 ; in North and South Carolina, 67 ; 
 in Mississippi, 67 ; in Alabama, 71 ; in 
 Georgia, 72, 73 ; in Missouri, 74-77 ; in 
 Louisiana, 77-79 ; in Texas, 78 ; antiqui- 
 ty of, 101 ; abandonment, 101-5, 458-9 ; 
 age of vegetation on, 101; of Mancos 
 Canon, 294 ; in Vera Paz, 359 ; in Tehu- 
 antepec, 360 ; in Vera Cruz, 364. 
 
 Mound crania, condition of a measure of 
 antiquity, 105-6 ; typical mound skull, 
 166. 
 
 Mound sculptures, 187-9. 
 
 Mugeres Isla, statue from, 403. 
 
 Muller, Max, 471. 
 
 Mummies from Peru, 186. 
 from Tennessee, 187. 
 
 Mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, 401. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nachan, " city of serpents," 205. 
 Nahua architecture, 359-83. 
 
 sculpture, 406-15. 
 Nahua Calendar, 445-459. 
 writers on, 445, n. 3. 
 analogies with calendars of Asia and 
 
 Egypt, 459. 
 
 Nahua language, see Aztec language, 
 ancient and modern, 4bO, 481, 486, 
 
 493-4, n. 1. 
 
 elements of in language of North- 
 west, 491. 
 
 the probable language of Mound- 
 builders, 492. 
 spoken in Florida, 493 ; analogies to, 
 
 494. 
 Nahua nations, origin of, 232. 
 
 predecessors of in Mexico, 212. 
 chronology of according to Codex Chi- 
 malpopoca and Popol Vuh, 241, 250. 
 their arrival at Panuco, 242. 
 extent of territory in Mexico, 248. 
 migrations of, 244, 251, 517 
 southern origin considered, 252. 
 Nahuatlacas, seven Nahua tribes, 256-9. 
 Naiera on the Otomi and the Chinese, 
 494-5. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn., mounds near, 6.3, 65, 67. 
 Natchez pelvic bone, discovered by Dr. 
 Dickson, 113. 
 
 Lyell's observations on, 113-14. 
 
 Foster's observations on, 114, n. 4. 
 Negroid type, ancient, 197. 
 Nempntemi, Aztec intercalary days, 455. 
 Neolithic age in America, 23. 
 Nephites, colonists of America, 144. 
 Newark, Ohio, works at, 53-55. 
 New Jersey, traces of interglacial man in, 
 
 New Madrid, Missouri, great mound near, 
 
 75-76. 
 New Orleans, ancient skeleton discovered 
 
 at, 123. 
 
 New York, ancient forts of, 28. 
 Nezahualcoyoth, King of Tezcuco, poems 
 
 of, 470. 
 
 Niche stairway, 315. 
 Nootkas, Aztec traces among, 486. 
 Norse discovery of America, 153. 
 North-west, antiquity of man in, 128-9. 
 Nott and Gliddon on the origin of nations, 
 
 159. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oajaca, antiquities of, 8GO-G4. 
 
 languages of, 479. 
 
 Observations on places of sanctuary, 80. 
 Obsidian in mounds, 85. 
 Occupancy of Mississippi valley by 
 
 Mound-builders, 106. 
 Ocean currents, 505. 
 Ococingo, ancient city in Chiapas, 211. 
 
 site of, 226. 
 
 Ohio Archaeological Society report, 82,n.l. 
 Ohio mound crania, 170-1. 
 Ohio mound- works, 47. 
 
 estimated number of, 48. 
 Ojo del Pescado, ruins at, 289. 
 Oldtown art, 64. 
 
 Oldtown, Tennessee, mounds, 61-3. 
 Olmecs, First Nahuas, 232-4, 518. 
 destroy the giants, 235. 
 build Chohila, 235, 248, 264. 
 Opata-Tarahumar-Pima family of lan- 
 guages, 488. 
 Ophir, 145. 
 
 Oraybe, Moqui town, 3^0. 
 Ordonez, history of, 207. 
 Oregon, traces of Aztec in, 40. 
 Origin of the Americans, Autochthonic, 
 
 192 et seq. 
 
 Origin of Americans reviewed, 516. 
 Origin of Ancient Americans, 134, 153. 
 views of Duran, 135 ; L'Estrange, 186; 
 Thorowgood, 136; Garcia, 136-7; 
 Herrera, 137; Torquemada, 137; 
 Pineda, 138; Echevarria y Veitia, 
 138; Ulloa, 139; Domenech, 139; 
 Clavigero, 139. 
 
