mi -< ^OFCALIFO/?^ aWEUNIVERVa ^lOSANCElfj> O "'^üUillVJdV) ^. *■' i \VitUNlVERS//> :lOSANCE[fX/ a3AiNn-3V\^ .■>r ^n t ' ' *^ -^ tjn m M ,^WEUNIVER^/A Aj Q>M i©\ '^«I/OJIIVDJO^ ^ii/OJIlVDJO^ cc rtEUNIVERV/. vVclOSANCElfj> g ^^ — ^% o %a3AiNn]y\v ^.OFCAIIFO/?^ ^öAavaani^ ^OFCA1IFO% o §1 !/0JnV3J0>' '^' ^WEUNIVERS-//, ^lOSANCElfj> o ^ "^AaJAINO-lWV iFCALIFO/?^ K^ ^OFCALIFO/?^ 'AyvaaiH^^ "^öAavaaiH^ ^WE■UNIVER% o ^lOSANCElfj> "^Ad^AINn^WV Qc I ^EUNIVERä'/) vKlOSANCElfXy^ o o ^EUNIVER^/A ^lOSANGElfjV- o ^^^ " o '^AaaAiNn]WV ^^^l•llBRARYö/> ^ILIBRARYQ^ %a3AINn3WV^ ^OJUVJ-jO"^ ^-J/OJIWDJO'^ ^OFCMIFO/?^ ^OFCAlIFOff^ ^oAwaaiii^ ^öAnvaaiii^ <^ Si illBRARYö/^ -^ILlBRARYö/^ AMEUNIVER% ^^ .^ ^lOSANCElfj^. Mi Mi s^ilQEi MEXICAN COrrEK TOOLS: THE USE OF COPPER BY THE .MEXICANS BEFORE THE CONQUEST; THE KATÜNES OF MAYA HISTORY^ A ClIAriKK IN IIIK EARLY HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA, With Spkcial Referenck to tiik Pio Pekkz ^Lvnusckii'T. BY PHILIPP J. J. VALENTINI, Ph. D. [TliAN.SLATED l-'ROM TIIK GeHMAX, UY STEniKN vSaUSISUH Y, .Ili.J ■WORCESTER, MASS.: PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON. 18 80. '''^c. . crzp^u^^^v ^Ai-i^^^t'V^C^cJ^ J WITH Till: lUCSl'KVT.s u f cJ-^^^^^;^^^'^^^^ " y7i-yt:>c^yüv • Jht^AJff^^^.<^J^.c,^^f^^ %..S)Sf., fPKOCEEDIKGS OK AMKKICAN AXTUjL'Altl AN .SOCIETY, AlMill, i'-K AND OCTOl.EK 21, 1S7!».] (ON TENTS Page. Mexican Coppku Tools 5 Note by Committee oe Puumcatiox 45 The Katunes of Maya Histouy 40 Inlro'liictory liemarks 49 The Maya Mamtscript and Translation 52 History of the Mannscript 55 Elements of Maya Chronolof/y 60 Table of the 20 Days of the 3Iaya Month G2 Table of the 18 Months of the Maya Year 03 Table of Maya Months and Days 04 Translation of the Mamiscript by Senor Perez 75 Discussion of the Manuscript 77 Conclndinfj Eemarks 02 Sections of the Perez Manuscript expressed in years 00 Table of Maya Ahattes expressed in years 100 Jies7ilts of the Chronological Investigation 102 3:lliistrattons. Page. Copper Axes ix the Ahms of Tepoztla, Tepoztitla and Tepozcolula 12 Copper Axes, the Tribute of Chilapa 13 Copper Axes and Bells, the Tribute of Chala 14 Mexican Goldsmith Smelting Gold IS Yucatan Axe, from Landa 20 Yucatan Copper Axes 30 Indiax Battle Axe, from Oviedo , 31 Copper Chisel found in Oaxaca 33 Mexican Carpenter's Hatchet 35 Copper Axe of Tepozcolula 30 Copper Axe of Tlaximaloyan 30 Copper Tool, fo-und by Dupaix in Oaxaca 37 Maya Ahau Katun Wheel 71 Map showing the movement of the Mayas, as stated in the Manuscript 78 MEXICAN COPPER TOOLS. Bv PiiiMPi' J. J. Valentini, Ph.D. [From the German, hy Stephen Salisbury, Jr.] [From Proceediugs of American Autiquariau Society, April 30, 1879.] The subject of prehistoric chopper mining, together with the trade in the metal and tlic process of its manufacture into implements and tools bv the red men of Nortli America, has engaged tlie attention of numerous investigators. It was while listening to an interesting paper on prehis- toric copper mining at Lake Superior, read by Prof. Thomas Egleston before the Academy of Sciences, of New York, March 9, 1879, that the writer was reminded of a nmiibcr of notes whicli he had made, some time previous, on the same subject. These notes, however, covered a department of research not included in the lecture of that evening. They were collected in order to secure all the material extant in relation to tlie copper products of Mexico and Central America. Nevertheless, this ti'eatment of a subject so germain to ours, could not help imj)arting an impulse to a rapid comparison of the results of our own studies with those of others. It brought to light striking agreements, as well as disagreements, which existed in connection with the copper industries of the two widely separated races. On tlie one hand it appeared that both of these ancient peo[)]c were unaccpiainted with iron ; both were trained to the practise of "war, and, strange to say, both liad invariably abstained from sliaping copper into any imple- ment of wai-, tlie metal being appropriated solely to the uses of peace. But, on the otlicr liand, wliilst the northern red man at- tained to his highest achievement in the production of the 2 6 axe, the native of Central America conld boast of import- ant additions to his stock of tools. He possessed copper implements for tilling the fields, and knew the nses of the chisel. Besides, when he wished to impart to the copper a definite form, he showed a superior ingenuity. The north- ern Indian simply took a stone, and by physical force ham- mered the metal into the required shape. But the skilled workman of Tecoatega and Tezcuco, subjecting the native copper to the heat of the furnace, cast the woodcutter's axe in a mould, as well as the bracelets and the fragile ear- rings that adorned the princesses of Motezuma. Therefore, in vievt^ of the recently increasing interest shown in archaeological circles, respecting everj^thing relat- ing to Mexico, the writer deemed it wortli while to revise the notes referred to. As to tlie fact that the early Mexicans used instruments of copper, there can be no doubt. The brevity of the state- ments respecting these instruments is nevertheless very per- plexing. The accounts of the Spanish chroniclers, indeed, aflbrd a certain degree of satisfaction, but they leave us with a desire for fuller information. We should have felt more grateful to these authorities if, out of the thousand and more chajUers devoted to the glorious deeds of the " Castellanos and Predicadores," tlioy had written one in which they had introduced us to the Mexican work-shop, exhibiting tlie weaver, the paper-maker, the carpenter, the goldsmith, and the sculptor, and initiating us into the devices and methods respectively employed ; describing the form and shape of the tools the)' used, and givin«; an ac- count of all those little details which are indispensal)le for achieving any technical or artistical results. Yet, as it exists, the desired information is incomplete, and, f<»r the present at least, we can only deplore its brevity. In looking for aid from other quarters we feel still more pcr[>h'XO(l, No s])ecimen of any copper or bronze tool, ap- parently, has l)een preserved, and we are thus prevented from determining whetlier the axes or chisels mentioned by the Spanish authors were of the same shape as ours, or whether the natives had contrived to give them a peculiar shape of their own. Finally, no definite hint is given whether the kind of copper metal, which they called " brass or bronze," was copper with the natural admixtures of gold, silver, tin, or other tempering elements, or whether the Mexicans had themselves discovered the devices of harden- ing, and combined the elements in due conventional propor- tions. All these questions are of the highest interest, and claim an answer. Our most renowned authorities for Mexican archaeology and history, Humboldt, Prescott and Brasseur de Bourbourg,* pass over this subject without giving any dcsircnJ satisfaction. They do not go mucli farther than to repeat the statements furnished by the writers in the same language as they received them. These early statements will form the principal portion of the material out of which we weave the text of our discus- sion. In order that the reader may be better prepared to enter into our reasoning and judge of the correctness of our conclusions, we shall, in translation, place the statements of these authors below the text, in the form of foot-notes ; though, in cases where it is believed that the reader may desire to see the originals, the Spanish text is given. Considerable help has been derived from a source hitherto very little consulted, that of the native ])aintings, which rej)resent copper implements. As will be seen, they make up, to a certain extent, fur the deticiency of the latter in collections. The cuts we give are of tlie same size as those we lind copied in the Kingsborough Collection. * A. V. Humboldt, Essai s. 1. Nouv. E"ld)or]iood of the three named cities. Moreover, coj^per in these cities was wrought into axe-bhides. Finally, tlie axe will turn out to be the symbol used for copper, in general. Let us accept these facts and see whetlier this picture for tlie symbol for copper does not return on other pages of the same Codex, and thereby gain more information on the subject. We notice the picture of the axe-blade reappear- ing on the pages 39 and 42. Both happen to bear the same numl^er, that of figure 20, and both belong to the same section of the Codex which contains the pictures of the tributes paid by the conquered towns. Cut 5 is a reproduction of fig. 20, page 39, Codex Mendoza. It shows the metal axe without a handle hanging on a thread from a line upon Cut 5. which we flq^.lO H ^ \^ Towu of Chilapu. nifies the number twenty.^ see five flags are painted. T\ [Tl Moreover, L' —I at the left side is a lit- tle picture. A flag in Mexican s 3' m b o 1 writiny; sig- * Those who ■«'ish to be more extensively instructed in the Mexican system of numeration can read: Leon y ^'«»1«, Descripcion Hist, y Cronol. de las dos Piedras, Parte II., Appendice II., page 128, Edit. C. M. de Bnstamante, Mexico, 1832. Clavirjero, Storia antica di Messico, Eng- lish translation by Ch. Cullen, London, 1807, Vol. I., Book 4, pag. 410; and an article recently published by Orozco y Berra, in Tom. I., Entrega fima of the Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, 1879, page 258, wliich article is the most complete hitherto written on the subject, and is illus- trated by 53 cuts. 3 14 We may therefore conclude that by this conihiiiation one hundred copper axes are indicated. Tlio question now arises, what city may have paid this tril)nte of copper axes ? The ])ainter has not only omitted to connect directly these flags and axe with one of the various coats of arms that are grouped in their neighl)orhood, hut even, if he had done so, the student, still unacquainted with the art of explaining pic- tures, would be unable to make out tlie name of the city, embodied in the pictnre of the coat of arms. We will over- come this difficulty by consulting the interpretation of tlie Codex Mendoza, which is printed on the pages 39-89 of Vol. v., Kingsb. Collection. There, on page 73, the suggestion is given that the tril)ute objects refer to the town of Chilapa, whose coat of arms (tig. 2), as we shall notice on the cut, consists of a tub tilled witli water, and on whose surface the chiUi-hmt appears, better known as the Spanish red pepper chilli, red peper, all, water, pa, in or above. For this reason we learn that the town of Chilapa was tributary in 100 axes. In like manner we may proceed with the definition of the picture found on page 42, tig. 20. The copy given in cut 6, sliows 80 blades of cop- per axes in tig. 20, and besides 40 little copper bells in fig. 19, and tlie interpretation, Vol. V., l)age 76, informs us that it was the town of Chala, tig. 26, which had to pay fi'^ -^^^this kind of tribute. Therefore, tlie towns of Tepoztla, Tepotztitla, Tepozcolula, and, besides, those of Chilai)a and Xala, must be considered to have been connected, in fiq.%6. Town of Cliala. f^-<^ 19 15 one way or the otliei", with copper mining, copper inann- facture, {viid the tril>ute of the suiiie.* A few words on the procuring of the metal from Localities where it was^jliscovered by the natives, ma}^ find a suital)le ])hice here. ' Mining, as we understand it to-day, or as the Spaniards understood it already at the time of tlie conquest, was not practised by the natives. Gold and silver were not broken from the entrails of the rocks. They were collected IVom \\\e j)laceres by a process of mere washing. No notice at all has come down to us how copper was gathered. We can, however, easily imagine, tliat whenever by a c'hance outcropping a copper vein or stratum l)ecame visil)le, they probabl}' broke off' the ore or mineral to a de])th easy to be reached, and only selected the most solid pieces. It is evident that the results of such superficial mining must have been very trifling, certainly not greater than would barely suffice for the fabrication of the most necessary tools. Herein we will find an explanation, why this people, though possessing the metal and the technical skill, nevertheless did not use it for the manufacture of arms. The ])roducti(jn could not have been abundant enough to supply the whole nation or even the professional soldier with metal weapons. They preferred therefore, to continue in the ignorance of the Stone Age. * There is, indeed, one passage in Herrara (Antonio de), Hist. Gen. de los liecbos de los Castelhuios, Madrid, 1729, in his iutrodiictory De- scripcion de las Indias, §§ Zacatula and Colima, where the working of copper mines by the indigenous people of these provinces is mentioned: "There are very abundant copper mines in this district, more towards the East, and near the port of Santiago. The Indians make marvelous vessels (vasos) of this copper, because it is sweet (dulce). They have, however, still another kind of copper, which is hard, and which they em- ployed for tilling the gronnd, instead of using iron, for they were not acquainted with iron before the Spaniards entered tlie kingdom." As will be seen later, there is no doubt as to the latter assertion. But we fear the former to be an anachronism and the manufacturing of vasos de cobre (copper vessels) will have to be assigned to the epoch after the Conquest, when the art of liammering was introduced and eagerly ac- cepted and practised by the natives. 16 Where the Mexicans found tlie lead that was seen in the market-place, naj, even the purposes for which tliey migiit have used it, we have been entirely unable to learn. Lead in the language of the Nahoas, is called temeztU (telt stone, metzli moon), moon stone, a name picturesque and charac- teristic, as were most of those which stand in the list of objects tliat belong to the realm of nature. Not a" single picture referring to lead can be found in the Mexican Codices. The same must also be said of tin, tlie name of which was maochictl, a word seemingly Nahoatl in form, but whose root was probably derived from a foreign lan- guage. It will be gratifying, however, to learn from the pen of the great conqueror Cortes himself, where the natives, and afterwards his followers, found their tin. To quote the language of Cortes,* "I am without artillery and weapons, though I have often sent money to obtain them. But as nothing drives a man to expedients so much as distress, and as I had already lost the hope that Your Royal Majesty might be informed of this, I have mustered all my strength to the utmost in order that I might not lose what I have already obtained with so much danger and sacrifice of life. I have therefore arranged to have men immediately sent out in search of copper, and in order to obtain it without delay I have expended a great amount of money. As soon as I had brought together a suflicient quantity, I procured a workman, v/ho luckily was with us, to cast several cannons. Two half-culverines are now ready, and we have succeeded as far as their size would permit. The copper was indeed all ]"eady for use, but I had no tin. Without tin I could do nothing, and it caused me a great deal of trouble to find a sufiicient quantity of it for these cannons, for some of our men, who had tin plates or other vessels of that kind, were not willing to part with them at any rate. For this reason * Carta de Heruan Cortes al Emperador, do la grau ciudad de Tenoch- titlan, desta Nueva Espaua, a 13 dias del mes de Octubre de 1524:. Edicion Gayangos (Dou Pascual de), Paris, 18G6. 17 I liave sent out people in all directions searchino" for fin, and the Lord, who takes care of everything, willed gra- ciously that when onr distress had reached its highest point, I found among the natives of Tachco* small pieces of tin, very thin and in the form of coins.f Making further inves- tigations I found that this tin, there and in other provinces was uäed for money, also that this tin was obtained from the same province of Tachco, the latter being at a distance of 26 leagues from this town. I also discovered the locality itself of these mines. The Spaniards whom I despatched with the necessary tools brought me savijjles of it, and I then gave them orders that a sufficient quantity should be procured, and, though it is a work of much labor, I shall be supplied with the necessary quantity that I require. While searching for tin, according to a report from those skilled in the subject, a rich vein of iron-ore was also dis- covered. Now supplied with tin I can make the desired cannons, and daily I try to increase the number, so that now I have already five pieces ready, two half culverines, two which are still smaller, one field-piece and two sacT'es, the same that I brought with me, and another half-culverine which I pur- chased from the estate of the Adelantado Ponce de Leon." Li the above report of Cortes, therefore, we are informed of the name of the locality where tin was found and dug by the natives. So we have the facts established that both copper and tin:}: were dug by the natives, that there was a * Tachco, to-day Tasco, at a distance of 25 miles, S. S. W. from the Capital. A. v. Humboldt visited the memorable spot. See Essay s. 1. Nouv. Espague, Livre IV., Chap. xi. : "At the west of Tehuilotepec, is the Cerro de la Campaiiia, where Cortes begau his work of investigation." t The words of the text are : " Ciertas pie9e9uelas dello, a manera de moueda muy delgada, y procedieudo por mio pezoquiza, halle que en la dieha provincia y aun en otras, se tratabapor moneda." X In Molina's vocabulary a suggestion can be found for what technical purposes tin might have been employed. The word teputzlacopintli is 18 traffic in tliem at tliat time, that Cortes liiinself succeeded in oettino; at the mines from which they were extracted, and tliat lie had not been mistaken in his former recognition of their display for sale in the pnl)lic market. But before these ores could be shaped into the above named commercial forms, it is clear that they still needed to undergo a process of smelting. As to the peculiar mode of smelting ])ursued by the natives, we have not been able to find any distinct reference in the writings of the clironi- clers. It does not appear that the ancient Mexicans under- stood the method of the Peruvians of melting their copper in furnaces exposed to the wind on the lofty sierras, but we may form for ourselves an idea of how they proceeded from a picture in Codex Mendoza, page 71, fig. 2-i, Cut 7 gives a faith- ful reproduction. Cut 7. In the midst of an earthen tripod, sur- rounded by smoke and flames, we perceive a small disk of a 3'ellow color. Our attention is called to the peculiar mark imprinted on the smeitiug gow. surface of the disk. Upon searching in Lord Kingsborough's Collection, Yol. Y., page 112, plate 71, where the interpretation of the little picture is given, we learn, that the man sitting by the tripod, is meant to be a goldsmith. Hence we conclude the disk must be understood to mean a round piece of gold, and that very probably the mark printed on it, was the usual symboli- translatecl with cauuto de estaiio, para boradar piedras preciosas (cyl- inder of tin for perforating precious stones). We maj', therefore, pre- sume that the holes bored through the well known green jade trinkets, were drilled bv Ihe aid of the mentioned caiiuto de estaiio. 10 C!il sif^n for gold.* At the rii:^ht of the tripod sits a mnn wrapped in his inantle, no doubt the master of the work- slio]) ; for the addition of a flake flying from liis mouth, as the typical sign for language or command, gives us a right to su])pose that we have before us the so-called temach- tiani, or master of the trade. At the left side crouches the apprentice, tlamachUlli. He holds in his right hand * This little figure symbolizing gold, recurs only once more in all those Mexican paintings which we have been able to examine. It stands in Vol. I., Kingsb. Collection, Cod. Mendoza, page 13, fig. 4, and is identical with that represented by the engraving. We do not venture too far in asserting that the symbol on this gold piece represents a genuine Mexi- can numeral. It is composed of a cross, having a dot in each of its quadrants. This cross is the well known symbol of the number 8000 (xiquipilli), and each dot stands for the number 1. We have thus ex- pressed four times 8000 (nahui xiquipilli) or 32,000. Here, however, the interpretation ends, so far as it maybe based upon accepted authorities. Whatever else there is to be learned concerning this number 32,000, found on the gold piece, must be derived by the confessedly hazardous process of induction. Nevertheless, let us try this process and ascertain what the number 32,000 actually I'efers to. In answering this question it may, perhaps, fairly be assumed that the number stands in a direct relation to a certain numerical unity, like that in which hundreds stand to the tens, 100: 1. Such a numerical unity, however, presupposes the existence of some tangible equivalent, which in Mexican commei'ce, if it was not some small piece of metal, would have had some other conventional represen- tation, either in merchandise or in labor. If such a unity actually ex- isted it is clear that its value must have been fixed either by weight or by measure. There is, however, no positive proof that such a unity, fixed by weight or measure, ever existed among the Mexicans. Cortes, in the above quoted letter, pretends that it was impossible for him to detect the use of any weights or scales, and no writer after him has touched this ques- tion or given any other decision. Eespecting measures, there is no direct testimony at all. But, on the other hand, it is hardly to be imagined that these people, of whose religious administration and social polity we have such abundant evidences, should have been deficient to such an ex- tent in the department of their commercial polity as not to have found any method by which the proportion between the value of the precious metal to merchandise in all its forms was to be expressed. We must guard ourselves against the fallacy that because we are not acquainted with the method it could not have existed. There are grounds to believe that Cortes was right in saying that the Mexicans did not know 20 a staff, one end of which is in his month and the other is placed in the crucible. Tlajpitzqm^ in the Nahoatl lan- guage means at the same time a flute player and a melter of metal. This etymological version therefore conveys the idea, that the staff held by the smelter signifies a pipe or tube used for increasing heat by blowing the fire, as the staff is similar to a long pipe or flute and is held in the the use of weights (their vocabulary does not show any word answering to peso, pesilhi, libra, balauza romaua), but, we thinlv they knew per- fectly the use of measures (the vocabulary gives about twenty words for all varieties of this operation) ; and in regard to a certain unity of mea- sure employed in gold transactions, there are indications given by other trustworthy writers that this unity might be detected in the quills, of conventional length, and probably of conventional diameter, which quills were filled up with grains of gold dust, by the color and shades of which they graduated the respective value. Berual Diaz, Chapter 92 : Antes de salir de la misma plaza, estaban otros muchos mercaderes, que, seguu dixeron, era que tenian a vender oro en granos corao lo sacan de las minas, raetido el oro en unos canutillos delgados de los anserones de tierra (thin goose quills) e asi blancos porque se pareciese el oro por defuera, y por el largor y gordor äe los canutillos (length and width of the quills) tenian entre ellos su cueuta (they made up their account) que tantas mantas o que xiquipiles de cacao salia o qualquier otra cosa a que lo trocavan. This point being settled let us next introduce one other, for it will contribute to strengthen the probability that besides the quill there ex- isted still a lower unity, that of the grain of gold itself, by which they counted. For this purpose, let us turn again to the gold piece repre- sented in the painting. It is round. This reminds us of what was told by Cortes of the little pieces of tin discovered in Tachco, which, he said, were used as coins. Likewise, we read in Bemal Diaz that Motezuma used to pay with pieces of gold when he lost in playing joa^o? (trictrac) with his Spanish jailors. The word employed by the author and eye- witness of the game, is "tejttelo," which, according to Spanish usages and the dictionaries of their language, signifies: a round piece of metal. The author moreover informs us of the value of this tejuelo. It was 50 ducats of weight and must, therefore, have been equivalent to, at least, one hundred dollars of gold. Since Bernal Diaz in this entire passage wishes to express his highest esteem for Motezuma on account of the princely generosity with wliich he paid even those whom he knew had cheated him, we may fairly conclude that these lejuelos were not the lowest, but rather the highest, gold pieces that he had at his disposal. Should we now remember the number, 32,00U, which is the highest found 21 month of the workman. In liis left liand he holds a similar staff, but there is no means of recognizing whether it is a stick for stirring the embers, or a tube to be used alter- nately with tlie other. Now, we shall be permitted to draw a conclusion from this process of smelting gold as to tlie manner of smelting copper. Tlie i:>rocess must have been exactly tlie same with both. For, if the Mexican goldsmith, with the aid of a blowpipe, was able to increase the heat of the fire to such a degree as to make gold fusible, a heat which requires 1,100" C, he cannot have found greater ditHculties in melting copper, which requires nearly the same degree of heat ; and tin, which is far more easily fusible, could liave been treated in the same way. Melting was followed by casting into forms or moulds, and these moulds must have been of stone. This might be conciluded from the language of Torquemada and Gomara.* The words " hy placing one stone above another represented in Mexican pictures (tliey generally never exceed that of 8000, the xiqxdpilli), it is not at all improbable that the Motezuma-tejuelo, about 100 dollars worth, might have been equivalent to 32,000 unities, while this unity may have been one grain of gold. For if we would divide 100 dollars of gold into 32,000 equal parts, or still farther divide one gold dollar into 320 equal parts, each part would represent a very small portion of gold, but still large enough to be counted separately with the finger. This was the way the gold-dust was collected on the placeres, not by men but by women and children. The procedure was primitive, indeed, in the highest degree. In such a way, however, gold gathering was undoubtedly practised in the first stage of men's civiliza- tion. If not written in history, yet the linguistical testimony bears wit- ness to it. We find the expression ^'^ grain of gold" to be the common property among the ancient and modern nations in connection with com- merce and the weighing of gold. * Toi-qiiemada (Fray Juan de) Monarquia Indiana, Madrid, 1613, Vol. II., Book 13, Cliapter 1. "The goldsmiths did not possess the tools necessary for hammering metals, but with one stone placed above an- other one, they make a flat cup or a plate." (Pero con una piedra sobre otra hacian una taza liana y un plato.) Gomara, I. c. " They will cast a platter in a mould with eight corners, and every corner of several metals, that is to say, the one of gold, the other of silver, without any kind of solder. They will also cast a little caldron with loose handles hangiug 4 22 one," are too clear to leave the least doubt as to what the author meant. This process will account for the abso- lute identity we had the opportunity to observe existing between certain trinkets of the same class, coming chiefly from Nicaragua and Chiriqui. No specimens of a mould, however, have come to our view, or have been heard of as existing in any collection, probably because whenever they were met by the " huaqueros^'' they did not recognize them as such, and threw them away. The scanty knowledge we have of all these interest- ing technical details will not be wondered at, if we consider that we derive it from no other class of writers than from unlearned soldiers, and monks unskilled in the practical matters of this world. But still, the principal reason for this want of information is that the Mexican artist was as jealous in keeping his devices secret, as the European. They also formed guilds, into which the apprentices were sworn, and their tongues were bound by fear as well as interest. Let us quote only one instance. The Vice-King { thereto, as we used to cast a bell. They will also cast in a mould a fish with one scale of silver on its back and another of gold ; they will make a parrot of metal so that his tongue shall shake and his head move and his wings flutter ; they will cast an ape in a mould so that both hands and feet will stir, and holding a spindle in his hand, seeming to spin, yea, and an apple in his hand, as if he would eat it. Our Spaniards were not a little amazed at the sight of these things, for our goldsmiths are not to be compared to theirs." Bemal Diaz, Chapter 91. '* I will first men- tion the sculptors and the gold and silversmiths, who were clever in working and smelting gold, and would have astonished the most cele- brated of our Spanish goldsmiths; the number of these were very great and the most skilful lived at a place called Azcapotzalco, about four leagues from Mexico." Petrus Marttjr, Decade VI., Chapter 6. (A letter written to Pope Adrian VI.) "The chief noblemen's houses (iu Ni- caragua) compass and inclose the King's street on every side; in the middle site whereof one is erected, in which the goldsmiths dwell. Gold is there molten and forged (?) to be formed into divers jewels, and is formed into small plates or bars, to be stamped after the pleasure of its owners and at length is brought into the form and fashion they desire, and that neatly too." i 23 Meiidoza reports to the Emperor* that he offered to pardon one of those workmen, if he woiikl disclose how lie was able to coiititerfeit the Spanish coins in so striking a way. But the native preferred to remain silent and was put to death. Here is the place for asking the question : Would not the early Mexicans, aside from their practice of casting the above metals, have employed also that of iiammering? Our reply would be emphatically in the negative, if taking the expression " hammering " in its strict meaning, which is that of work- ing with the hammer. The writers of the Conquest have left the most explicit testimony, that the natives, only after the arrival of the Spaniards became acquainted with this instrument, and with the art of usino- it for workinsj hiujh reliefs out of a metal sheet. Moreover, the native vocabu- lary has no word for the metal hammer as it is commonly understood. Yet the wooden mallet was known, the so- called quaukoloUi., and used by the sculptors. In the gradual education of mankind in technical knowledge, beating of metals, of course, must have preceded casting. The ances- tors of the early Mexicans, at a certain epoch, stood on the same low stage of workmanship as their more distant northern brethren. But when the inventor of the mould had taught them how to multiply the objects most in demand, by the means of this easy, rapid and almost infalli- ble operation, we must not imagine that he had done away entirely with the old practice of beating and stretching metal with a stone. Tlie practice, in certain cases, would have been maintained : as for instance, when a diadem, a shield, or a breastplate was to be shaped, and on occasions when the object to be made required the use of a thin liat sheet of metal. Such objects are not only de- scribed by the writers, but are also represented by the * Loreuzana (Dou Frauc, Antoaia de) Historia Ue Nueva Espaiia, page 378, Note 2. 24 native painters. A specimen of such a kind is mentioned, which on account of its extraordinary beaut}^, workmanship and value left a deep impression on the conquerors. It was the present which Motezuma made to Cortes at his landing, on the Culhua coast, " the two gold and silver wheels ;" the one, as they said, representing the Sun, the other the Moon. According to the measures they took of them, these round discs must have had a diameter of more than five feet. It is preposterous to imagine that round sheets of this size should have been the product of casting.* We pass on now to discuss the various tools which we have reason to think were cast in copper or in bronze, by the early Mexicans. The axe stands in the first place. Cortes, we shall re- member, omitted to specify any of the objects which he saw exposed for sale in the market-place. JS^ot so his com- panion, Bernal Diaz. He, after a lapse of -iO years, when occupied with the writing of his memoirs, has no recollec- tion of other tools, which he undoubtedly must have seen, except the much admired bronze axes. Specimens of these were sent over to Spain in the same vessel on which the above mentioned presents to the Emperor were shipped. At their arrival at Falos, Petrus Martyr of the Council House of the Indies was one of the first to examine the curiosities sent from the New World, and to gather from the lips of the bearers their verbal comments. His remarks on the axes he had seen, are " with their bronze axes and hatchets, cunningly tempered, they (the Indians) fell the ♦ See Bernal Diaz, Chap. 39. Petrus Martyr de Angleria, English edition of Eden, Islands of the West Indies, ptige 1G9 : "Circumference of xxviii spans (spithamariim 28^." lorqufmada Man. Ind., Lib. IV., Cap. 17. Three letters on Cortes' landing in Yucatan, edited by Fredric Midler, Amsterdam, 1871. (1) Their width being seven spans, (2) larger than a wagon's wheel, and made as if beaten out of white iron. (3) Two wheels, the one of gold and weighing 30,000 castellanos, the other of silver, weighing 50 mark. These pieces ureas large as a millstone. 25 trees." There arc throe expressions in this passage whicli will claim our attention. First, we learn that two classes of axes were sent over, one of which Martyr recognized as a " set'M/'/6'," the other as a '•'■ dolahra^'' hence a connnon axe, and another which was like a pick or a hoe. Further on we shall give an illustration of these axes, taken from the ])ictures of the natives, when we are to recur again to this subject. Our author, in the second place, describes the two axes as of bronze, for this is the English rendei'ing of the Latin expression : durichalcea. Thirdly, we learn, that the blailes were " cunningly tempered " or " argute tem- perataP This langnage requires explanation. The attentive reader will remember what has been said respecting Cortes and Bernal Diaz, whether they recognized the bronze objects in the market as a mixture of copper and tin, of themselves, or whether they had been inquisitive enough to ask for information, and in consequence learned that it was a common practice among the woi-kmen to mix these two metals, in certain pro[)ortions, in order to produce a harder quality of copper. The latter hypothesis seems to gain a certain corroboration from Martj-r's lan- guage. For there cannot be the slightest doubt as to what he meant when putting down the words "cunningly tem- pered." lie wished to express the idea, that he had positive grounds for the conviction, that the metal of which the axes were made, was not a natural but an artificial y^voAwcX. What grounds for this conviction he had, he does not, however, communicate to his reader. Our autiior has the well deserved reputation of being one of the fullest authorities for all that concerns the discovery and c<^per of the magney-plant which grows on the high plateaus, but tliat of the amatl-tree, a native of the 28 tierra caliente. Being in the very conntry where this kind of paper was manufactured, the Spanish writers, there- fore, had the opportunity of hearing how paper was made, even, possibly, of seeing the process itself, which they had not enjoyed in the case of bronze. Could tliey have got the information from the mouths of the embassadors ? We know they held shyly aloof. The intercourse was very cere- monious, and difficult besides, since the conversation passed througli the two native languages, and we cannot fairly imagine that the technical question of manufacturing bronze should have become one of the topics of inquiry. More- over, we do not believe that special attention would have been paid to these bronze implements, if we consider the overpowering impression which the richness and rareness of the other objects must have caused them. Finally, would they not have believed the yellow metal to be gold ? since they dreamt of nothing else, and were far from imagining that the opulent ruler of Mexico would have made their Emperor a present of poor bronze tools. We are not able to offer any conclusive evidence against the remarkable statement made by Petrus Martyr. We are fully aware how many positive proofs are required to render it totally invalid. But we deemed it to be our duty not to withhold from our readers the many grave doubts we entertain against its too ready acceptance. We have still to add, that this statement stands isolated and witliout support in the whole literature of the Conquest. His contemporary writers, indeed, occasionally speak of copper axes that were tempered by an alloy. None of them, however, goes so far as he, to impute to the early Mexicans the preparation of an artificial bronze, as was so manifestly implied by the words, argute temperatis. The passages Avliich speak about the axes used by tlie na- tives are cited below*. Three kinds are mentioned, stone. * Bemal Dian, Chap. 92 : "Bronze axes, and copper and tin." Petrus Martyr, Dec. V., Chap. 10 : " Bronze axes and edges, cunningly tempered." 29 (;()l>per und bronze axes. The first of tliein must have been ill use among sucli tribes as lived outside of the circle of Mexican trade and civilization, or among those which inten- tionally held themselves aloof. For its retention and use the complete absence of ores in certain districts may have had a decided influence, as for instance was the case with tlie peninsula of Yucatan.* The shape of the Yucatecan Gomara, CJiap. 210 : "They also have axes, borers and chisels of copper mixed with gold, silver or tin." Landa Rel., d. I., Cosas de Yucatan, Ed. Brasseur, Paris, 1864, pag. 170, with acut of a Yucatecan axe : "They had little axes made of a certain metal, and From Landa. shaped as the illustration shows. They fastened . H ^ them into the top of a wooden handle, one side / V serving as a weapon, the other for cutting wood. They sharpened them by hammering the edge with stones." Tor- quemada, Man. Ind., Lib. 13, Cap. Si: "The carpenters and carvers worked with copper instruments." Herrera, Dec. IV., Lib. 8, cap. 3 : "In Honduras (1530) they cleared large mountains, for agricultural purposes, with axes made of flintstoue." liemesal. Hist. d. I. Prov. de Chiapas y Guatemala, 1606: "They clear, every year, large mountains of woods, in order to prepare them for the reception of the seed corn, as is the custom in the whole province of Vera-paz ; and before they got the iron axes they had to work hard because they felled the trees with copper axes and often spent an entire day in cutting one single tree, though of inferior size ; and if the tree was larger tliree and four days, those axes being very apt to break; and having experienced the strength of iron, they appreciate all tools made of it, and thus they held our axes and machetes in great esteem." CogoUudo, Hist. d. Yucatan, Lib. IV., Cap. 3, mentions axes as an article of trade in Yucatan: " Copper axes, brought from Mexico, which they exchanged for other merchandize." Doeumentos ineditos, Madrid, 1864, Vol. I., pag. 470: "The Captain, Gil Gonzales de Avila, ar- rived here in Sto. Domingo (from Nicaragua) and sends to His Majesty 14,000 pesos de oro and 15,000 pesos, proceeding from axes which they said contained gold, and 6150 pesos de oro proceeding from bells which they also said contained gold. All this he said he was presented with dur- ing his discoveries which he was making in the Province of the South sea." Petrus Martyr, Dec. VI., Chapt. 2 and 3, states the same fact on the authority of Gil Gonzales' treasurer, Cereceda. * The absolute absence of mines in Yucatan is a fact that needs no further corroboration. It might, however, be of interest to hear the language used by Landa, Rel. d. las cosas de Yucatan : 1. c. § 5 " There exist many beautiful structures of masonry in Yucatan, all of them built 5 30 blades and that of the handle and the adjustment of both, at least as far as is shown (see cut 8) by the pictures of the Dresden Codex, which are of genuine Yucatecan origin, Cut 8. Axes of Yucatan. appear to have been identical with those of the interior of Anahuac. Among the copper and bronze axes noted below, those of Nicaragua appear to have been of an uncommonly rich alloy of gold. The reader will smile at Herrera's account of the shrewdness shown by the native ladies in keeping for themselves the plates of pure gold they were attired with, and burdening the soldiers of Gonzales witli heavy metal axes.