 Bancroft's summary of views cited, 
 139 ; views of modern authors, 201- 
 2, notes ; of old world origin, 20.3. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 541 
 
 Origin of the Nahuas, according to Saha- 
 
 gun, 24:2. 
 Origin tradition of Mayas, 201. 
 
 of Quiches, 211-12. 
 Orton, President Edward, on inter-glacial 
 
 relics in Ohio, 126-7. 
 Otomi language compared to Chinese, 
 
 494-5. 
 Oztotlan, home of Aztecs, 248. 
 
 P. 
 
 Pacific Continent, 508. 
 
 Page, J. R., explorations by, 67. 
 
 Painted desert, 332. 
 
 Painting practised by Mound-builders, 65. 
 
 Palaeolithic age in America, 23. 
 
 Palenque art compared with Egyptian, 
 
 Palenque, centre of the earliest American 
 civilization, 204, 208-9. 
 
 Palenque, situation, 340 ; antiquities, 340 ; 
 palace, 342 ; architectural features of, 
 343 ; Tau at, 343 ; roofs, 344 ; arch, 
 345-6: tower, 345: sculpture at, 384- 
 92 ; statue, 391. 
 
 Panuco (Panco, Panutla or Panoaia, Pant- 
 Ian) Mexican port, 242. 
 
 Papantla, pyramid of, 367. 
 
 Patton, Dr., on Indiana mounds, 57, n. 2. 
 
 Pecos, New Mexico Pueblo, 331. 
 
 Pentateuch, true chronology of, 199. 
 
 Peresianus Codex, 427. 
 
 Peruvian crania, 175. 
 
 Petit Anse Island, remains from, 115. 
 Foster's observations on, 115. 
 Hilgard and Fontaine's report on, 115. 
 
 Physiognomy of ancient Americans, 186. 
 
 Phoenician colonization of America, 145-6. 
 George Jones on, 145-6. 
 
 Picture writing of Aztecs, 428-33 ; speci- 
 men from Codex M&ndoza, 431-2. 
 
 Pimentel on Chichimec language, 255. 
 
 Pimentel's classification of Maya lan- 
 guages, 472 ; epitome of Aztec Gram- 
 mar from, 482-83. 
 
 Pineda on origin of Americans, 133. 
 
 Plastered room in mound, 75. 
 
 Platycnemism, 185 ; Gillman's discoveries 
 of, 185, n. 2. 
 
 Plato's Atlantis, tradition of, 142. 
 
 Polynesia, ancient empire of, 508. 
 Baldwin on, 508. 
 
 Polysynthesis, a law of American lan- 
 guage, 471. 
 
 Pomme-de-Terre River, Dr. Koch's dis- 
 coveries at, 118-19. 
 
 Pontonclian, 234. 
 
 Pbpol Vuh (national book of the Quiches), 
 212, n. 2. 
 second division of, 221. 
 
 Pottery from the cliff-houses, 327. 
 
 Powell, Major J. W., explorations, 285- 
 287. 
 
 Pratt, W. H., explorations by, 42, n. 2. 
 
 Pre-Columbian colonization, views on, 
 
 141-154. 
 Progress, architectural, in mound-works, 
 
 79-80. 
 
 Prophecy, analogies of, 464. 
 Ptolemy cited, 497. 
 Pueblo'civilization, extent of, 233. 
 
 architecture, chap. vii. 
 
 transition in style, 284. 
 Pueblos of New Mexico, 330-1. 
 
 in ruins, 331. 
 Pueblo Pintado, 291. 
 
 Pueblos, the, and Aztecs, 331, and mound- 
 builders, 332 ; architecture and remains 
 compared, 333 ; creation and flood and 
 Babel myths of, 335-6. 
 Puente Nacional, pyramid at, 365. 
 Putnam, F. W., explorations by, 57, 65, 67. 
 
 explorations in Tennessee, 176. 
 Pyramid, the American, 341. 
 
 structure according to Bancroft, 341. 
 
 of Tehuantepec, 360. 
 
 of Puento Nacional, 365. 
 
 of Centla, 366. 
 
 of El Castillo, 366. 
 
 of Tusipan, 367. 
 
 of Papantla, 367. 
 
 of Cholula, 368. 
 
 of Xochicalco, 370-73. 
 
 of Mexico, 374. 
 
 of Teotihuacan, 875-9. 
 
 Quemada, Los edificios of, 379-81. 
 
 Quiche architecture, 355-9. 
 
 Quiche-Cakchiquel languages, 476. 
 
 Quinames (Quinametin), 232 ; first inhab- 
 itants of Mexico, 245 ; their destruc- 
 tion, 233. 
 
 Quiche poetry, 515. 
 
 Quiches reputed to be Carthaginians, 226. 
 
 Quiches, Maya nation, 211 ; origin tradi- 
 tion, 211-12 ; creation myth, 213 ; crea- 
 tions of men, 214 ; migrations, 215 ; 
 deities of, turned to stone, 216 ; heroic 
 age of, 220. 
 
 Quetzalcoatl, culture hero, 219, 237; 
 traditions of, 267-71; from Hue hue 
 Tlapalan, 267 ; priest and God of Tol- 
 tecs, 268 ; habits, 268 ; author of let- 
 ters and Mexican calendar, 268; his 
 enemy, 269 ; departure from Tulla, 270 ; 
 reign at Cholula, 270 ; departure to the 
 East, 271; expectation of his return, 
 271 ; origin of legends concerning him, 
 272, 394, 457 ; nationality, 464 ; positive 
 morality, 515 ; discovery of maize, 242. 
 
 Quiyahuitztlan, Anahuac, Toltec station, 
 SM0H 
 
 R. 
 
 "Raised Beeches," discovered by Alex- 
 ander Agassiz, 504. 
 Ramirez, on Aztec migration map, 263. 
 
542 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Rau, Charles, on Mexican copper mining, 
 94, n. 2. 
 
 on aboriginal trade, 98. 
 Red Man, antiquity of, 22 ; traditions, 
 
 22. 
 Read, M. C., on Grave Creek Tablet cited, 
 
 87, n. 
 
 Religious analogies, 459-68. 
 Religion of the Quiches, 212. 
 
 a war of, 226. 
 Remains at Santos River, Brazil, Lyell 
 
 and Meigs on antiquity of, 113. 
 Reviellagigedo, viceroy to Mexico, 453. 
 Report of Ohio Archaeological Society, 
 
 82, n. 1. 
 Retzius, on Morton's measurements, 165. 
 
 on Mexican crania, 175, n. 
 River Rouge mound, 29. 
 
 crania from, 167-S. 
 River Terraces, mound-works on, 103. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin's views, 103. 
 
 Foster's view, 104, n. 1. 
 Rock shelters in San Juan Canon, C09. 
 
 in Montezuma Canon, 316. 
 "Rockford Tablet," 44. 
 Room plastered in mound, 75. 
 Rosny, M. Leon de, essay by, 425-26. 
 
 key to hieratic writings of Mayas, 427. 
 Ross County (Ohio) works, 48. 
 Roque, Father, observations on Aztec, 486. 
 Russell, G. P., explorations by, 87-89. 
 
 Sabine worship, 40-85. 
 
 Sacrifices, human, 273, 452-53. 
 
 Sacrificial mounds, 83-6; stratified ac- 
 cording to Squier and Davis, 84 ; strati- 
 fication denied by Prof. Andrews, 83. 
 
 Sacrifices, probably human, 39. 
 
 Sahagun's account of the first Nahuas, 
 240-6. 
 
 Salado Rio, antiquities of, 233. 
 
 Salinas River, 283. , 
 
 Sadelmair, discoveries of, 283. 
 
 Salisbury, Stephen, cited, 396-401. 
 
 Salish family of languages, Aztec ele- 
 ment in, 492. 
 
 Sanctuary, places of, 80. 
 
 Sandals of Chaac-Mol, 398. 
 
 San Juan Canon, cliff -dwellings of, 307. 
 Echo Cave in, 310-11. 
 
 San Miguel Valley, antiquities of, 275-7. 
 
 Savage Art, unity in style of, 196. 
 
 Scandinavian and Mexican analogies, 466. 
 discovery of America, 22, 153 ; . 
 Prof. Rafn on, 153. 
 
 Schools of Tezcuco, 4S1. 
 
 Sculpture, from mounds, 382 ; at Palen- 
 que, 384-92 ; Uxmal, 393-95 ; Chichi-n- 
 Itza, 398-403 ; Copan, 405 ; Monte Al- 
 ban, 406 ; at Tusapan, 407 ; Xochicalco, 
 408 ; at Mexico, 409-10. 
 