* The axes mentioned by Goinara, undoubtedly came of stone and showing the finest workmanship, the most astonishing that ever were discovered in the Indies ; and we cannot wonder at it enougli because there is not any class of metal in this country by which such works could be accomplished." * Herrera (Dec. III., Lib. 4, Cap. 5 J having the original reports before his eyes, represents this scene as follows: "Multitudes of Indians flocked along the ways, astonished to see the beards and the dressing of the Spaniards. The chief person they met was Dirianjeu, the warlike caci\\r\i:^\\e&{pi(nzo)ies), nails (e/avc^^), axes {hachas), hatchets {destrales), cooper's adzes {azuelas), and chisels [escojjlos).'''' In these two passages is summed up all that we sought to gather piecewise from the writers of the Conquest, on our special question. A few new features, however, are cropping out in this enuuieration of implements, which give rise to the suspicion, that tlie goldsmith is described, not as he worked before the year 1521, but as he had perfected himself and enlaro-ed his technical knowledo;e throuo;h the intervention of Spanish mechanics, in the year of Sahagun's writing, about 1550. We mean the moulds of carbon, the nails,* and the cooper's adze, of which we read in Sahagun exclusively, and of which no pi(;tures or other evidences of their ante-Spanish existence have been preserved. Pictures of needles frequently occur in the Mexican paintings. But, it is understood that they are without an eye, the introduction of our sewing needle having been an * The following notice of three prehistoric nails is given for what it is worth. Torquemada, Lib. VI., Cap. 23: Under the I'eign of Nezahual- pilli of Tezcuco, the statue of the God of Rain, Tlaloc, having been found to be tinieworn and corroded, a new one was made and located on the mountain of Matlalcueye, the ancient site of this statue. " When this idol of Tlaloc was replaced by the new one, it happened that one of its arms broke otf. They put it on again and fastened it with three gold nails. Later, when the new faith was introduced in their countries, this diabolical image was brought down from the hills, at the time of the first Bishop Zummaraga, and was broken to pieces in his presence, but not before removing the three gold nails spoken of." 33 actual revelation to the natives. The liead of a Mexican needle, or rather pin, was full, and split like that of an animal's bone. The borer, certainly, had no handle or spiral point. Of all these stitching, piei'cino- and drilling instru- ments nothing has been preserved, in kind. A cliisel of copper was, however, discovered by Captain Dupaix* near the cit}' of Antequera (in Oaxaca). We give a faitliful fac-simile of it in cut 9. It is described by the dis- CüT 9. Copper Chisel found in Oaxaca. coverer in the following words : " There are also many chisels of red copper found in the neighborhood of this city, a speci- men of which I possess, and will show in the illustrations. Its lengtli is seven Indies, and the thickness is one square inch (sic), and one side is edged, and this edge is a little dull, showing that it had been in use. We do not know the temper they gave to these instruments in order to employ them in their labors and in their arts, or to give the wood or possibly the stone a regular form." We do not know if this chisel is still preserved in the Museum of Mexico, to which it was presented by Captain Dupaix. If not, we hope to be somewhat indemniüed by another specimen of bronze chisel, of which we are now in pursuit, and which according to description is similar in form and composition to the one spoken of. Seuor Andrez Aznar Perez, now in New York, ploughed up such a tool * Dupaix, Antiquites Mexicaines, Paris, 1834, Vol. II., Plauclie 26, fig. 75, and text in Vol. I., page 21, No. 75. 34 about twelve years ago, on his plantation near the river Tzompan in Tabasco, at the depth of nearly 12 inches. It was entirely solid, and had a slightly rounded edge, about an inch in length, and he offers to have it brought from Tucatan for farther examination. From the illustration of Captain Dupaix and the descrip- tion of Mr. Perez, we can for the moment only conclude tliat the ancient Mexican chisel was similar in its form to that which our stone-masons now make use of. In regard to the form of ancient Mexican axes, we gave a general idea at the beginning of this essa}^ but we have still several details to discuss. In the illustrations tlie curved wooden handle will no doubt appear remarkable. The Mexican painters were such faithful imitators of what thev saw, tliat we cannot presume they would have indulged in wliat was an essential alteration of the object to be copied. If the handle of the axe was curved, they would have copied it curved, and thus it appears not only in the Mexi- can but also in the Yucatecan picture codices. Those acquainted witli the practical handling of axes, and with felling trees, know that a curved handle must increase the swinging power of an axe to a considerable degree, and to have used this form is a remarkable instance of Mexican technical craft and cunning. It would be worth while to investigate whether this use of a curved handle was exclu- sively confined to the natives of Central America, or had passed beyond its boundaries, north as well as south. We farther learn from the pictures, that not the blade of the axe, but the handle had an opening at a certain distance from the top, into wliich the blade w^as fitted. The specimens represented in the cuts 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, {jppear to be common chopping axes. In the coat of arms of the town of Tepozcolula (see cut 4), however, as already pointed out, the form of the axe differs from those of Tepoztla and Tepoztitlan. In order to obtain a correct idea of these particular kinds of axes, we invite the reader to 35 Cut 10. Mexican carpenter. compare it witli another picture (Cod. Mendoza, page 71, fiu;. 77), and which we give in cat 10. The shape of the axes themselves are evidently alike, in the one as well as in the other picture, only that in cut 10 the axe is not in connection with the coat of arms, but is held by a man who is at work drop- ping or squaring the branch of a tree, from which chips are flying off. This kind of axe, evidently, served a dif- ferent purpose from those chopping axes of Tepoztla. It was the hatchet used by the carpenter. Thus reads the ex})lanation given in Kingsb. Coll., Vol. V., page 112. This instrument is of the most extravagant form. "Were it not for the authentic interpretation of the picture and tlie accessories we should not be able to make out what kind of object it represented, and least of all that it was a hatchet. Let us examine its construction. The wooden handle has the shape of all the Mexican and Yucatecan axes, — that of a somewhat curved club. But instead of its being chopped oflt' at the top, the handle extends farther and is bent down to an angle of about 45 degrees. On the head of this bent top a deep notch is visible, into which the blade of a little axe is fixed, being fastened by a tongue or string wound three times around. Thus, when a blow was struck, we can presume, the head of the tenon would not move, from the resistance it met from the bottom of the notch. Thus much the picture proves, and we cannot learn any- thing more of this instrument. We only presume that in order to get a durable handle, they sought a curved branch, and that tliis branch came generali}' from one particular class of trees. The word Tejpozcolula signifies, properly, tlie town in which copper was bent, tepuzquc (copper), and coloa (to bend), but we learn from our picture, that the 36 Cut 11. Tepozcolula. Cut 12. natives understood these words to signify the town where the curved handles were manufactured, which seems to he corroborated by another picture which we found for the coat of arms of the town of Tepozcolula, Cod. Mendoza, pi. 45, fig. 5, in which the painter (see cut 11) has laid a special stress upon this curving of the handle^ by shaping the end of the handle into an exaggerated spiral form. There existed also a town, in which car- penter's work was the chief occupation of the inhabitants. This is to be inferred from the coat of arms belono-ino; to the town of Tlaximaloyan, cut 12, Cod. Mendoza, pi. 10, fig. 5. Tlaxhna signifies to work as a carpenter, and tlaxi- malli a chip of wood. The " little " axe of copper, found by Dupaix at Quilapa, and of which he gives an illustration not differing from the known shapes of all axes, is very pro- bably a specimen of this car- penter's axe (see Dupaix, Vol. IL, 3d Expedition, Planche IL, fig. 4). It is but natural to think that being in possession of the large chopping axe, tlie invention of the small hatchet would have become incomparably easier than that of this awkward carpenter's tool. We are, however, too little informed to judge or to criticize its construction and rather incline to think that these people had reasons of their own for giving it the form it has. It must have been the one which Sahagun called " destral," or carpenter's hatchet.* We can still offer another form of copper tool once used 5, Town of Tlaximaloyan. * With GUI' first glance at tlie picture of Tepozcolula we were iuduced to believe that we had found therein a representation of the instrument which Pelrus Martyr called a " dulabra," and Sahagun *' azuela." The 37 by the natives. Dupaix* discovered the original near the same town where he had found tlie chisel. Below is a copy of his drawing in cut 13 : Cut 13. Copper Tool, found by Dupaix in Oaxaca. The edge of this tool will be noticed to have a curve be- longing to the circumference of a circle. The cutting blade is 10 inches wide. Like the axes, it has a tenon by which it could be fastened to an opening in a wooden handle. It will appear from closer description that it was too thin to have been used for heavy operations. Let us consult the narration of the explorer : " This instrument is of red and very pure copper, and when touched it gives out a sonorous sound. The metal is not hammered but cast. It is of not much weight, symmetrical, and of graceful shape. The contours translation of the one is, pick or hoe, and of the other, cooper's adze. Both of these, therefore, would have been instruments in which the blade and its edge are at right angles to their handle, and the management of which requires both hands of the workman. This supposition is refuted by the pictui'e of the carpenter (cut 10), who is distinctly seen to hold the piece of wood in the left and the tool in his right hand. * Dupaix, 1, c, Vol. II., Planche 26, fig. 74, and text Vol. I., page 21. 6 38 are regular and resemble tliose of an anchor. It is flat on both sides, the portion serving as a handle (or tenon) is a little thicker and slopes towards the edge, which cuts as well as a chisel. An Indian, named Pascual Baltolano, from the village of Zocho Xocotlan, half a mile distant from this city of Antequera, a few months ago, when tilling his field met witli an earthen pot which contained 23 dozen of these blades, their quality, thickness and size being a little difierent from each other. This gives rise to tlie supposition that there existed various moulds, by means of which these specimens were multiplied and cast. They did not differ greatly from that which I possess. We meet here with a great difficulty, which is to determine to what usage these instruments were destined, — to agriculture or mechanics, as instruments of sacrifice or a variety of offensive weapon that was fixed in the point of a lance ? That which is certain, however, is that they are found in abundance in this province and that mer- chants buy these metals from the Indians and rank them high on account of the superior quality of the ore." On proceeding in his expedition, the same author reaches the village of Mitla, where in the parochial church he receives the following disclosure on the purpose of the before-men- tioned tools : " One day, when hearing mass in Mitla, I no- ticed an ancient picture, which represented (San.) Isidro, the patron of the laborers, and saw him painted holding in his right hand a pole armed with the problematic blade. I there- from conclude, that like the ancient Indians, the native la- borers of to-day have adopted this instrument as a distinc- tive mark of their profession, and that instead of being an instrument of death it must be viewed as one for giving life." This explanation agrees satisfactorily with what could be in- ferred from its size and its peculiar shape, and if we imagine the tenon bent and in this form fastened to the top of a pole we should possibly have discovered a certain garden instru- ment of which the Spaniards spoke as always used by the natives, the uictli, or coa, hoe. It was never described in 39 particular, nor could we discover it in the pictures, but Mo- lina's translation of uictli with " coa " which is hoe, tells the story. There is still something more in this passage of Dupaix, that is worth considering. Among the 23 dozen of the instruments contained in the earthen pot, and of which he was informed that they were similar in shape to that which he had found, it is clear that there must have been a great number of very diminutive size ; otherwise we cannot conceive how so many of them would have been placed in the pot, at all. Let us take advantage of this suggestion and suppose Dupaix's engraving, cut 13, reduced to a diminutive size. We make thereby a little figure, and we cannot deny that it looks like a Greek Tau. Of such a Greek Tcm, formed from copper, and used by the natives as money at the time of the Con- quest mention is made by the chroniclers.* They may be right, but with the understanding that these copper pieces were not manufactured for the purpose of serving as coin, but as tools, which of course, came into market and became objects of barter, as we read the copper bells also did, be- sides grains of the cacao fruit, bales of cotton, axes and other articles of common necessity. Thus much, and no more, we were able to glean from the early literature of the Conquest and from the paintings of the natives. As we anticipated at the outset, the testimony bearing on copper industry among the early Mexicans is altogether incomplete and lacks that fulness of description in which those writers indulge when treating topics of social * Torqueraada, Mon. lud., Lib. — , Chap. — : " They also used certain copper coins, almost in the shape of a Greek Tau, t, its width about three or four fingers. It was a thin piece of plate of an uncertain size, and contained much gold." Clavigero, The History of Mexico, Ed. Ch. Culleu, London,- 1807, Vol. VIL, Sect. 36, page 386, evidently copies the sentence when he says : " Their fourth species of money, which most resembled coined money, was made of pieces of copper, iu the form of a T, and was employed in purchases of little value." 40 customs, religious rites, or monstrous idols. In but few instances the pictures gathered from the codices illustrate the dim suggestions and the doubtful wording of the Spanish text, so as to give at least a general idea of the localities where the copper ores were obtained, of the process of smelting, of the moulds that were used, and the objects or tools that were produced by these means. One point however we think we have come very near deciding, and one which wlien collecting our notes was constantly in mind, namely : Whether the Mexican bronze was to be viewed as an artificial or a natural product ? There was a great doubt concerning this question caused by the first notices respecting the composition of the bronze. The expressions of Cortes and Bernal Diaz were of so con- densed a character that we were at a loss how to reduce them to their elementary meaning, and the doubt was not removed when examining apart each of the sulisequent writers on the same subject. But wlien putting their state- ments together, a certain basis, at least, could be obtained, from which to deduce a settled opinion. From the com- bined statements we learned that the bronze found among the natives contained a rich basis of copper, which was mixed either with gold, or with silver, or with tin, and we might infer from this variety of admixtures, that the natives manufactured their laton according to a fixed method. Bat, on the contrary, as the three metals named are always found to be the steady components of Mexican copper ore, we are led to the presumption, that these ores were worked in their unaltered condition, just as nature had produced them. It is not indeed meant to teach thereby, that tlie native did not appreciate the fact, that copper of a deep red was softer than that of a lighter color. Whenever they had to manufacture a chisel and had a choice between the two qualities, we are certain they would have employed the lighter metal for this purpose. But we hardly believe that they considered the light metal I 41 to be a composition of tlie red colored copper with either silver, gold or tin. This belief would involve a presup- position of metallurgical science in the early Mexicans, that we have not the least knowledge they had ever attained to. On the other hand, however, there is a strong reason for the belief, that they recognized this light metal to be related to the red copper. For if they had thought this bronze or laton to be a separate kind of metal, they would have had a separate name for it, as they had for all the other metals, from the gold down to the tin, and even to tlie cinnabar. Bronze would have been called tepuzque as was copper, but probably — with the addition descriptive either of color or of hardness. We were unable to discover one single hint, from wliich to infer that they possessed the knowledge of hardening copper by dipping the hot metal into water. This is a hypo- thesis, often noted and spoken of, but which ranges under the efforts made for explaining what we have no positive means to verify or to ascertain. Though we have gained so little from our researches, tliis little, however, we hope may incite others to extend their investigations, and tlius render the path clearer which we have tried to explore into tins field of prehistoric industry. The most substantial proofs and contributions may be expected from our fellow-students in Mexico. They dwell upon the ground which was the scene of this ancient industry. They are also in a continuous contact with a numerous indigenous race, which despite of European attempts to improve their working facilities, still tenaciously cling to their old usages and fashions. Our Museums are overcrowded with Mexican idols, pottery, and flint arrow-heads. One specimen of an ancient tin-borer, one of a copper axe or hoe, or of a bronze chisel would be counted as a very welcome and valuable acquisition. THE KATÜNES OF MAYA HISTORY. THE KATUNES OF MAYA HISTOllY. By Phiilipp J. J. Valentini, Ph.D. [Translated from the German, by Stephen Salisbury, Jr.l [From Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society, October 21, 1879.] NOTE BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. The Publishing Committee are glad of the opportunity to print auotlier paper from the pen of Professor Valentini. Ilis previous con- tributions have been favorably received by some of the most competent judges. He is always ingenious and suggestive, taking care to sustain his views by adequate collateral information, and leaving an impression of earnestness and thoroughness, even though the reader should not be able always to see the way through his bold inferences to the important conclusions deduced from them. It seems apparent that new phases of opinion respecting the position in the world's history held by the races occupying the central portions of the American Continent may be looked for in the near future. Or rather, perhaps, it may be claimed that vestiges of ancient and inde- pendent culture, of revolutions, conquests, and changing dynasties, extending back to a remote period of time, which have hitherto simply excited and bewildered travellers and explorers, bid fair to be subjected to tests and comparisons derived from wider and closer observation, for which the means are accumulating, and from which definite results are anticipated. It is remarkable how one tidal wave of investigation after another has, at different eras, invaded and receded from these regions, carrying from them more or less of the fragments of their architectural, monu- mental, and pictorial records — the sources of doubtful and unsatis- factory interpretation. The Spanish chroniclers; the scientists of the period of Humboldt and his contemporaries ; the French government and the learned societies of France, uniting their efforts to render eöective the honest but undisciplined enthusiasm ofBrasseurde Bouibourg; all have experienced a subsidence of interest arising mainly from a want of success in yielding a sufficiently plausible solution of a mysterious sub- ject. The death of Brasseur, the fall of Maximilian, and the political distractions of the French government and people, are not alone the causes of suspended action on the part of the learned bodies of France. They deemed it prudent to discredit the judgment and correctness of their own agent. One at least of Brasseur's Commission publicly disavowed responsibility for his opinions; and his attempt to interpret 48 the Codex Troano by means of the alphabet of Bishop Landa was proDOunced by themselves to be a faiUire. How signally the explorations of Del Rio, of Dupaix, of Galiudo, and of De Waldeck, failed to mal^e a permanent impression on the public mind ! How soon the illustrated narrative of Stephens became in a measure disregarded, and even his reliableness questioned ! How com- pletely the nine ponderous folios of Lord Kiugsborough's extensive collection fell dead from the press, until the great work to which he had devoted his life and his entire fortune sold in the marlset for less than a single useless production of Increase or Cotton Mather ! We have seen the elaborate and learned essays of Gallatin upon Mexican civilizatiou slumbering with the long sleep of the Ethnological Society; the Geo- graphical Society cautious about travelling out of the routes of regular expeditions; even the sardonic "Nation," assumed arbiter in literature, politics, and science, and always ready for caustic criti- cism, hesitating to venture far beneath the surface of these important inquiries. The ill-fated Berendt has perished in the midst of his unfin- ished labors ; and, lastly, one of the most purely philosophical investi- gators of Indian habits and history reasons in a direction opposed to the antiquity and extent of aboriginal civilization. If there is to be a renewal of interest in Mexican archaeology, and a revived consciousness of something more to be gained from the relics of culture among the early races of this continent (a mc^aning in its mystical remains that has not been developed), our Society may claim its share in the re-kindling or fostering of the newly excited impulse. In saying this we do not overlook the preparation which recent studies of the general condition of prehistoric races has created for such investigations; but, in this particular field, it has had the fortune to draw special attention to certain regions and opportunities of research. This has been due to the earnest and liberal exertions of one of its members, who, some years since, passed a winter in Yucatan, and has kept up a correspondence with friends and acquaintances there.* He embodied his observations and experiences in a report on behalf of the Council rendered in 1876. He has since endeavored to promote the operations of Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongeon in the actual field, and has assisted in preparing the papers of Professor Valentini for our publications, providing illustrations in all cases when practicable. The Eeport of the Council in the present number of "Proceedings" is largely devoted to an account, by the writerf of a visit to the city of Mexico, and his observations upon the country and its history. More than twelve years ago, in January, 1808, a generous member of the So- cietyj had the forethought to establish a department of the library composed of books relating to Spanish America, beginning with the gift of Lord Kiugsborough's mammoth publication, and others, for the 'S. Salisbury, Jr., Esq. t Col, John D. Wasliburn. JTlie Hou. Isaac Davis. 49 specialty of antiquities, and accompanied by a pecuniary foundation for future growth. The importance of a provision for this particular pur- pose becomes daily more conspicuous as attention is directed to that portion of the continent. It is gratifying to perceive that such movements, with the greater activity in publishing its " Anales" on the part of the Mnseo National de Mexico, and the issue of such publications as that of Prof. Rau by the Smithsonian Institution,* and the private work of Mr. Short,! are not without their influence. The scheme, which, although not fully matured, we have reason to believe a real one, of sending an expedition to some of the original Mexican provinces for a thorough exploration, at the cost of a wealthy citizen of New York, the results to be printed in the North American Review, may be regarded as one of the fruits of the " Benaissance." S. F. Haven, For the Committee. Intkoductory Remarks. In the ensuing discnssion an attempt is made to explain the so-called " Katnnes of Maya history." The Manuscript which bears tliis name is written in tlie Maya language, and its discovery is of comparatively recent date. At its first publication in 1841 it could not fail to attract the attention of all those who were engaged in the study of ancient American history, because it unveiled a portion of the history of Yucatan, which had been till then entirely unknown and seriously missed. At that date only a scanty number of data, loosely described, and re- ferring to an epoch removed from the Spanish conquest of the Peninsula by only a few decades, had appeared as the sole representatives of a long past, in which the builders of the ruined cities undoubtedly must have lived an eventful life, not to be counted by a few generations, but by a long and hardly calculable number of centuries. This vacuum of time the manuscript promised to fill out. Though it did nototfcr a history conceived in the common acceptation of tlie * The Palenque Tablet, iu the U. S. National Museum. By Charles Rau, 1879. t The Nortli Americans of Antiquity, their origin, migrations, and type of civilization consideretl. By John T. Short. 1880. 50 word, the brief epitome of events which it presented, began by teUiiig ns of the arrival of foreigners from distant lands, Avho, step by step succeeded in conquering the Maya soil and who were brought into significant connection with the name as well as the fall of cities now lying in ruins over the whole country. As to the authenticity of the events reported, they have been received by many students with a confidence and faitli rarely manifested when discoveries of sucli im]iortance are brought to light. As to the form in whicli they were presented, the author seemed to exhibit neither the skill of a professional nor the clumsiness of an occasional foi'ger. If on the one hand the gaps he left betrayed a defective memory, tliis circum- stance sliould be held rather as an indication of his credibility. The material from which his information was derived, we might add, was extensive, and much of it was probably lost when he gave the account at a later period of his life. The events communicated being in themselves of the highest interest, rose in importance from tlie fact that tliey were arranged in successive epochs. A chance was thereby given to calculate the long space of time tliat inter- vened between the arrival of the ancient and of the modern conquerors. This difiicult task was attempted by the for- tunate discoverer himself, Seiior Juan Pio Perez, of Yucatan, accompanied by a learned discussion on ancient Maya chro- nology. His calculation furnishes the sum of 1392 years, the first initial date to be assigned to the year 144 A. D., and the last to 1536 A. D. Wlien, some years ago we undertook to examine the argu- ment of kScnor Perez we were not at all astonished by tliegreat antiquity of the date he had drawn from the Maya Manu- script. For, nearly at the same time, we had reached simi- lar results in an attempt made to utilize certain records which Ixtlilxochitl (1590), and Veytia (1760), (Kingsborough Collection, Vols. 8 and 9), have left regarding the earliest chronology of the Nahuatl tribes. By adopting a more 51 rational metliod of computation than these Mexican writers had followed, we were unable to withstand tlie conclusion, that the Nahuatl people who were immediate territorial neighbors of the Mayas, considered the year 258 A. D. tlie earliest date of their arrival on and occupancy of the Mexi- can soil. Thus we had reached in this line of investigation very nearly the same results with the Nahuatl as Sefior Perez with the Maya chronology, and the suspicion began to dawn upon us that these two neighboring people might, possibly, have stood in a still closer than a mere territorial connection. These results, however, were only of a very problematical nature. They were derived from written reports, which, after all, could not be regarded as unquestionable authority. Bat they received a strong confirmation from a discovery we made later on the so-called Mexican Calendar Stone. In our discussion of this monument we believe that we have given ample proof of the fact, that its principal zone con- tains a sculptured record, showing a series of numerical symbols, from the computation of which the year 231 A. D. resulted as that wliich the Nahuatls had accepted as the first date of their national era. Records presented in stone and compiled by the nation whose liistory they convey, must always be considered the most authentic evidence of historical truth. Now, were we also so fortunate as to possess some Maya monument, similar to the Mexican Calendar Stone, and were we also able to decipher it, we should thereby have the means for determin- ing whether Maya chronology extended back to an epoch diflerent from that of the Nahuatl, or to one identical with it. That such a monument once existed we have no doubt. That it may still exist, we have no reasonable grounds for denying the possibility. It remains, however, still to be dis- covered and to be interpreted. But since the fortunate discovery has not yet been made, we must rest satisfied for the present with conclusions derived from extant written records. The only manuscript of this cliaracter thus far 52 ])ronght to light, is tliat said to liave been fonnd at Mani,* M'hicli was translated by Senor Perez from the Maya lan- guage, and accompanied by a very valuable chronological interpretation. Since the close revision we undertook of the latter, brought out very striking coincidences of early Maya dates with those of the Nahuatl, and especially with that indicated on the Calendar Stone, we thought it worth while to reprint the manuscript, to discuss its contents again, and to arrange them under new points of view. Regarded by itself, the manuscript, indeed, might seem of only doubtful value in settling an important chronological question. But the com- parison of its earliest date with that of the Nahuatl monu- ment will enhance the value of each of them, because they may be considered as corroborative of each other. The Maya Manuscript. Maya. Translation. Lai u tzolan Katun lukci ti cab This is the series of " Katunes " ti yotoch Nououal caute anilo Tutul that elapsed from the time of their Xiu ti chikin Ziiiua; u luumil u departure from the land aud house talelob Tulapau chiconahthau. of Nonoual, in which were the four Tutul Xiu, Ijiug to the west of Zuina, going out of the country of Tulapan. § 1. Cante bin ti Katun lie u § 1. Four epochs were spent in ximbalob ca uliob uaye yetel Holon travelling, before they arrived here Chantepeuh yetel u cuchulob: ca with Holonchantepeuh and his fol- hokiob ti petene uaxac Ahau bin lowers. When they began their yan cuchi, uac Ahau, can Ahau journey toward this island, it was cabil Ahau, cankal haab catac the 8th Ahau, and the 6th, 4th and hunppel haab; tumen hun piztun 2d were spent in travelling; because oxlahun Ahau cuchie ca uliob uay in the year of the 13th Ahau they ti petene cankal haab catac hunp- arrived at this island, making to- pel haab tu pakteil yetel cu xim- gether eighty-one years they were balob lukci tu luumilob ca talob travelling, between their departure uay ti petene Chacuouitan lae, u from their country and their arrival anoil lae 81. at this island of Chacnouitan. Years 81. * liistoria de Yucatan. By Eligio Ancona, Merida, 1879, Vol. I., page 95, note 1. 53 § 2. Vaxac Ah;ui, nac Ah:iii, cal)il Ajaii kiichci Chaciiouitan Ah- niL'kat Tiitul Xiu luuippel liaab iniiian ti hokal liaab cuchi yanob Cliacnoiiilau lac: lai u habil lae. 9!) auos. § 3. Laitim nclici u cliicpalial tziiciibte Ziyan-caan lao Bakhalal, can Aliau, cabil Aliau, oxlalum Ahau oxkal liaab cu tcpalob Zi.van- caaii ca cmob nay lae : lai u haabil cu tcpalob Bakhalal clinulte laitun cliicpahci Cliichen Itza lae. GO an OS. § 4. BuIhc Ahau, bolon Ahau, uuc Ahau, ho Ahau ox Ahau, hun Ahau uac kal haab cu tepalob Chi- chen Itza ca paxi Chichen Itza, ca biuob cahtal Champutuii tl yanhi u yotochob ah Ytzoab kuyen uincob lae. 120 anos. § 5. Vac Ahau, chucuc u luumil Chanputun, can Ahau, cabil Ahau, oxlahun Ahau, buluc Ahau, bolou Aliau, uuc Ahau, ho Ahau, ox Ahau, hun Ahau, lahca Ahau, la- hun Ajau, uaxac Ahau, paxci Chan- putun, oxlahuu kaal haab cu tepa- lol) Ciianputuu tumenel Ytza uincob ca talob u tzacle u yotochob tu oaten, laix tun u katuuil binciob ah Ytzaob yalan che yalan aban yalan ak ti nurayaob lae ; lai u habil cuchiui)al lae. 2(50. § 6. Vac Ahau, can Ahau, ca kal liaabcatalob u heoob yotoch tu ea- ten ca tu zatahob Chakanputun : lay u habil lae. 40 § 7. Lai u katunil cabil Ahau, u heoci cab Ahcuitok Tutnl Xiu Vxmal. Cabil Ahau, oxlahun Ahau, buluc Ahau, bolon Ahau, uuc Ahau, ho Ahau, ox Ahau, hun Ahau, lahca Ahau, lahun Aliau, lahun kal haab cu tcpalob yetel u halach uinicil Chichen Itza yetel Mayalpan : lay u habil lae. 200 8 § 2. The 8th Ahau, the 6th Ahau ; in the 2cl Ahau arrived Ajmekat Tutnl Xiu, and ninety- nine years they remained in Chac- iiouitan. Years 99. § 3. In this time also took place the discovery of the province of Ziyau-caan or Bacalar, the 4th Ahau and 2d Ahau, or sixty years, they had ruled in Ziyan-caan when they came here. During these years of their government of the province of Bacalar occurred the discovery of Chichen-Itza. Years GO. § 4. The nth Ahau, the9ih, 7th, 5th, 3d and 1st Ahau, or 120 years, they ruled in Chichen-Itza, when it was destroyed, and they emigrated to Cliampoton, where the Itzaes, holy men, had houses. Years 120. § 5. The 6th Aliau they took possession of the territory of Cham- poton ; the 4th Ahau, 2d, 13th, nth, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, lOth and 8th, Champoton was de- stroyed or abandoned. Two hun- dred and sixty years the Itzaes reigned in Champoton, when they returned in search of their homes, and they lived for several katunes under the uninhabited mountains. Years 260. § 6. The 6th Ahau, 4th Ahau, after 40 years, they returned to their homes once more and Cham- poton was lost to them. Years 40. § 7. In this Katun of the 2d Ahau, Ajcuitok Tutul Xiu established himself In Uxnial ; the 2d Ahau, the 13th, nth, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, the 12th and 10th Ahau, equal to 200 years, they governed in Uxmil, with the governors of Chichen Itza and of Mayapan. Years 200. 54 § 8. Lai u katunil biiliic Ahfiu, bolon Ahau, uac Ahau, uaxac Ahau, paxci u halach uinicil Chichen Itza tumenel u kebanthan Hunac-eel, ca uch ti Chacxib cbac Chidien Itza tu kebantban Hunac-eel u halacb uioi- cil Maj-alpau ichpac. Caukal baab catac lahun piz baab, tu lahun tun uaxac Ahau cuchie; lai u haabil paxci tumenel Ahzinteyutcbau ye- tel Tzunte-cum, yetel Taxcal, yetel Pantemit, Xuchu-cuet, yetel Ytz- cuat, yetel Kakaltecat lay u kaba uiniciiob : lae rauctulob abmayal panob lae. 90. § 9. Laili u katunil uaxac Ahau, lai ca binob u pa ah Vliiiil Ahau tumenel u uahal-uahob yetel ah Ytzmal Vlil Ahau; lae oxlahun uuo u katunilob ca paxob tumen Hunac- eel : tumenel u oabal u naatob ; uac Ahau ca ooci : hunkal haab catac can lahun pizi : lai u habil cu xinbal. 34. § 10. Vac Ahau, can Ahau, cabil Ahau, oxlahun Ahau, buluc Ahau, chucuc u luumil ich pa Mayalpan, tumenel u pach tulum, tumenel multepal ich cah Mayalpan, tumenel Ytza uinicob yetel ah Vlmil Ahau lae; can kaal haab catac oxppel haab : yocol buluc Ahau cuchie paxci Mayalpan tumenel ahuitzil oul, tan cah Mayalpan. 83. § 11. Vaxac Ahau lay paxci Mayalpan lai u katunil uac Ahau, can Ahau, cabil Ahau, lai haab cu ximbal ca yax mani espafioles u yaxilci caa luumi Yucatan tzucubte lae, oxkal haab päaxac ich pä cuchie. GO. § 8. These are the Katunes 11th, 9th and Gth Ahau (sic). In the 8th Ahau the governor of Chichen-Itza was deposed, because he murmured disrespectfully against Hunac-eel. This happened to Chacxibchac of Chichen-Itza, governor of the for- tress of Mayapan. Ninety years had elapsed, but the 10th year of the 8ib Ahau was the year in which he was overthrown by Ajzinte-yut- chan, with Tzuntecum, Taxcal, Pantemit, Xuch-ueuet, Ytzcuat and Kakaltecat ; these are the names of the seven Mayalpanes. Years 90. § 9. In the same Katun of the SthAhau they attacked Chief Ulmil, in consequence of his quarrel with Ulil, Chief of Yzamal ; thirteen divi- sions of troops he had when he was routed by Hunac-eel ; in the 6th Ahau the war was over, after 34 years. l''ears 34. § 10. In the 6th Ahau, 4lh, 2d, 13th and 11th Ahau, the fortified territory of Mayapan was invaded by the men of Itza, under their Chief Ulmil, because they had walls, and governed in common the peo- ple of Mayalpan ; eighty-three years elapsed after this event, and at the beginning of the 11th Ahau Mayalpan was destroyed by stran- gers of the Uitzes, Highlanders, as was also Tancaj of Mayalpan. Years 83. § 11. In the 8th Ahau, Mayalpan was destroyed ; the epochs of the 6th, 4th and 2d Ahau elapsed, and at this period the Spaniards for the first time arrived, and gave the name of Yucatan to this province, sixty years after the destruction of the fortress. Years 60. 55 § 12. Oxlahuii Aliau, biiliic Aliaii, uchci inayacimil ich pa yetel noh- kakil : oxlahmi Alian cimci Alipula : uacppel haab u bind ma oococ u xocol oxlahun Ahau cucliie, ti § 12. The 1 :3th and 11 Ih Ahau, pestilence and small pox were in the castles. In the 13th Ahau, Chief Ajpnhi died; six years were want- ing to the completion of the 13th yanil u xocol liaab ti lakin cuchie, Ahau; this year was counted to- canil kan cunilalii pop, tu holhun ward the east of tlie wheel, and be- Zip catac oxppeli, bolon Yniix u gan on the 4th "Kan." Ajpula died kinil lai cimi Ahpula; laitun ano cu on the 18th day of the month Zip, ximbal cuchi lae ca oiieUabac lay u xoc nuraeroil anos lae 1Ö3G aiios cuchie, oxkal haab paaxac ich pa cuchi lae. § 13. Laili ma oococ u xocol in the 9th Ymix; and that it may be known in numbers, it was the 3'ear lü3G, sixty years after the destruction of the fortress. § 13. Before the termination of buluc Ahau lae lai ulci espafioles tiie 11th Ahau, the Spaniards ar- kul uincob ti lakin u talob ca uliob rived, holy men from the ea.st uay tac luumil lae; bolon Ahau came with them when they reached hoppci cristianoil uchci caputziliil : the land. The 9th Ahau was the laili icliil u katunil lae ulci yax obispo Toroba u kaba, heix ano cu ximbal uchie. 1544. commencement of baptism and Christianity ; and in this year was the arrival of Toroba (Toral), the first bishop. 1544 A. D. Note. — This Manuscript has also an introduction and close, which Seiior Perez has not published, because the dates specified occurred in the Spanish epoch, and consequently were of no interest to the Maya student. History of the Manuscript. In tlie interest of antlicnticity it is much to be regretted that neither the name of the anthor, his residence, nor the date when tlie Manuscript was written, are known to us, and we are also ii:^norant of other matters of moment ; whether the Manns(u-ipt is an orii^inal or a copy, or how often copied, or hy what family or person it may have been preserved beft)re it came into the hands of Don Juan Pio Perez. Tiiat rucatccan gentleman had retired from Merida, the capital, to the District of Peto, to devote himself to his favorite studies, the ancient language and the history of his nation. The unusual interest that he showed in this direction, united to his influential position as lirst officer of 56 tlic distn'cf, cn:il)led liiin to obtain many small mannflerii>t dccnments known to have been written by the natives in their vei'nacnhir hmg-uage, tlie Ma^'a, soon after tlie time of tlie conquest, wliich, for tlie most part, contained historical reminiscences of the time of the sn[)i"emacy of tlieir ancestors. Among these manuscri[)ts there was a so-called Chiluiix Balahi Calendar, which, in the form of an a|)])endix, con- tained, besides, the outlines of the ])rimitive history of Yucatan. It was, indeed, but a brief epitome of liistorical events, accompanied by the corresponding dates. But its value con- sisted in the circumstance that these dates were catalogued according to successive epochs; and it i-eqnired oidy slight inspection to disch^se tlie fact that tliey extended back to a period not very distant from our Oliristian Era. TJiis was a discovery to the learned world as welcome as any that could be made. It was unique in its kind. All attempts, thus far, had vainly sought to learn somet])ing about the history of the builders of those palaces and tenq)les with wiiose ruins the peninsula was covered at the date of tlie arrival of the Spaniards, and whicli pointed to a huig past and to tlie unceasing activity (»f a numberless ]X)pulation, whicli, while it was skilled in the most important l)ran(;hos of art and industry, and familiar with a luxury such as only ancient Asia and India had displayed, was yet governed by a despotic and hierarchical power. The native, wlien asked whose work the ruins were, would answer nothing but that they owed their origin to men who, in ancient times, had immigrated from far distant countries. The Manuscript disclosed at once the history of these strange immigrants, showed the progressive march of tlio conquest, and the contempoi-aneous foundation of the lai'gest cities then in ruins, and furnished in the Maya language the chronology of each event and its (corresponding ejiocli. By means of his extensive anti(piarian knowledge Senor Perez made an exact translation of this Manuscrijit into Spanish, and al'terwards undei-took a critical interpi'elation 57 of its contents, and aecompanicd the wliolo with nil intro- diiotoij exphmatiun of tlic system of ancient Maya chro- no! o<>;y. In the midst of tliese hibors ho was surprised by tlie ar- rival of tlie (jelebrated An.erican traveller and archaäoloo-ist, Jolm l.loyd Stei)hens, and was induced to entrust to liim a copy of the MISS, and interpretations to be embodied in Ids woi-k on Yucatan, in order to briniij them more fully before the world. His wishes were scrupulousl)' com))lied with, and the Spanish translation has been rendered into literal English by Mr. Ste[)hens in "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan," vol. I., A]^])endix, pnges 434-459, and vol. II., Appendix, pages 465-469. Mr. Albert Gallatin, who, of all American students, has made himself most thoroughly acquainted with what remains of the historical elements of the I^ahuatl and Ma^'a people, has bi'ought together tlie results of his investigations in a lecture ])ublished in the "Transactions of the American Ethnological Society," New York, 1858, vol. I., pages 104 114. The information therein contained attests an entire familiarity with the method pursued by Seiior Perez in his commcntar}', without, indeed, undertaking any severe criti- cism of it. In our opinion Mr. John L. Stephens and Mr. Gallatin are the only Americans who have recognized Sefior Perez's merits in an unequivocal nuinner, and have brought them to the knowledge of the world. This is all we could learn about the Manuscript, nor have we been able to form a supposition, much less to discover in the text itself any clue to the source from which the mdcnown Maya author could have drawn his data. At the end of the JManuscri})! Seilor Perez gives his opinion that the Avhole was written from memory, because it must have been done long after the the conquest, and after Bisho]) Landa had publicdy destroyed much of the historical picture-writing of the Mayas by an auto-da-fe^ and because the whole nar- ration is so concise and condensed that it appears more like an index than a circumstantial description of events. 