 Sculptures from the mounds, 187-9. 
 
 Seltzertown pyramidal mound, 72. 
 Separate creation theory, Morton and 
 Agassiz's views of, 157-9 ; groundless, 
 191. Sepulture, mounds of, 86-88. 
 "Serpents," kingdom of, 222. 
 Serpent Temple, 394 ; symbol, 419, 272 ; 
 Serpent-work, Adams county, Ohio, 34. 
 "Seven Caves," 215, 219, 248, 264-66. 
 Shaler, Prof., on Dr. Abbott's discov- 
 eries, 128. 
 Shell heaps on Atlantic sea-board, 28, 
 
 106-7. 
 fresh water of, 107-9; in Florida, 
 
 107. 
 
 Prof. Wyman on, 106-8; Dr. Brin- 
 ton on, 107; on Pacific coast, 109; 
 examination by Paul Schumacher, 
 109. 
 
 Shoshone-Comauche languages, 489 ; Az- 
 tec elements in, 492. 
 
 Signal Systems of the Mound-builders, 52. 
 on Great Miami River, 52. 
 Squier and Davis on, 53. 
 Skrellings, 22. 
 Sorcery practised upon Xibalban kings, 
 
 Spain's state of learning in 17th century, 
 
 Squier and Davis, estimate of number of 
 mound -works in Ohio, 48 ; classifica- 
 tion of mound-works by, 81. 
 
 Squier on Newark works, 53. 
 
 Stations, of Toltec migration, 244-46; 
 of Aztec migration, according to Vey- 
 tia, Tezozomoc and Clavigero, 260 ; 
 names interpreted by Humboldt, 261, 
 n. 3. 
 
 Statuettes in National Museum, 415. 
 
 St. Clair River mounds, 30. 
 
 Stephens and Catherwood, explorations, 
 chap, viii, passim. 
 
 Steinthal, Prof., classification of lan- 
 guages by, 471, n. 4. 
 
 Stevenson, M. F., description of mounds 
 by, 72. 
 
 St. Francis Valley mounds, 74. 
 
 St. Louis, mound-w r orks at, 40, 73. 
 
 Stone Age in New Jersey, 26 ; Dr. Abbott 
 on, 26. 
 
 Stone coffins, burial in, 60. 
 
 Stone implements from Bridger basin, 
 Wyoming, 24, n. 1. 
 
 Stone graves in Tennessee, 60 ; in Indi- 
 ana, 57. 
 
 Stone tubes used by Mound-builders, 96. 
 
 St. Patrick in America, 152. 
 
 Stucco reliefs at Palenque, 384-88. 
 
 Sun-dried brick, 75; wall of at Seltzer- 
 town, 72 ; in Phillips County, Missouri, 
 75. 
 
 Sun, tablet of, 392. 
 symbol of, 395. 
 
 Sun worship, 40, 85. 
 
 Swallow, Prof., explorations by, 75. 
 
 Syphilis among Mound-builders, 184. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 543 
 
 T. 
 
 Tabasco, ancient civilization of, 203. 
 
 Tablet of cross, 390; of sun, 89J ; at 
 Chichen-Itza, 398. 
 
 Tablet, Rockf ord, 44 ; Cincinnati, 44. 
 
 Tablets at Palenque, 381-90. 
 
 Table Mountain, cranium from, 125. 
 
 Tamoanchan, city of Tobasco, 241, 243. 
 
 Tarahumara, language of North Mexico, 
 487. 
 
 Tarascos, migrations of, 261. 
 
 "Taylor mound," the, 87-89. 
 
 Tehuantepec, antiquities of, 359-GO ; lan- 
 guage of, 479. 
 
 Tegua, Moqui pueblo, 326. 
 
 Temple base near Nashville, 62. 
 
 Temple of Mexico, 374. 
 
 Tennessee mound- works, 58; explora- 
 tions of Prof. Jones in, 58-65 ; of Prof. 
 Putnam, 65-67. 
 
 Tennessee mound crania, 171-4. 
 
 Tennessee Valley mounds, 71 ; Mr. Foun- 
 tain on, 71. 
 
 Teo-Culhuacan, 259-60, 265, 266. 
 
 Teotihuacan, pyramids of, 375-79 ; com- 
 pared with Egypt, 375, 382, 383. 
 