58 These opinions of Seiior Perez might cast a well grounded suspicion on the authenticity of the manuscript. We shall try to remove such doubts, at once, by presenting the follow- ing considerations. We do not believe that Bishop Landa succeeded in burning the entire treasures of Maya litera- ture at the notorious auto-da-fe in the town of Mani in 1561. The autliorities* to which we have access describe the number of the destroyed objects so precisely tliat we have every reason to confide in their correctness. We read of 5,000 idols of difi^erent size and form, 13 large altar stones, 22 smaller stones, 197 vessels of every form aud size, and lastly of 27 rolls {s'rc) on deerskin covered with signs and hieroglyphics, given to destruction at that time and place. We may believe that the terrorism exercised by Bishop Landa liad a powerful influence on the minds and on the newly converted consciences of tlie natives, and the Bishop no doubt used every possible means to get into his hands as much as he could of what he considered to be " cabalistic signs and invocations to the devil." But we can never believe that these 27 rolls represented the entire Maya literature, collected fur liundreds of years witli the greatest care and held sacred by the natives. Such a wholesale destruction would have been an impossi- bihty. AVe could refer to a similar occurrence tliat took place in Mexico ; and though Bisliop Zumarraga has the bad reputation of having destroyed all the picture treasures of the Nahuatls by an auto-da-fe^ there were notwitlistanding so many of them in existence soon after his time in the possession of native families that Ixtlilxochitl, Tezozomoc, and otliers, were able to build up tlieir detailed accounts of the primitive history of their countr}' from these original sources. Possibly numbers of them may have been preserved among the Maya tribes, for only under such favorable conditions could Cogolludo, Villagutierre and Lizana have obtained *Ilistoria dc Yucatan, Eligio Ancoiia, Morida, 1879, Vol. II., page 78. 59 the valuable information and material which form tlie chief interest of their labors and researches, and whicli enabled also Pio Perez in the year 1835, to discover material from wliich to interpret so complete a description of tiie system of Maya chronology. Nay, even, we have a snspicion that Bishop Landa ma}^ have laid aside the most important part of these records, or what was the most intelligible to him, for we cannot comprehend how he would have been able without tiiese pictures before his eyes to present in his work the symbols for the days so correctly, and also those for the months, or how otherwise he could have written his work in Spain, so far removed from all sources of information and from consultation with the natives. No reason, therefore, exists why the Maya author should not have remained in possession of some paint- ing, which exhibited the annals of his forefathers. If, however, he was compelled to write his " Series of Katunes " from memory, there is no reason for not relying on the accuracy of his retentive faculties alone. The noljle Indians, and he belonged undoubtedly to this class, were verj- particular in training their sons to learn by heart songs expressing tlie glorious deeds of their ancestors. It is a fact attested by the Spanish chroniclers, that these songs were recited publicly in tlie temples and on solemn religious occasions. They were the only kind of positive knowledge with which we know the brains of the Indian pupils were burdened. In either case, therefore, the accuracy of the written Maya report needs not be doubted, at least not on the grounds alleged. Had it been composed in the Spanisli language instead of Maya, we should have viewed this circumstance with a more critical eye. But as the native under Spanish rule expressed it in his native lan- guage, this kind of loyalty appears to us to give a certain warranty of dealing with a man who described the tradi- tions of his oppressed race, and who wished to perpetuate its memory by handing down to posterity the principal events of tlie past history of his nation. GO At this place, we should not like to omit pointing ont an interesting suggestion which the clear lieaded and sagacious autlior, Seiior Eligio Ancona* made in his hefore mentioned work, that Bishop Landa and the autlior of the Manuscript agree so often in their mention of historic dates, in tlie manner as well as the matter, as to lead to the idea that hoth drew their information from the same source. What- ever be its origin, we agree with tlie views of Senor Perez, tliat, in spite of the deficiency and lireaks occurring in the Manuscript, it deserves critical attention as the only docu- ment thus far discovered that gives information of the early history of Yucatan. Elements of Maya Chronology. It is impossible to understand tlie Manuscript before obtaining a knowledge of tlie division of time prevalent in Yucatan l)efore the Spanish Conquest. Senor Perez has the incontestable merit of having been the first to lay before the world not only the chief points of the system but also all the technical details. Before his time but little was known of Maya chronology. From the great historic works of Torquemada, Herrera and Cogolludo, we learn only that the Mayas, in conformity with the Mexicans, held that the solar year was composed of 360 days, and when these were passed they added 5 days more as a correc- tion. We are told that both nations divided their years into 18 months, and their months into twent}' days each. As to the longer periods of time, however, we hear of certain differences. While the Mexicans had an epoch of *IIistoria de Yucatan, Eligio Aucona, Merida, 1879, Vol. I., page 156. "Landa in Rela9i(ni de las cosas de Yucatan, § viii., also speaks of the tranquillity and good harmony which reigned among the chiefs of those cities, and we notice that concerning the epochs referred to, his report is in accordance, in many details, with that of the anonymous author of the 'Maya Epochs.' " 61 52 years which they divided into 4 smaller periods, the bo called TlapiUl, eacli of 13 years, the Mayas counted a great epoch of 2G0 years, the so called Ahau Katun, subdivided into 13 smaller periods each of 20 years, M'ith the simple name Ahau. This period of 20 years was according to Cogolhido* subdivided again into wliat he calls lustra of 5 years each, but he does not give the native name of this division. * Diego Lopez de CogoHudo, Historia de Yuacathan. Madrid, 1683, Lib. IV., Cap. 5. " The count they kept in their books was by 20 to 20 years, and also by lustros of 4 to 4 years. When five of these lustros had passed, or twenty years elapsed, they called this time Katun, and set one hewn stone (piedra labrada) upon another, well cemented by lime and sand. This can be noticed in their temples and ecclesiastical buildings, and especially on some ancient walls of our convent in Merida, upon which the cells have been built." The expression Katun, mentioned in this passage, and to which we have assigned a place in our title, requires a few words of explanation. As far as we know, it occurs only three times in our Central American authors ; in Cogolludo, Landa, and in our manuscript. The first gives Katun the meaning of a period of twenty years. The second (§ XLI.), uses the following phraseology : " Contando XIII. veyntes con una de las XX. letras de los meses que llanian Ahau, sin orden, sino retrue- candolos como pareceran en las siguiente raya redonda, llaman les a estos en su lengua Katunes." This phraseology is somewhat obscure, never- theless it will be admitted that his intention was to state that each of the images of the thirteen Ahaues, depicted on the surface of the wheel, represented twenty years, this being a period which they also called Katunes. We arrive at this definite conclusion by the consideration that if Landa says that the period of twenty years was called Ahau, and another one, that of 260 years, Katun, he would have stated the latter fact in expressive words; the occasion for doing so being too urgent to let it pass. The third author uses the word Katun in his introductory lines, without giving it any numerical value. But it will be noticed that in the text which follows, the expression Katun is used inter- changeably with that of Ahau for a period of 20 years. This concord- ance of the three authors allows us to conclude that whenever the word iTafMn is employed, the short period of 20 years was meant. In this connection a question arises : How is it that no author has made men- tion of the long period of 260 years, with which we become acquainted in Senor Perez's chronological essay. It is probable he found it men- tioned in some Maya manuscripts in which this long period appeared uuder the name of Ahau Katun. Though this fact of itself maybe con- 9 G2 The discovery of the Mannscript, no donbt, indnced Senor Perez to make a systematic and detailed sketch of the early native chronolgy of his conntry. We shall men- tion only the most interesting and important of his details and refer the reader for the rest to Stephens' work already mentioned. The names of the 20 days in the month are as follows : — 1 Kan. 2 Chicclian. 3 Quimij. 4 Maiiik. 5 Lamut. 6 Muluc. 7 Oc. 8 Chuen. 9 Eb. 10 Been, 11 Gix. 12 Men. 13 Qnib. H4 Caban. ^15 Edznab. ^16 Cavac. "17 Ahau. ^18 Ymix. «19 Yx. "20 Akbal. sidered of no importance, still, as it would bring to light another of the many numerical combinations (13X20=260) in which those people in- dulged, with the fundamental figures of their calendar s5-steni, we must feel a great interest in the asserted fact, hoping it will turn out to be a correct statement. Our researches have been directed for a long time towards the discovery of the symbols which the Maya an- nalists or sculptors would have employed for their chronological periods. It was in connection with these studies that we discovered the Nahuatl symbols for the same, of which we gave account in our discussion on the Calendar Stone. Yet while this discovery only corroborates the suspicion long entertained that a certain set of Maya symbols repre- sented the lustra of 5, and another the period of 20 years, we have not yet been able to recognize a Maya symbol for the period of 2G0 years. The word Katun is a compound of Kat, to ask, to consult, and tun, stone; hence the stone, which when asked, gives account. Thus it was also understood by Cogolludo, who, when mentioning the word Katun (see above), was referring to the square stones incrusted into walls, upon which the convent was built. What traditions he followed in this is still better illustrated by the words in continuation of this passage : '* In a place called Tixualahtiin, which means a spot where one hewn stone is set upon another one, the Archives of the Indians are said to have existed, to which they resorted for all questions of historical interest (recurso dc todos los acaecimientos), as we should do to Simancas, in Spain." The stone columns found on the spot named, can be seen pictured in J. L. Stephens' Incidents of travel in Yucatan, Vol. II., page 318. 03 The 18 inontlis wore us follows : — 1 Pop (Kith of July.) 10 Yaax (12tli of January). 2 Uoo (5tli of August). 11 Zac (1st of February). 3 Zip (2.5lh of August). 12 Quej (21st of February). 4 Zodz (14th of September. 13 Mac (13th of March). 5 Zeec (4th of October). 14 Kankiu (2(1 of April). 6 Xul (24th of October). 15 Moan (22d of April). 7 Dze-yaxidn (13thofNovember). 16 Pax (12th of May). 8 Mol (3d of December). 17 Kayab (1st of June). 9 Dcheu (23(1 of December). 18 Cum]v('i (21st of June. As the table sliows tlioir year hesjan witli tlie first day of tlie moiitli Pop, which correspoiuled to the 16tli of July in onr calendar, when, as Sefior Perez observes, tlie sun was almost vertical over the Peninsula. The day itself was called Kin, 8un, the mouth U, Moon, and the 5 intercalary days were called nameless days, Xona-Kaha-Kin, not-namo-Sun, In the arrangement of their yearly calendar the Mayas proceeded as follows : Like the Mexicans they used a com- bination of the numbers 1 to 13, with the names of the 20 days of the month. They called the first day of the u.ionth Pop (our 16 July) 1 Kan, the second 2 Chicehan, the tliird 3 Quimij, and so on. The fourteenth day was called 1 Caban, the fifteenth 2 Edznab, and the last or twentieth day 7 Akbal. The first day of the second month followed in correct numerical sequence with the name 8 Kan, the second with the name 9 Clii(;chan. Thus repeating the 20 names of the days with the above coiubi nation of numbers from 1 to 13 they reached the 360tli day with the mime 9 Akbal. Then followed the intercalary week of 5 daj's bearing the names 10 Kan, 11 Chicchan, 12 Cimij, 13 Manik, and 1 Lamat. The second year begins with 2 Muluc. In the same man- ner going on with the combination the first day of the third year was 3 Ilix, then followed 4 Cavac, 9 Kan, 10 Muluc, 11 Hix, 12 Cavac, 13 Kan, 1 Muluc, 2 Hix, and so on. At the end of the 52d year the above-mentioned comlünation was ex- 64 hausted, for the 53d year began again with the day 1 Kan. e« ä 6 o o N N 0) N 'S 03 >-> a> d o 'S Yaax. Zac. 'a? ci Kankin. Moan. Pax. t a Ol 3 Names of the Days. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Kan, 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 Chicchau, 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 Quimij, 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 Manik, 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 Lam at. 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 Muluc, 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 Oc, 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 6 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 Chuen, 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 ]3 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 Eb, 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 (5 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 Been, 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 Oix, 11 .f; 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 Men, 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 Quib, 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 Caban, 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 Edznab, 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 Cavac, 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 Ahau, 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 Ymix, 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 Yk, 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 Akbal, 7 1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 1 8 2 9 The following year must begin with 2 Muluc. ^^fKan. . . g ^ I Chicclian ^ o -{ Quimij . o -Q I Manik [3^^ [Lamat 10 11 12 13 1 It is to be observed here that this arrangement of a calendar of epochs agrees with that in use in the interior of Mexico. There, tlie numbers from 1 to 13 were combined with four names, Tecpatl, Calli, Tochtli and Acatl, which they had taken, like the Mayas, from the names for the 20 days of the month ; and both calendars represent the first days of their weeks of five days as occurring upon the Ist, 6th, 11th and ICth days of the month. From this system 65 Senor Perez arrives at the division into great epochs of 52 years used in Mexico as well as in Yucatan. This statement appears hazardous in the highest degree when compared with the statements made by the before-mentioned authori- ties. They claim for Yucatan an epoch of 20 and 260 years respectively ; and Landa, who wrote with the first impres- sions of the concpiest still fresh in his mind, and whose information came directly from the natives themselves, agrees with them. Witliout doubt Senor Perez must have been aware of this contradiction. After he had developed in § 7 the so-called epoch of the Mayas of 52 years he makes us acquainted with this national Maya epoch, though, as we shall presently learn, he disagrees with the Maya writers as to the time of its duration. His statement is : § 8. " The Yucatecans, besides the great cycle of 52 years, employed still another great cycle, which had refer- ence to certain portions of it, in order to date the main epoch, and the most notable events of their history. Each of these cycles contained 13 periods, of 24 years each, mak- ing together 312 years. Each period, or Ahaxi-Katun was divided into two parts. The first of these parts of 20 years was enclosed in a square {sic^^ and was called on that ac- count aniaytun, lamayte or lamaytun. The second part of 4 years formed, so to speak, a pedestal for the first part, and was called chek oc Katun, or lath oc Katun, which signifies a chair or pedestal. These years were considered intercalary, and were held to be unlucky years. They were called u yail Juab, and the same was the case wnth the 5 intercalary days to which they corresponded. The separa- tion of the 20 years from the following 4 years gave rise to the erroneous idea that the Ahaues consisted of twenty years only, an error which has prevailed almost universally among those who have written upon this subject. But if they had counted the years which compose a period, and had taken notice of the positive declarations of the manu- script to the effect that the Ahanes consisted of 24 years 6G divided as above stated, they would not have misled their readers on tliis point." Senor Perez continues: — " It is an incontrovertil)le fact that those Maya periods, epochs or ages, took their name from Ahau Katun, iov they becrau to be counted from the day which bore tlie name Ahau, the second day of those years, wliich began with tlie name Cavac. But as these days and numbers were taken from years which had run their course, the periods of 24 years could never maintain an arithmetical order, but suc- ceeded each other according to the following arrangement of numbers : 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. As the Indians considered the number 13 the initial number, it is probable that some remarkable event liad liappened in that year, because, when the Spaniards arrived in the Peninsula, the Indians then counted the 8th as the 1st, that being the date at which their ancestors came to settle there ; and an Indian writer proposed that they should abandon that order also, and begin counting from the 11th, solely because the Conquest liad happened in that Ahau. Now, if the 13th Ahau Katun began on a second day of the year, it must be that year which began on 12 Cavac, and the 12tli of the series. The 11th Ahau would commence in the year of 10 Cavac, which occurred after a period of 24 years, and so on with the rest ; taking notice that after the lapse of years we come to the respective number marked in the course of the Ahaues which is placed hrst ; proving that they consisted of 24, and not, as some have believed, of 20 years." From the lieading (§8), '' Of the Great Cycle o/ 312 years, or Ahau Katunes^'' as well as of the text just quoted, it is apparent that Senor Perez intended to establish the fact that the ancient Maya cycles were composed of 24 and 312 years respectively. lie does so in manifest contra- diction to the prevalent opinion that they consisted of 20 and 260 years. We do not understand the reasons wliy he sliould liave come to this conclusion. It grew out 67 neitlier from the facts alleged nor from the eonneetioii into which he wove them together. The peculiar circumstance of having, in his commentary referenc^es, four years inter- calated in succession to the usual cycle of twenty years, and included in a square, to serve as a '•'• 2)edestal " to the former, is not capahle of shedding new light upon the question and causing us to distrust authorities on which we were accustomed to rely. The other reason, which stands second in his order of forming premises for his conclusion, is said to be the undeni- able fact, that those periods took their name oi Ahau Katun, because they began to be counted from the day Ahau, which was the second day of those years that began in Cavac. Of this uncontrovertible fact tiie readers are not elsewhere informed. The information, however, which we are able to give is that according to all we have been able to gather on the Maya Calendar, a period, or a single year, commencing with a day named Ahau, has never existed in their system of counting. They always commenced it with the words Kan, Muluc, Ilix, Cavac. If there existed any exceptional ground for changing an old established method of dating, the reason should have been stated, for it is preposterous to assume that the first day of a great cyclical period should have taken its name from any other day of the year's calen- dar than from the four above named. Nor do we under- stand the reason wh}', just here, the topic of the succession of the numbers 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, was introduced. Could it have been with the intention of show- ing that this singular enumeration of alternating Ahaues, which we shall hereafter speak of, occurred only in cycles of 24 years, and that therefrom a proof might be derived for establishing the pretended cycle of 24 and 312 years? Evidence of this should have been given by a table showing the series, and by still another table in which should be shown that such an alternating succession did not occur in cycles composed of 20 years. Not one single fact can be 68 detected in Senor Perez's text, by which the long estab- lished assumption of a 20 years' cycle has been disproved. Nevertheless, the data which we possess of the ancient Maya Calendar are not so complete as to disprove emphati- cally that a cycle of 24 and 312 years respectively was never used by the Maya chronologers. Without doubt, Yucatan owed its ancient greatness to the success of uniting a rude and scattered population around a number of theocratical centres, where similar forms of worship were maintained. Though the ancient records are wanting, this feature of the Maya system stands out upon the background of dim traditions with great distinctness. After this concentration of tribes, and with the view of regulating worship, a uniform calendar would have been introduced, the main features of which would probably have been a solar year of 365 days, the division of the year into 20 months, and a cyclical period of 20 and 260 years respec- tively. In the middle of the 11th century great tribal revolutions took place on the high plateaus of Anahuac, by which the lowlands of Yucatan were also affected. An adventurous tribe of the Nahuatl stock possessed itself of one of the principal towns of Yucatan and established its influence and power. Mayapan became the centre of Nahuatl worship. The calendar the invaders brought with them must have been the old honored division of the years into 365 days, with 20 months, and their cyclical period of not 20 but 52 years, and it is also known that about the year 1450, the political union of the Mayas was broken into several smaller divisions, some of which presumably would have held to the ancient cycle of 20 years ; others may have adopted the Nahuatl cycle of 52 years, and possi- bly, may have introduced the cycle of 24 years spoken of by Scfior Perez. Political schism was likely to have generated also a hierarchical one, and each newly formed body of ])riests, in wliose hands the custody and composition of annals foil, would have sought to distinguisli themselves from their GO predecessors \)y innovatiDiis, if only of a. fcjrmal cliaraeter. Sucli changes we also observe among the Nahnatls in Analmac. The pei-iod of 52 years, however, seems to have constantly prevailed among them, and also the divisions of the 365 days into 18 months of 20 days eacli. We tind, for instance, that one of the Nahnatl tribes begins its annals with December 9, another selects December 26, another January 9, and others January 12, February 4, and February 22. We also know that a ditfcix'nt cahnilation prevailed auiong these tribes in l)egiu- ning their annals. The State of Colhuacan began its chronology with a year 1 Culli, the State of Mexico with 2 Acatl, others with 1 Tochtli, and seemingly the most ancient calculation began with the year 1 Tecpatl. Thus we have a historical basis for our assertion that the Nahuatl as well as the Maya tribes did not conform to a uniform rule in beginning their first 3''car's date, in their chrono- logical ei)Ochs, or in the divi&ion of their cyclical epochs. In spite of this diversity, so })erplexing to modern chrono- logists, the Aztecs and the Mayas were both governed by the same general principle in arranging their calendars. Both nations recognized the fact that in the past their solar year had numbered only 360 days ; and they preserved iu the words nemotemi and xona-kaba-kin, the remembrance of a not to be forgotten eflbrt exerted by their ancestors to correct the primordial solar year of 360 days into one of 365 days. Both nations conscientiously kept on dividing the year into IS months, and each of the months into 20 days, and with both the number 13 returns as a basis governing the calendar of years as well as that of periods.* We notice, moreover, that both nations omit to count the 20 days of the month in the succession of the figures 1—20, * Senor Orozco y Berra, the learned and laborious author of the "Carta ethnoet us then take the statement of Landa supplemented by what we have said above as to the questionable nomencla- ture of these Ahanes as tliey a])pear in the row of nunibei'S 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. Landa's description gives us to understand tliat the lapse of twenty years was always required before the new combination of two idols was presented to the worshippers, and which had not before been seen in the temple in company with the former Idols. For example: When Idol 3 was ])laced in the temple, Idol 2 took a tirst place among the worshij)pers. Indeed, Idol 2 was in the tcm})le with Idol 1, but Idol 3 was not with Idol 1, nor Idol 4 with Idol 2. If such a combination repeat- ing itself after 20 3'ears, represented a space of time familiar to the Mayas, it is natural that it should receive the name Ahau or period of the god* and that it should receive its name from the number of the Idol presiding at the expira- tion of this s])a(;e of 20 years. If therefore in the rotation of the circle Idols 2 and 3 passed out of the temple, the combination, or what is the same, the space of 20 years, during which they had ornamented the temple will have borne the name 2 Ahau, on the ground that Idol 2 had pre- * Ahau translated means : soverain, king, au^nst, principal. See page 3 of Juan Pio Perez's " Diccionario tie la lengua Maya," published in Merida in 1877, by the friends and faithful executors of the last will of the defunct scholar. This valuable work comprises the whole of the lin- guistical stock of the Maya language, the words collected exceeding the number of 20,000, on 437 pages, quarto. It may be purchased from Dr. George E. Shiels, 896 Broadway, New York. 74: ceded it. Tlie second combination, then, would follow when the presidency of Idol 4 would have finished its term, and in tliis way the row 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, may have had its origin. Now, it is true that the order in which these numbers stand is different from that transmitted to us, which begins witli 13 and is followed by 11 and 9. The reverse of this method of reckoning ma}' possibly be accounted for in this way: An epoch unknown to us may have occurred when the Maya chroniclers desired to review past events and bring tliem into order. Counting backwards from such a date tliey would have called the first period of twenty years not the 13th, nor, according to our above statement, the 1st, but the 2d Ahau. Consequently the period after the expiration of the great cycles of 260 years would have been called the 13th Ahau, though properly sjieaking it should have been the 2d Ahau. An historical epoch for such reckoning back- ward is known to liave occurred. It occurred again in tlie 3-ear 1542, when the conquest of Yucatan by the Spaniards took place. It appears that the Mayas in that year declared their 13th Ahau period to be at an end, from 1522 to 1542 ; consequently a back reckoning, according to this system of the Mayas, gave a 2d Ahau for the period of 1502-22, a 4th Ahau for that of 14S2-1502, and going on in the same way of reckoning the year 1282 would have represented the expiration of the 13th Ahau. The circle of Landa exemplifies tliis manner of counting. He starts from tlie 13th Ahau, counting from left to right. But if we count in the opposite direction we should obtain the row of numl)ers 2, 4, 6, 8, &c., as we have shown abovq. If we refer to the striking discovery on the Mexican Calen- dar stone* tliat the days u[)()n that circle arc not counted ♦Proceediiifr.s of Am. Antiq. Society, April 24, 1878, pa,<,'e IG, in an article on the Mexican Calendar Stone, by Ph. J. J. Vaientiui, in which mention wa.s made of this siiifinlar kind of notation from tlie riglit to the left hand. A. v. Humboldt, in "Vue des Cordilleres," page 18G, re- 75 towards the right l)ut towards tlie left, and generalize it as a rule to he adopted also for the chronological C3'cles of the Mayas, we should come to the conclusion that the Mayas in some of their former chronological epochs counted their Ahaues in that natural order. Who shall say that the reversed counting did not originate from a misunderstanding on the part of the Spaniards ? We do not claim to have finally disposed of the question. Every new attempt will be a welcome addition to the cause, for each new investiga- tor is obliged to descend deeper into the dark mine where Maya histor}'' lies buried. SeSor Perez's Translation or the Manuscript. Senor Perez is thus far the only interpreter of the Maya Manuscript, and his S))anish text found a skilful translator in Mr. John L. Stephens. Neither the S|»anish text nor the special chronological analysis of each paragraph composed by Senor Perez, have hitherto been made public ; we owe the possession of both these documents to the kindness of our friend. Dr. Carl Hermann Berendt, lately deceased, who, during his long residence in Yucatan, was occupied in amass- ing a large collection of matters relating to Maya literature and history, in original form or in authentic copies. In comparing the Spanish with the English translations, it seems that many things, not clear in the first, had been made more intelligible in the last. It is evident that Senor Perez sought to translate the Maya text as liter- marks : Le cercle Interieur oÖVe les viiigt signes du jour : en se souve- uant que Cipactli est le premier et Xocliitl le dernier, on volt qu'gu'ici, comme partout aillenrs, les Mexicaius ont range les hie'roglyphs de droite ä gauche." The great scholar has clothed in the form of a proven state- ment that which at the beginning of this centur}- was an opinion gen- erally prevalent among Americanists, and which does not bear the test, when the numerous copies existing of the Mexican calendar days are examined. They all show the arrangement of the days from the left to the right. The sculptured calendar is the onlj' exception. 76 ally and faithfully as he could into the Spanish language, otherwise liis text would have been more fluent and flnished. The abruptness of expression, and the frequent ellipses in the construction of its sentences, show that the Maya idiom has been faithfully rendered. Such a course increases the interest, and at the same time it creates confidence in the correctness of the translation. Dr. Berendt, the profound scholar of the Maya language, wrote us as follows on March 14, 1873 : " I have several times undertaken to translate this manuscript myself, but have always given up the task. The manifold doubts which the original text leaves open seem to me correctly solved by Senor Perez, and it always appeared to me that I miglit indeed make another but not a better translation. The small changes in the text of Ste- phens, of which you speak, I do not believe were introduced merely from a love of his own expressions. I believe that he first came to an understanding with Perez, and sought only to assist the better comprehension of the manuscript for the benefit of tlie public at large." It is to be hoped that the diflf'oreuces of translation of the manuscript spoken of above, and to whicli Senor Eligio Ancona* draws attention, will be critically investigated and finally decided by the coming generation of scholars in Yu- catan. The sons of the country should be the born judges of the language and the spirit of the literary relics of the indigenous race. Recent investigations have shown that this language was split into sixteen dialects, which were spoken by as many tribes, whose territories extended far be- yond the present area of the Yucatecan peninsnla.f Like all languages, these Maya idioms have undergone changes dur- in«»; the last three or four centuries. To understand and *IHstoria de Yucatan; by Eligio Aucoiia, Merida, 1879, Vol. I., page 15U. t Kcmarlcs on the Centres of Ancient Civilization in Central America. Address read before the Amer. Geogr. Society', New York, July 10, 1876, by Dr. C. Hermann Berendt. 77 explain their now obsolete elements, must be left exclusively to the native scholar. Discussion of the Manuscript. It will now be our task to endeavor to clear away such doubts as may arise in regard to the chronological interpre- tation of the Maya Manuscript. These doubts have refer- ence, first, to the choice of the method to be pursued in reckoning the Ahaues either at 24 or at 20 years. Second, as to the manner of filling up certain gaps which the author has left open in the chronological sequence of the Aliau period ; and finally, after building again this chronological structure in its logical order, we must adapt the dates expressed in Ahaues to the current language of our Christian chronological era. In order to avoid troublesome reference to the text of the preceding pages, we shall repeat the English translation, and for better convenience, shall present two or more sections together. To demonstrate Seilor Perez's system and method of counting, we shall give the translation of the Spanish text, as communicated by Dr. Berendt, without undertaking to make any special criticisms of it. This is the series of Katuns that elapsed from the time of their separation from the land and house of Nonoual^ in lohich loere the four Tutul Xiu, lying to the ivest of Zuina, going out of the country of Tulapan. With these few words the Maya author states his purpose. He wishes to enumerate the Katuns or periods of time from the besinnin«; of the history of his nation to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors. He tells us that his nation lived in aland called Tulapan, which was westerly from another called Zuina, and that from thence, under the lead of four chiefs, the Tutul Xiu, they had immigrated into this new country, Yucatan. 11 78 [Map showing the movement of the Mayas as stated iu the Manuscript]. By Tutul Xiu the author evidently means the name of the reio^ninor family, which, at the arrival of the Spaniards, were considered as the ancient rulers and hereditary lords of Chichen-Itza* In regard to the countries referred to by the names Tulapan and Zuina, we can only say tliat in Cen- tral American traditions the name Tnlapan oftentimes re- * Herrera, Decade IV., Lib. X., Chapt. 2, 3 and 4. These three chap- ters are a compilation of dataconcernin-jr the ancient history of Yucatan, and the adventurous career of the Itza race, which appear to be drawn from sources unl^nown at this day, and which are independent of what we can learn from Landa, from the author of the Maya Manuscript, and from Cogolludo. 79 turns under the form of Tulan. Thus, for example, the Quiclies and Cakchi([ueles, sister nations of the Mayas, make mention of the above countries in their annals.* Upon a closer examination of the text, contained in the so-called " Fopol Vuh," we were unable to detect any grounds for the assumption that these countries or places lay in a distant orient. They proi^ably will turn out to have been, or by the annalists were thought to have l)een, situated on the northern boundaries of Mexico, on a route of migration ending with the high plateaus of Guatemala. §1. Four epochs were spent in travelling before they ar- rived here with Ilolon Chantepeuh and his followers. When they began their journey towards this island, it was the Sth Ahau, and the '6th, ^h and '2d were spent in travelling., because in the \st year of the IZth Ahau they arrived at this island, making together eighty-one years they were trav- elling between their departure from their country and their arrival at this island of Chacnouitan. These are 81 years. AVe learn that four Ahau periods had passed the 8th, 6th, 4th and 2d before the wanderers arrived with their leader, Holon Chantepeuli, at the island of Chacnouitan. In the following 13th Ahau they are said to have been already settled there. It is of the highest importance to note that the Maya author here acknowledges that he reckoned each Ahau period as 20 years, and he remains faithful to this method to the end of the manuscript. By this fact alone, we should be com- pelled to follow the division of 20 years thus established, even if in contradiction to the statements of other chron- iclers, which fortunately is not the case. ♦Traces of such a migration and succeeding halting places can be discovered in the Quiche annals, edited by Brasseur de Bourbourg, with the title of Popol Vuh. " Popol Vuh, le livre sacrfi et les mythes de I'an- tiquitS centre -Aniericainc," Paris, 18GI, on pages 83, 235, 241, and pages 215, 217, 23G, in which names are quoted and regions described which give evidence of a course of migration from nortliern to southern Mexico. 80 As the author treats of the affairs of the Tutnl Xiu or the so-called Itza race, and attributes to them the discovery and colonization of Yucatan, it is highly probable that he made use of tlie annals of tlie Itzaes, and that they were arranged in periods of just 20 years. If we sliould be right in tliis assumption the 20-year period must be regarded as the most ancient ever used in Yucatan. We cannot fully agree with Senor Perez and his country- men that the author intended to designate the peninsula of Yucatan when he speaks of the Island of Chacnouitan. This name a])pears for the first and only time in this manu- script. It is genei'ally acknowledged that tlie name liad never previously l^een heard of.* We should state that the words of the text are always nay t'l ])etene Chacnouitan. If in Alaya jye^'ön meant only a peniiisuhi, we should take no exceptions. But the fundamental meaning of peten is an island, and as the demonstrative pronoun 7iay means as well "of this place" as "of that pla(;e," tlie ti'anslation could as well stand for "tliat distant island." Whether the island was situ- ated in the ocean or in any of the many inland lakes, the pro- babilities seem to lie with the latter supposition, for they came by land. Had they come by sea, tradition would liave dwelt with some characteristic remark upon such an ex- ceptional case. From the following paragraph it will become still more evident that the Chacnouitan discovci-ed l)y the Itzaes was neither tlie whole nor the northern part of Yuca- * E. Ancona, Uistoria de Yucatan, Vol. I., page 34. Merida, 1879. — "The word Chacuovitau or Chacnouitan first appeared in the Maya MSS. or series of Maya epochs. Upon examining this document, and observing tliat tlie tribe wandered from Tuhipan to Cliacnouitan and later to Bakhalal and from there to Chicheii-ltza, etc., it will be understood that the name in question was given to no other portion of our peninsula than to that which lies at the south. Brasseur de Bour- bourg supposes, and we think not without reason, that Chacnouitan lay between Bakhalal andAcallan, s. e. of the Laguna de los Terminos.— See Brasseur de Bourbourg, Archives de la comission scientlfica, Tonio. I, page 422, note 2." 