 Teotihuacan, sacred city of, 234, 243, 266. 
 
 Tepanecs, Nahua tribe, 256. 
 
 Tepetla, Toltec station, 246. 
 
 Tepehuana, language of North Mexico, 
 487. 
 
 Terra Cotta, figure from Isla Mugeres, 
 403. 
 
 Terminos, Laguna de, 234. 
 
 Tezcatlipoca, bloody god of the Nahuas. 
 269-70 ; sorcery of, 269. 
 
 Tezcuco, schools of, 481. 
 
 Tezpi, flood myth, 263, n. 
 
 Tezquil nation, 208. 
 
 Texas mounds, 78. 
 
 Theban calendar compared to the Aztec, 
 459. 
 
 Thomas, Dr., on Dakota mounds, 31-2. 
 Gen. H. W. on same, 32 ; low type 
 skull cited, 12S, n. 5, 167. 
 
 Thomson, Sir C. Wyville, on Atlantic 
 land ridge, 502-3. 
 
 Thompson, Dr. J. P., on Usher's chronol- 
 ogy, 201. 
 
 Thorowgood on origin of ancient Ameri- 
 cans, 136. 
 
 Thorwald, Ericson, 22. 
 
 Tibire, flattened, 30. 
 
 Time, Absolute and Relative, 200. 
 
 Tlacamitzin, Toltec chief, 244. 
 
 Tlachicatzin, city in Hue hue Tlapalan, 
 245. 
 
 Tlahuicas, Nahua tribe, 256. 
 
 Tlaloc, Aztec i-ain-god, 457. 
 
 Tlapalans, four, 252 ; Bancroft and Bras- 
 seur's views upon, 251-2. 
 
 Tlapallan de Cortes, 251 ; location of ex- 
 amined, 251. 
 
 Tlapallanconco, Toltec station, 245. 
 
 Tlascatecs, Nahua tribe, republic of, 257. 
 
 Tobil (Quiche deity), 215. 
 
 Tollan, Toltec capital, 218, 246. 
 
 Toltec migration, 244, 251 ; migration ac- 
 cording to Becker, 248-50 ; according 
 to Ixtlilxochitl, 244-46, 250 ; accounts 
 examined, 246. 
 
 Toltec flood myth, 238. 
 
 Toltecs, origin according to Ixtlilxochitl, 
 239. 
 
 southern origin considered, 252; out- 
 lines of history, 254 ; annals, Ban- 
 croft's resume of, 255. 
 
 Tomlinson's report on Grave Creek 
 mound, 87. 
 
 Tongues, confusion of, 238. 
 
 Totonacs, Mexican nation, 234. 
 
 Totzapan, 246. 
 
 Tower of Mancos Canon, 297-300 ; McEl- 
 mo, 324 ; at Chichen, Mayapan and 
 Tuloom, 355. 
 
 Toxpan, Toltec station, 245. 
 
 Trade winds, 508 ; agents in the discovery 
 of America, 506. 
 
 Tradition (Indian) valueless, 102. 
 Dr. Foster on, 10,3. 
 of Nahua Mound-builders, Becker on, 
 102-3, n. 
 
 Tradition and History and their scope, 
 109-10. 
 
 Tradition of uncertain value, 204. 
 
 Trinity myth in Yucatan, 231. 
 
 Troano MS, 422. 
 
 Tula (Tulha or Tulan), 211. 
 
 sculptured column from, 413. 
 
 Tulan, 215-16 ; four in number, 217-18. 
 
 Tulancingo (Tollancingo), Mexican city, 
 
 Tulaii-Zuiva, 215. 264-66, 248. 
 
 Tumuli of Vera Paz, 359 ; Tehuantepec, 
 
 360. 
 Vera Cruz, 364. 
 
 Tusapan, antiquities of, 367. 
 
 Typical mound skull, 166. 
 
 Tzendal, language of Chiapas, dialect of 
 the Maya, 206. 
 
 Tzendel, a Maya dialect, the oldest Amer- 
 ican language, 473. 
 
 U. 
 
 Uraeus, Egyptian symbol, 467. 
 
 Ural-Altaic languages compared to In- 
 dian tongues, 496. 
 
 Usher, Bishop, chronology of faulty, 199. 
 
 Usumacinta Valley, the seat of most an- 
 cient American civilization, 203. 
 
 Utah languages, 489-90. 
 