81 tun, but a district situated in tlic soutliwcst of the penin- sula. §2. The SthAhau, the^tli Ahaii^in the %} Ahau arrived Ajmekat Tutul Xiu, and ninety-nine years they remained in Chacnouitan — years 99. §3. In this time also took j^l^c^^ the discovery of the Prov- ince of Ziyan-caan or Bacalar ; the ^th Ahau and the Id Ahau and the ISth Ahait, or sixty years they had ruled in Ziyan-caan when thp:y came here. During these years of their gov ei'nment of the Province of Bacalar occurred the discovery of the Province of Chichen-Itza. These are years 60. As the first section closed with the arrival at Chacnouitan, which took place upon the 2d zVhau, it was to be expected that the second section would continue the sequence of Ahaues so as to connect with the necessarily following 13th Ahau. But we see that it begins with the 8th Ahau, follows with the 6th and closes with the 2d Ahau. Before taking notice of the accounts given in these two paragraphs let us first ascertain what Ahaues were left t)ut between the 2d Ahau, at the end of the first section, and the Sth Ahau, witli which the second section begins. Ac- cording to the rule above given on the alternating Ahaues, the missing ones would be the following : The (13), (11), (9), (7), (5\ (3), (1), (12), and (10th) Ahau. Of these nine Ahaues, or 180 years, tlie author had nothing in mind to tell us. No event of significance appears to have taken place. Perhaps the wanderers had to rest to gather strength before attempting further conquests. Moreover, this time belongs to the most ancient epochs of Maya history, and informa- tion regarding it was so dim and so o!)scurc that it a[)peared to the author as of no account. The chronological sequence thus being established, let us now turn to the contents of the two sections, 2 and 3. They begin with the 8th Ahau and close with the 13th Ahau. x\s to the eve*^''* happening 82 within the 8th, 6tli, 4th, 2d and 13th Ahau, they indeed do not appear in the wished for sequence. But tlie sequence, as will be shown, can be established without making interpola- tions. It will be noticed that in section 2 the -itli Ahau is not mentioned. After having quoted the 8th and 6tli Ahau, the author passes over this 4th Ahau and mentions the arri- val of Ajmekat, belonging to the family of the renowned Tutul Xin, who seems to have led in the conquests of Bacalar and Chichen-Itza, which are recorded in section 3, as happening in the 4th, 2d and 13tli Ahau. That these con- quests must be counted into the epoch mentioned with the names 8th, 6tli, 4tli, 2d and 13th Ahau is clearly expressed by the words, " i?! this thtie,^'' so that no mistake can take place as to the intimate connection with the arrival of Ajme- kat. We learn moreover tliat the time which the conquerors remained in the province of Chacnouitan is said to have been 99 years. These 99 or 100 years cover exactl}' the time represented by the above five Ahaues, and when read- ing at the end of the 3d paragraph that they had ruled 60 years in Ziyan caan Bacalar, it becomes clear that these 60 years are not years that follow the 99 years, l)ut that they were the last years of the 99 mentioned. The two sections supj)lement each other, and from them the following im- pression is conveyed, that Chacnouitan was the territory situ- ated southwest of the shores of the great lagoon of Bacalar. The wanderers had been waiting during eleven Ahaues, from the 13tii to the 4tli Ahau, before they made an attack against the possessors of Bacalar. An attempt to take it appears to have been made during the 8th, 6th and 4th Ahaues, and only accomplished in the 2d Ahau, through the arrival or help of Ajmekat, who led them further on to the discovery or conquest of Chichen-Itza, in the 13th Ahau. The diliiculty of interpreting the two sections is removed as soon as we view them in the light of the reasons given, not as two distinct cpociis of which the one follows tiic other, 83 as Serior Perez docs (see cominciitai-y), but as 1)eloTiging to one and the same epoch from tlie 8tli to the 13th Alian. It must not be so much questioned wliat the author ought to have done in order to represent liis history in a logical way, and on account of his omissions cast a doubt iq^on the lohole record^ as how to use what he has left to construct a system from these elements, and to avail oui'selves unhcsitatingl}' of the help of the chronological sequence of Ahaues, which is and will remain the only relial)lc thread to lead us through and out of the labyrinth. Commentary of Senor Perez. — " The manuscript informs us that at the 8th Ahau a colony of Toltecs under their leader Ilolon Chantepeuh, marched out from the city of Tulapau, and that in their wanderings they spent 4 Ahaues, 8, 6, 4, 2, till they came to Chacnouitau, which happened in the first year of the 13th Ahau. To doubt this is not pos- sible, for this statement is the beginning and foundation of all later dates. According to my calculation which I will explain hereafter, it was from the year 144 to 217, which is 97 and not 81 years, as the manu- script reports, for if we compute the Ahaues with 24 years, as we have shown, and include the first year of the Ahau following as the time of their arrival, then the account makes 97 years. They stayed in Chac- nouitau with AjmeUat Tutul Xiu during the remaining years of the 13th Ahau, until the 2d Ahau. These Ahaues, as we have explained, should follow in the order 13, 9, 7, 5, and not 13, 6, 8, 2, for this latter list represents earlier Ahaues, and as they represent different epochs they can only be expressed by the same figures after the expiration of 312 years, thereby clearly showing the error. It is likewise asserted that they remained 99 years in Chacnouitan, which could not have been true, for this would have made 119 actual years, or only 95 years if we reckon only four Ahaues, without the second, for if we regard the succession we miss the 4th Ahau, which the manuscript has left out. But the manuscript does not count four but five Ahaues, as it reckons an Ahau at 20 years, the five Ahaues less one year make the aforesaid 99 years." §4. The nth Ahau, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d and 1st Ahau, or 120 years, they ruled in Chichen-Itza, when it was destroyed, and they emigrated to Champuttui ichere the Itzaes, holy men, had houses. Yeai'S 120. §5. The Qth Ahau, they took possession of the territory of Champutun,tJie Ath Ahau, 2d, Vdth, Wth, dth, 7th, 5th, 3d, 84 lst,l'2th,10thandSth,Champutu7iiüas destroyed or ahan- doned. The Itzaes reigned two hundred and sixty years in Champutun when they returned in search of their homes, and they lived for several Katuns in the uninhabited moun- tains. Years 260. §6. TJie Gth Ahau, Mh Ahau, after 40 years they re- turned to their homes once more and Chamj^utun was lost to them. Years 40. The fourth section, iu correct sequence, continues the series from the 13th Ahau when Chichen-Itza was founded. It covers the 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 8d, and 1st Ahau, a space of 20 years, in which the wanderers make tlic new region of Chichen-Itza their metropolis. Enemies, howev^er, whose names are not indicated, destro}»^ the place and oblige them to look elsewhere. They then turn to Champutun (now Champoton, also Fotonchan), situated in a southwesterly direction from Chiclien-Itza, on the westerly shore of the Peninsula. The fifth section should begin with the 12tli Ahau, but instead it follows the 6th Ahau. Hence the (12th), (10th) and (8tli) Ahau are missing. These 60 j'ears may be supposed to be the time required by the exiles to recuperate their strength in order to conquer the new territory of Champo- ton. In the 6th Ahau then they succeeded in taking Cham- poton, and they remained there during the 4th, 2d, 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, 10th and 8th Ahaus, a full Ahau-Katun epoch of 260 years. They were obliged to leave Champoton in the Stb Ahau, and seemed willing to return to their old home, but determined to reconquer Cham- poton. Wc are told in the sixth section that two Katuns or 40 years, were passed in delays and preparations, cor- rectly figured by the 6th and 4th Ahau ; that they then made an attempt to reconquer Champoton, failing in which, they were obliged to look about for a new home. Commentary ok Senor Perez to the 4th, 5th and 6th Secitons.— They reraaiued iu Chicheu-Itza and ruled there until it was destroyed, 85 when they betook themselves to Champoton. Here they built their houses during the 11th, 9lh, 7th, 5th, 3d aud 1st Ahaues (sic). If tliis succession should be stated correctly it would be the 10th, 8th, 6th, 4th, 2d and 13th Ahau, or from the year 402 to 57G, A. D., when the 13th Ahau expired. The Ahaues represented the years 432, 456, 480, 504, 528 and 552 A. D. §5. In the 6th Ahau they took Champoton and held sway there during the following twelve Ahaues until it was destroyed. After this they looked again for a home after they had passed several Katunes in the mountainous regions, which were the 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, 10th, 8th, 6th, 4th, 2d and 13th Ahaues, making a complete epoch of 312 years. Their coming should not have been stated as the üth, but the 11th Ahau, according to the explanation. §6. In the Gth and 4tli Ahau they again erected houses after they had lost Champoton, that is after a lapse of 48 years, which requires a con- nection with the 11th and 9th Ahau. This occurred in the years 888 to 936 A. D., for the llih Ahau began in 888, the 9th in 912, and ended in the year 936 A. D. §7. In this Katan of the 'id Ahau, Ajcuitok Tutid Xiu established himself m Uxmal ; the ^dAhau,l^th, l\th^ dth, 1th, bth, ^d, 1st, \2th and 10th Ahau, equal to 200 years, they governed in Uxnial, with the governors of Chichen-Itza and Mayajyan. The former section closing witli the 4tli Ahau, this Ijegins M'ith the 2(1 and is followed in correct snccession by the 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th and 10th, a space of 200 years. 1\\ the 2d Ahan, under tlieir leader Ajcuitok, they settled down in a new region at the town of Uxnial. It appears that Chichen-Itza had been rebuilt, and Maj'apan newly founded, ßulers i-esided at both places at peace with the Tutul Xiu at IJxmal. Commentary of Sexok Perez to Section 7. — In the 2d Ahau Ajcui- tok Tutul Xiu made a settlement in Uxiiial, and reigned there with the Governors of Chicheu-Itza and Mayapan during 2d, 13th, lltli, 9lh, 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th and 10th Ahau. A correction of these Ahaues gives us the 7th, 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th, 10th, 8th, 6th, 4th and 2d, and brings them into harmony with the Christian era, to wit : the years 936, 960, 987, 1008, 1032, 1056, lOSO, 1104, 1128 and 1152 A. D. The 2d Ahau ended with the foundation and with the completion of 240 years in the year 1176, for the foundation took place in the year 936, when the 7th Ahau just now corrected began. 12 86 §8. These are the TfatunsAlth, 9th and Uh Ahau {sic.) In the 8th the Governor of Chichen-Itza was deposed he- cause he murmured disrespectfully against JIvnac-eel. This hapi^ened to Chacxihchac of Chichen-Itza, gov- ernor of the fortress of Ilayaljjan. Ninety years had elaj)sed^ but the tenth year of the Sth Ahau was the year in which he was overthrotcn hy Ajzinte-y ut-chan with Tzunte- cum, Taxcal, Panternit, Xuch-cuet, Ytzcuat and Kahalte- cat. These are the nam,es of the seven Mayalpanes. §9. Ii the same Katun of the Sth Ahau, they attacked King Ulmil in consequence of his quarrel with Tllil, King of Yzamal / thirteen divisions of troops he head when he was routed l)y Hunac-eel ; in the Qth A hau the loar loas over after 34 years. As the foregoing section 7 closed witli the lOtli Ahan, we should expect section 8 to begin with the 8th Ahau. We read, however, 11th, 9th and 6tii Ahan. This sequence is evidently incorrect in itself, because the 9th can never be followed by the 6tli Ahau. If the ])eriod began with the 11th Ahau, the sequence should follow with the 9th and 7tli Ahau. The correct reading of tlie text, however, will result from the examination of that which follows immediately after this introductory sentence. There we read these words: " Jn the 8th Aliau the governor of Chichen-Itza was deposed," etc., and this same 8tli Ahau is mentioned again in the sentence that follows, beginning with " Ninety years," etc. So also it reappears for a third time in section 9, at its beginning. Now, as section 8 was expected to commence with the 8tli Ahau, it is more than probable that the antlior has blundered in some way. We presume that instead of 11th, 9th and 6th, he intended to write 10th 8th and 6th. The 10th would indicate a reference made to the ending of the last section. The 8th and 6th are those in which all the events described in our two sections occur, for the insulted govern(jr llunac-eel of section 8 is the same who takes re- venge in section 9. 87 This difficulty being roinoved, anotlici- jiriscs, how to inter- pret the words " ninety years ehipsed, hut the tenth year of the 8th Ahau was tlieycarin which he was overtlirown," etc. This reads as if these ninety years were predecessors of the 8th Ahau. If this were so, they would fall in the 10th, 12th, 1st, 3d and the tirst half of the 5tli Ahau. Of such Ahaues mention is made in the foregoing section 7. But we notice these Ahaues were passed in ])eace and not in war, as our passage evidently suggests. We cannot help thinking that another blunder is concealed in this phrase, and that the author meant to write nine years. If we write. Nine years had elapsed^ but the tenth year of the 8th, Ahau was the yearin ichich he was overthrown, the idea of the author seems stated correctly. These nine years, then, would have fallen in the 10th Ahau, with whi(!h we proposed to commence se(5tion 8, and nine years added to the twenty years of the 8th Ahau, make twenty-nine years, and live moi'c years of the 6th Ahau give those thirty-four years, which, at the end of section 9 are expressly indicated as passed in war. Such is the sense which we give to these two somewhat perplexing sections. COMMENTAIJY OF SkxOU PeREZ TO SECTIONS 8 AND 9. — The AliaUGS 11th, 9th, 6lh and 8th passed away, and in the latter the governor Hunac- eel of Mayapan overthrew Chacxibchac, the governor of Chichen-Itza, because he had spoken ill of him, and in the 10th year of tlie last Ahau, the seven chiefs of Hunac-ecl overcame the governor Chacxibchac. If a correction is to be made it should then stand i;5th, 11th, 9th and 7th Ahau, or the years 1170, li'OO, 122-t and 1248 to the year 1272 A. D. Hence it was the year 1258, the tenth year of the 7th Ahau that Chacxibchitc was overcome. During the 8th Ahau occurred the destruction of the power of King Ulmil, because he had waged war against Ulil of Izamal, and Hunac-eel at the head of 13 divisions overcame Ulmil in the 6th Ahau. [We are unable to give the correction of Seöor Perez, as we do not comprehend his text.] §10. In the Q>th Ahau, Uh Ahau, 2d Ahau, 13th, Ahau, nth. Ahau the fortified territory of Mayapan was invaded hy the men of Itza under their Icing Ulmil because they had 88 walls, and governed in common the peojjle of Mayalpan ; eighty-three years elapsed after this event, and at the begin- ning of the 11th Ahau, Mayalpa?i toas destroyed by strangers of the JJitzes or Highlanders, as was also Tancaj of May- alpan. Years 83. §11. In the '^th A hau, Mayalpan was destroyed ; the epochs of the QtJi, 4:th, 2ö? elap)sed, and at this period the Spaniards, for the first time arrived, and gave the name of Yucatan to this province, sixty years after the destruction of the for- tress. Years 60. In section 10 the 6tli Ahau follows the 8th correctly, and the 4th, 2d, 13th and 11th Ahanes were passed in internal wars between Chichen-ltza and Mayalpan. In the lltli Ahau a highland people, called Uitze (probably Quichö), unite with the rulers of Chichen-ltza, and they then succeed in destroying Mayalpan. In section 11 another destruction of Mayalpan is reported. As this section begins with the 8th Ahau, and the foregoing ended with the 11th, a gap was left which represents the (9th), (7tli), (5th), (3d), (1st), (12th) and (10th) Ahau. This gap undoubtedly means a period of great exhaustion to both contending parties, and as a second destruction of Mayalpan is reported in the 8tli Ahau, ^ve may fairly assume that this city had recovered, and in making a last eöbrt to regain supremacy, was finally conquered. We understand the two reported destructions of this city as the heroic and victorious effort of the Maya race to exterminate the foreign Nahuatl invader, who, for a long period suc- ceeded in taking a strong foothold in the country. In the succeeding epochs of the 6th, 4th and 2d Ahau, exhaustion from the war and disintegration nuist have ensued, for such was the condition in which the Spaniards found the Maya people in the following 13tli and 11th Ahaues, which were the last they were allowed to count. COMMEXTARY OF SenOR PeREZ TO SECTIONS 10 AND 11. — In the 6th, 4th, 2d and 11th Ahauos the fortified land of Mayapan is attaclted by the men of Itzaand their king Ulmil, for it had walls, and the people 89 Avcre governcfl in a community. The place was destroyed by foreigners from the Higldands in the lltli Ahau, and Tancaj of Mayapan was also conquered. The correction of the reckoning gives us the 5th, 3d, 1st, 12th and 10th Ahau. AVe have statetl that the 5th Ahau began in the year 1272, and the others were consequently 1296, 1320, 1344, and 1368, and the 8th Ahau ended in the year 1392 A. D. In the 8th Ahau Mayapan was destroyed, then followed the Katuues of the 6th, 4th and 2d Ahau, in which latter the Spaniards passed by and gave to the province the name of Yucatan. Hence, the Ahaues begin again their regular course, though it is a contradiction to say in the foregoing section that Mayapan had been destroyed in the 11th Ahau (corrected to the 10th Ahau). It would perhaps have been better to say it had been destroyed for the second time, possibly for the pur- pose of rebuilding it. The 8th Ahau began in the year 1392, the 6th, 4th and 2d Ahaues fell in the years 1416, 1440 and 1464, which last ended in the year 1488 A. D. §12. TAe 13t/i Ahau, \lth Ahau pestilence and small- ])0x toere in the castles. In the IMh Ahau chief Ajpuld died. Six years were wanting to complete the IMh Ahau. This year was counted towards the east of the wheel, and began on the Mh Kan. Ajpidd died on the ISth day of the month Zip, on the ^th Imix ; and that it may he known in numbers it was the year 1536, sixty years after the demoli- tion of the fortress. §13. Before the termination of the 11th Ahau the Span- iards arrived , holy men from the East came with them xohen they reached the land. The ^th Ahau was the commence- ment of baptism and Christianity ; and in this year was the arrival of Toroba ( Toral), the first bishop, 1544. After the 11th section had closed with the 2d Ahau, the 12th section correctly begins with the 13th Ahau, and the 13th and last section closed the manuscript with the lltli Ahau, wlicn the government of the Mayas was brought to an end by the arrival of the Spaniards. The particular de- tails contained in these two sections will be discussed liere- after. Commentary of Senor Perez to Sections 12 and 13.— In the 13th and the 11th Ahaues pestilence and small-pox reigned. In the sixth year, before the expiration of the 13th Ahau, Ajpula died at the time 90 when four Katiines wei'e counted on the east of the wheel. His death happened on the 18th day of the mouth Zip, on the 9th day Imix. This date is wrong accordin«;; to my reckoning; for the year 4 Cavac expired at the beginning and not at the end of the epoch, otherwise it would have been the year 4 Muluc. In the first case, the year 4 Cavac was that of 149G, in the other case it would be the year 1506, and never that of 1536, for in that year the 9th Ahau began.* We give, besides, a recapitulation which Sefior Perez him- self added to liis commentary, and for which we are indebted to the kindness of the late Dr. C. Hermann Berendt: — " From what we have stated it will be seen that by only taking into account the number of epochs which are mentioned in the manuscript, and which elapsed between events, and by restoring this nomenclature according to the progressive series of the Ahaues, it appears that all indicated facts occur within the space of 58 epochs of 24 years each, which makes in all 1392 years to the expiration of the Uth Ahau. If we subtract these years from the year 1536, in which the 11th Ahau expired, 1444 A. D. remains as the year when the Toltecs seem to have arrived to colonize the country. But if we allow the epochs and their enumeration to stand as they are, and in order to integrate the Ahaues in the sequence above indi- cated, add those which are missing, we should find that 97 epochs, each of 24 years had passed. The sum of 2328 years, represented by this count, is a space of time of too great magnitude to bring into har- mony with Mexican history, and would signify that this country was 40 years older than the foundation of Rome, and 17 years older than the introduction of Greek Olympiads, which is very improbable. Should any hypercritical person fail to believe in the list of epochs because their succession is incorrect, let him remember that the list has much to render it worthy of belief, though it must be subjected to cor- rections. Still less ought any one to refuse belief in the historical * Seiior Perez in his commentary makes his calculation that 1496 was the year of the deathof Chief Ajpulä, and succeeds in giving it a plausible appearance of correctness. But we observe that in order to reach this date he was not aware of having altered the words of the Maya text, and those of his own translation. This translation said correctly : " There were still six years wanting before the completion of the 13th Ahau." In the text of the commentary, however, we find him starting his count on the supposition that the original text was the sixth year of the 13th Ahau. Though this change is by no means allowable, he suc- ceeds, ingeniously enough, in arriving at the year above quoted, and in stating also the dates of the day and month, precisel}' as the annalist had set them down. 91 statement of events. The niannscript indicates a traditional origin common to the liistory of all primitive nations. It is noticeal)le that uo traditions exist to contradict the manuscript, and that it is the only one thus far discovered. The contents of the manuscript might be thus epitomized : — 1. The Toltecs occupied 4 epochs in going from their liome to Chac- nouitan. 144—217 A. D. 2. They arrived there in the first year of the succeeding epoch, and remained still 4 epochs more with their chieftain, Ajmekat Tutul Xiu. 218— 3G0 A. D. 3. The}' discovered Ziyan-Caan or Bacalar and ruled therein 3 epochs, till they discovered Chichen-Itza. SCO— 432 A D. 4. They remained at Chiciien-Itza G epochs, till they set out to colonize Champoton. 432—576 A. D. 5. From the discovery of Champoton, whicli they colonized and ruled until they lost it, 13 epochs elapsed. 57G— 888 A. D. G. They remain 2 epochs in the wilderness till they return again to Chichen-Itza. 888—936 A. D. 7. In the following epoch Ajcuitok Tutul Xiu colonized Uxmal, and ruled during 10 epochs in harnion}' with the governors of Mayapan and Chichen. 