 Utatlan, Quiche city, 227 ; antiquities of, 
 358. 
 
 Utes, the enemies of the cliff-dwellers, 
 303. 
 
 Uxmal, architectural remains, 347-52. 
 arches and roofs, 349-50. 
 sculpture, 393 ; Facades at, 394. 
 Le Plongeon's observations on, 457. 
 
544 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 V. 
 
 Valentin!, Dr. Ph., interpretation of Mex- 
 ican Calendar Stone, 453-59 ; on analo- 
 gies in geographical names, 497. 
 
 Vancouver's Island, Aztec termination 
 used, 490 ; elements in, 491. 
 
 Vases from Casas Grandes, 278 ; burial 
 from Mexico, 410 ; after Waldeck, 410 ; 
 from National Museum, 414-15. 
 
 Vater, on the Aztec language, 486-90. 
 
 Vega, Bishop Nunez de la, 206. 
 
 Vegetation, age of on mounds, lOi ; rela- 
 tion between American and Asiatic, 513. 
 
 Vera Paz, mounds of, 359. 
 
 Verda Rio, antiquities of, 284. 
 
 Verrezano, 22. 
 
 Vespucius, 22. 
 
 Voc, mythical personage, 222. 
 
 Votan (culture hero), tradition of cited, 
 
 138-9, 145, 204. 
 document written by, 206-10. 
 
 Vucub-Cakix, Xilbalban monarch, 223. 
 
 Vucab-Came, 224. 
 
 Vukub-Hunapu, Quiche chief, 222. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wabash Valley, mounds in, 57, n. 2. 
 
 Watch-tower of the Mancos, 300. 
 
 Waterbury Mine, 91. 
 
 Waynesville, Ohio, inter-glacial relics 
 from, 126. 
 
 Welsh discovery of America, 154. 
 
 Whipple, Lieut., explorations by, 284. 
 
 4 ' Whiteman's-land, ' ' 152. 
 
 Whittlesey, Col., on Shelter Caves, 26. 
 on ancient copper mines, 91, 94. 
 
 Wilson, Dr. Daniel, cranial measurements 
 tabulated, 164; observations by, on Mor- 
 ton's theory, 165, n. 2 ; examinations of 
 Peruvian crania by, 176; on head-flat- 
 tening, 180-2; on Cincinnati Tablet, 
 47. 
 
 Wisconsin mound-works, 33 ; effigy and 
 animal mounds of, 33. 
 
 Worship of sun, 40. 
 
 Writing, systems of, see Hieroglyphics. 
 Wyman, Jeffries, on shell-heaps of Flori- 
 da, 155-8. 
 
 X. 
 
 Xalisco, Toltec station, 245. 
 
 Xan, Quiche messenger, 224. 
 
 Xbalanque, Quiche hero, 222-3. 
 
 Xelhua, builder of Cholula, 236. 
 
 Xibalba, kingdom of Votanites, tradition 
 of fall, 220-26 ; date of, 227 ; fall of, a 
 theme for poetry, 515 ; hatred of, 221. 
 
 Xicalancas, 234 ; origin of, 234. 
 
 Xicalanco, Mexican city, 234. 
 
 Xmucane, 222-3. 
 
 Xochicalco, pyramid of, 370-3. 
 
 Xochimilcos, Nahua tribe, 256. 
 
 Xpiyacoc, 222. 
 
 Xquiq, Xibalban princess, 223. 
 
 Yamkally language, traces of Aztec in, 
 
 490. 
 
 Yaqui, Mexican tribe, 219. 
 Yazoo Valley mounds, 71. 
 Yellowstone, mounds of, 31. 
 Yond Mountain, 73. 
 Yucatan, origin of population, 229-30; 
 
 Greek gods in, 467. 
 Yztachnexucha, 246. 
 
 Zacotlan, Toltec station, 246. 
 
 Zamna, Maya culture hero, 229-30. 
 
 Zapotecs, Mexican nation, 234 ; antiqui- 
 ties of, 360-64. 
 
 Zarate, on the Aztec, 486. 
 
 Zayi, Casa Grande of, 353. 
 
 Zipacua, Xibalban warrior, 222. 
 
 Ziuhcohuatl, Toltec station, 246. 
 
 Zumarraga, destruction of Aztec MS. by, 
 429. 
 
 Zuni, description of, 288-S9 ; Valley, Pue- 
 blos of, 288. 
 
 Zutugil, language, 476.