936—1176 A. D. 8. Three other epochs pass, and in the 10th year of the following epoch Chacxibchac, ruler of Chichen, was defeated by Huuac-eel, ruler of Mayapan, and his captains. 117G— 1258 A. D. 9. In the same epoch of the defeat of the ruler of Chichen they marched against Ulmil, who was king in the same Chichen, because he had waged war against Ulil, king of Izamal, which war Hunac-eel, brought to a close in the following epoch. 1258 — 1572 A. D. 10. In spite of Ulmil's defeat this ruler of Chichen planned an inva- sion of Mayapan. After the lapse of 2 more epochs, and in the third year of that which followed, Mayapan was destroyed in the year 1368 by strangers who came from the mountains. 1272—1392 A. D. 11. Besides the three named epochs, and indeed in the last of them, the Spaniards passed along, who gave to the province the name of Yu- catan. 1392—1488 A. D. 12. In the following epoch an epidemic reigned even in the temples and fortitied places, and in the Gth year Ajpula died on the 11th of Sep- tember, 1493. 1488—1512 A. D. 13. In the 11th and last epoch (153G — 1576) the conquerors arrived, to wit: in 1527, and in the following the first Bishop came, in the year 1541, and the conquest was completed in 15G0 A. D. Thus much I have been able to bring to light in this matter. But with the help of dates, which I do not possess, and with that of the travels you have nuide in our country, the information which you have gathered 92 must have eularged your ideas on this subject, and I wish you would be so kiud as to coramuuicate them to your most devoted F. I. JUAN PIO PEREZ. Feto, April 2. 1842. Mr. J. Lloyd Stephens." Concluding Remarks. It will be noticed from the text of tlie Manuscript, that no events are commemorated but such as are connected with loar. In this style also the Nahuatl annals were drawn up. With both nations war was recognized as the only fact worthy to be kept in the memory of the coming generations. Nor does the author state whether the country was ruled by kings or an emperor. It is rather suggested (section 7) that the tribes were gathered in groups, with a large town as a centre, and this town was governed by a priest. The words halach 2iinicil, holy ')nen, were somewhat too freel}' inter- preted with governor by the translator. In regard to the considerable gaps in the sequence of years in the manuscript, we will not longer attribute them to a lack of memory on the part of the author, but to the custom generally observed among the annalists to be regardless of any work of peace })erformed i)y tlie nation ; and whenever the question shall b(! discussed, at what epoch the building of the huge pyra- mids and temples took place, these dates will contribute to the answer. Periods of peace certainly began with 3'ears of great exhaustion ; but recovery must have ensued, and the unshaken energy of the ])eople and their leaders must have been directed to tlie undertaking of works, in which they could exhibit also tlieir taste for pomp and architectural achievements. The gaps, tlicrefore, instead of casting a shadow upon the authority and completeness of the manu- script, may rather be thought to perform the silent office of tin-owing light iiit(^ the obscure past of the Maya history. As to the methotl, liovvever, wliich we em[)loyed in comput- 93 ing the omitted periods of Ahaues, we have only to say that it grew out from the nature of the Maya enumeration itself. The two ends of the interrupted series being given, the number of the intervening Ahaues could be easily supplied. What now remains is, to discover for tlie restored and com- pleted series of Ahaues the corresponding chronological expressions in our era. We find the total Ahau periods mentioned in the annals were 50. We have thought it nec- essary to complete twenty more periods, so that we have seventy periods (20X70), or 1400 years. As soon therefore as we know in which year of our era the last or 13th Ahau mentioned in the manuscript fell, we can, by reckoning backward, find the years date of the first Ahau mentioned, to wit : the 8th Ahau, and also deter- mine the dates and events of each of all the other intervenin^ Ahaues. The manuscript fortunately affords us the neces- sary material for determining with incontestable certainty the years date of the last 13th Ahau. It is the following : we read in the 12th section that Chief Ajpula died in a year when there were still six years wanting before the expira- tion of the 13th Ahau, and that the year of his decease was 1536 A. D. According to this statement the 13th Ahau ended with the year 1542. Bishop Landa (see §41 of his Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan) confirms the correctness of the above calculation, though he says that the 13th Ahau expired with the year 1541. Landa undoubtedly selects this date of June 10th, 1541, as tliat of the last decisive victory at T'ho over the Indians, while the author of the manuscript may have had in mind the date when Merida was officially incor- porated as the capital, and a dependency of the Spanish crown, which was January 6, 1542.* If we subtract the total number of Ahaues already obtained, and amounting to 1400 years, from the year 1542, we obtain for the first epoch * Eligio Ancona, Histoiia de Yucatan, Merida, 1879, Vol. I., page 333. 13 94 named in tlie manuscript which is the 8th Ahan, or tlie starting of the conqerors from Tulapan, the years 142 — 162 of our modern Christian era. Of all the dates calculated from the manuscript only that of 1542 is well established from a historical point of view, as that when Merida was declared the future ca})ital of the conquered country. It is represented by the last year of the 13th Ahan, A second date and event, that of the final destruction of Mayapan, is mentioned by CogoUudo, who places it about the year 1420 A. D., which would give (see table, page 96) a 12th or a 10th Ahau period. But the manuscript in §11 gives Vaxac Ahaii, or ihe^ih. Ahau, which according to our computation represents the years between 1442 and 1462. Landa agrees with this statement (Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, §IX., page 52). ''^ It is now 120 year's since Mayapan lüas destroyed.'''' Landa wrote in the year 1566, therefore, in his conception Maj^apan was destroyed in 1446, which j^ear falls correctly in the 8th Ahau. Landa's account agrees also with another event mentioned in the manuscript, the wanderings of the Itzaes 40 years in the wilderness before they settled down at Uxmal and Maya- pan, in the 6th and 4th Ahau, which is in our calculation from 942 — 982 A. D. Landa, however, does not fix the year (Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan, §YIIL, page 46). In §YIII., page 49, he likewise speaks of a king of the tribes of Cocomes, hostile to the Itzaes, who kept a Mexi- can garrison in Mayapan. This is an allusion to the seven Mayapanes mentioned in the manuscript (in §8), all of whom liave Mexican (Nahuatl) names. There also the year is not given. Llowever, his confirmation of so early events in Maya history appears to be of high value. It is fortunate that the manuscript just in the middle of its narration exhibits a long succession of Ahau periods without any ga[)S at all. We can count through sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, thirty-one AJuiu, periods or 620 years ol uninterru[)t(Ml liistory. They represent, according to uur 95 calculation, the cpoclis from tho years 682 — 1302 A. D., or from the takiii<^ of Champotoii to tlic first destruction of Mayapan by the assistance of tlie foreign Uitzes. This com- pact period of time touches a very remote c[»och in the his- tory of the civilized nations of Central America. It reaches backwards to an epoch when in Europe, Pepin D'Heristal and his family laid the foundation to their future ascendancy on the throne of France. If we look still further backward in our table, we notice another long period of time (sections 3 and 4) which represents the sum of eight uninterrupted Ahaues, equal to 160 years. The connection of these two great periods was re-established by the interpolation of the three Ahaues, 8, 10 and 12 in section 5, a correction for which there should be not the least question. Groping our way, we should reach the epochs when Bacalar was founded, with a date as early as between 462 and 482 A. D. At this point we are no longer able to follow the conquerors on their route. The location of Bacalar is well known to us, but that of Chacnouitan and Tulapan has escaped our inves- tigation. Notwithstanding, by the aid of the quoted Ahaues we are able to fix the time for the lone rest and residence in Chacnouitan, and for their remote starting from Tulapan. It comprises the epochs backwards from the year 462 to that of 162, and since the text reports that eighty years were spent in the migration, we are entitled to fix the time for the arrival in the peninsula with the year 242 A. D. It is of significance for our purpose, that this settling on the peninsula can be computed with the year 242 A. D. It repre- sents, as will be seen, the 13th Ahau,a date always assumed by the Maya chronologists as one with which they designate the commencement of a new cycle. 96 ri c O ert e« ü -t-> <ü CO <-. X) rl ^ a O o to t-. ^ .S ö o Li O ^ o o 68 IN W N IM N N W IM W CM IM N M (M — ' (M (M o e-1 00 -* 00 (M 00 00 00 -*' o o> V> 1« lO C£ 00 C5 O r- (M v» CO CO -rf »« H „ „ N N rH g II (m" eq" c^T^ ,»^ - 1 3 . „ l II S o o p(N CO CC IM Sil 00 1^ IM cf -<*< to 00 0) 00 C-1 «0 eo ä CS erors fi 62, 182, 2, 282, So o III ^ o «O 00 II c^f 00 • tt-l 1 c5 ir> a -> -.*. ^ ■»*< o O ^►.o ü Vh •a ■«*< CS "0 Passed in Their sta CO « Q n a lO 00 Kl <^ a CS a, cS '5 '^ es a .S 'c c ^ ü >> a c « V 'bi W^ ^ ja ja H pq . CO • V_/ n * /^ ^ _ - -< 6, 4, 2. . 3), (11), (9), (7 eo" 00 ^ o ■"■ ^-^ IM ' — ^ -^ - CO • CO * i« «5 t- 00 ,—1 C<1 a o t^i c^ t^ t^l t 6 T3 CO» "C un !^ tot 97 It will be noticed that the result obtained by onr compu- tation is almost identical with that of Senor Perez. In his conception the manuscript comprises tlie epoch from 144 — 1536 A. D. ; in ours, that from 142 — 1542. A coincidence like this may be thought to justify the conclusion that al- though we differed in our methods of interpretation and reckoning, the agreement of the results appears so much the more satisfactory. We should be pleased to view the subject in so favorable a light, but fear wc cannot. For, whilst, on the one hand, we are far from claiming any infal- libility for our modus procedendi^ on the other hand, we cannot help protesting against Senor Perez's methods of obtaining his results. Besides giving to the Ahau the not admissible duration of 24 years, he further makes an evident mistake in the summing up of the Ahaues quoted in the manuscript, by counting 58 of them instead of 50. He does not seem aware that the Maya author mentions various of these Ahaues twice, and even thrice, a fact which we took care to point out in the course of our discussion. It is only by increasing the length of the Ahau to 24 years, and also by counting 8 A-haues more than there actually were, that Senor Perez is able to arrive at the date of 144 A. D. for the exodus from Tulapan. If we should indeed in- cline to make allowance for his choice of the 24-year period, because as it seems to us he was misled by his authorities, he notwithstanding must be held accountable for the mistake made in counting in those eight ill-starred Ahaues. His computation therefore being defective in itself, the favorable impression gained from the fact that two interpreters arrived at an almost identical result, will disappear. Such an agree- ment would have been very valuable if either of the two interpreters could show that his method stands the test of in- controvertible proof. Therefore, it is only by chance that Sefior Perez's mistakes in reckoning make up very nearly the same number of years that we have obtained ; first, by means of the interpolation of 20 more Ahaues ; and second, by allowing only 20 years for each Ahau period. 98 In conclusion it may be proper to make some statements as to the position which this manuscript holds in aboriginal literature, and also as to its value and use as a chronological document. In the first place we are fuUj convinced of its genuineness. We have not been able to examine the document itself as to the material upon which it was written, nor as to the characters of the text, nor as to external ap- pearance, and we are not informed into whose hands it fell after it left those of its author before it came into the pos- session of Sefior Perez. But we believe that Seiior Perez had good reasons for regarding it as a document prepared in the last half of the 16th century, at a time near to that when Yucatan was conquered by the Spaniards. The lan- guage and construction belong to that epoch, as we are told. But even if it should not be an original, but a second or third copy, this would not be enough to shake our faith in the authenticity and importance of its contents. For set- ting aside the fact that its matter has a specific national character, and presupposes a knowledge on the part of its author which only a native could have obtained, the style of its composition indicates its national bearing. Let us fancy ourselves in the position of the Maya writer while at work. Before him, on the table, stands the wheel for counting the Ahaues, and as he bends over the sheets containing the painted annals, his eye turns alternately from the paper to the wheel, making a careful comparison. Then he pauses and considers in his mind what expressions he must use, and afterwards begins to write. From time to time he cannot forbear, however, casting an occasional glance at the letters of the Spanish alphabet, in order to shape them correctly, for he is still a beginner in this new art. Now, perhaps he wavers for a moment, and then begins anew. The recollection of some ancient Maya song steals in upon his mind, and by the aid of a few significant sentences he incorporates the substance with his text. To interpolations of this kind we may attribute such phrases as " the disre- 99 spectful utterances of Chacxibclmc against Hunac-eel." Of the ancient Maya ballads, it is to be regretted, none are known to exist. Yet there is no reason for relinquishing the hope altogether, that some day, at least, a copy of the painted annals, which our Maya writer evidently consulted, may be discovered, while we can willingly dispense with the ballads. As long as such hopes fail of realization, we must be satis- fied with the slight, but yet important, contribution offered us in the manuscript. We may complain of its brevity, yet notwithstanding it is tlie most complete document we possess of ancient American history. It is all the more important for the reason that it relates to Yucatan, which in our opin- ion, is the very cradle of early American civilization. It is also pleasant to observe that the manuscript is not at vari- ance with what we have learned from the fragmentary records made by Landa, Lizanaand CogoUudo. Notwithstand- ing its imperfections, it interprets and explains much that had hitherto appeared uncertain and deficient. It is of un- doubted authenticity, and forms a firm foundation for the reconstruction of the histor}^ of the past, which till now has remained enigmatical, and which is faintly expressed by the crumbling ruins of the peninsula. The manuscript, finally, affords a guarantee that the long past not only reached back to the remotest epoch of our era, but that more than all, it stands in a near, perhaps in the most intimate, connection with the history of the Na- huatl race. In reference to the homogeneous structure of the Maya and Nahuatl calendars we have already expressed our belief that these two nations were closely related to each other. In the traditions of both occurs the name of Tula or Tulapan, as a fatherland common to each of them.* This supposition *With reference to the Mayas, consult the Quiche traditions in Bras- seur de Bourbourg's Popol Vuh, pages 215, 217 and 23(5, and Brasseurde Bourbourg's Memorial of Tecpan Atitlan, page 170, note 3. For the Nahuatl race, Brassenr de Bourbourg's Histoire des Nations civilis^es du Mexique, Vol. I., Appendix, page 428, in extracts made from the Codex Chimalpopoca. 100 appears to ns still further justified by the circumstance that the chronological annals of both nations revert to the sanne period of time as a starting point. As regards the Nahuatls, we refer to the circle of signs engraved on the Calendar Stone which gave us the information that the annalists of Anahuac in the year 1479, counted back twelve hundred and forty-eight years to the celebration of their first festival in honor of the sun ; that is, they carried back their political or religious record to the year 231 A. D, The Maya manu- script corresponds to this date, as we think, since the year 24:2 A. D. resulted from our calculation. It was the year in which the ancient conquerors, after wandering 80 years, The Maya Ahaues of the MSS., brought into correspondence WITH the YE-UtS OF THE CHRISTIAN ErA : — CS o > O a- s- [^ T P >-i cn c in P ti a ^ W 1402 g- 1422 c 1442 >?5 1462 g. , 1482 g I 1502 • 1522 I 1542 J 101 arrived on the Island of Chacnonitan where they made a permanent settlement. This event happened in the 13th Ahaii (see table), which, as we know, is the starting point of Maja chronology, and likewise the first date of that name which the mannscri])t mentions. The difference of 11 years which appears in the Nahnatl computation cannot be re- garded as of mnch importance. If, however, it should seem desirable to examine chrono- logical parallels we sliall refer our readers to a second chap- ter on Central American chronology whjch is hereafter to appear, in which we propose to undertake the task of illns- trating and explaining still further the parallelism of Maya and Nahnatl dates. It will then be proved that in this written and still existing Nahnatl clironology, supported by the date 231 A. D., found on the Calendar Stone, a still earlier date designated as JTC'ttZZ/can be found, which repre- sents the year 137 A. D. In this year, according to the annals, a great eclipse of the sun took place, with the re- markable statement that it occurred exactly at the end of a year at 12 o'clock noon. In our manuscript we find the first date preceding the settlement of Chacnouitan designated with the 8th A hau, the date of the setting out from Tula- pan, which we have already stated to be the years 142 — 162 A. D. Another agreement is that the Nahuatl records show that 166 years before the occurrence of tlie above mentioned eclipse of the sun in the year 1 Tecpatl, a congress of astrolo- gers to amend tlie calendar of the nation took place at a town called Huehuetlapallan, and by reckoning back we find that this year corresponds with the year 29 B. C. If we then follow a hint which Seflor Perez has very ingeniously fur- nished that the manuscript strangely begins with an 8th Ahau instead of a 13th Ahau, and that the Maya chronology could be dated back to such a 13th Ahau as a proper begin- uing connected with some interesting event, we find by reckoning back from the 8th to the 13th Ahau the corres- ponding date to be the years 18 — 38 B. C. 14 102 Now, the results gained in this line of investigution, can be forniuhited as follows : — 1. That the conquerors and settlers of tlie Yucatan penin- sula, as well as those of tlie Anahuac lakes, were joint par- ticipants in a correction of their national calendar about the year 29 B. C. 2. That about the year 137 A. D., when a total eclipse of the sun took place, tlie ancestors of both nations set out from their common fatherland, Tula or Tulapan. 3. That about the year 231 A. D., both nations made tlieir appearance on the coast of Central America, and suc- ceeded in conquering a large portion of the peninsula. It is true that we liave only documentary evidence to sub- stantiate the theory just referred to. But, if we do not pos- sess the desirable evidence of monumental inscriptions, it behooves us to examine and to weigh carefully that which still remains. In this connection we should also remember that the sculptor, in carving his records, was not guided by liis memory alone, but that he copied the symbols from the sacred books of his race ; and that on the other hand, our learned Maj'a writer, when translating these latter into written phonetic language, drew his text, as did the sculptor from similar sources. If tlierefore with the help of written records we can build up liypotheses partially satisfactory, and not altogether im- probable, we have accomplished all that could be expected for the present, at least, and have perhaps excited an inter- est in a branch of history which has hitherto been held as dead and unproductive. In conclusion, we would express the hope that Urn Maya manuscript may be submitted to a rigid critical and linguistic examination, and that the publication of the work may be appended to a heliotype copy of the original in order to ex- hibit to students a document of so great importance, and to ensure its preservation. -c/ to UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. «EC'D L0-' DEC ^. \M. 1977 mpd i^^mii NOV 1 f ML /yiHWJCDtFffi ^M ? {) JSfs?4 JiL2lt9fr IQp'5 JUN 1 7 19B •öVft ^ Form L9-Series 4939 \ "^f^^ Sf ^10' ^1 ^JiU'JftYiOV ^^OFCALIF0% ^ 'VAavayll-1^ c-7 ^ ^ lawij 3V< y< .W ^öAövijan#' ^ so \> so % »• so ^^•lIBRARYö^, ^UlBRARYö/C;^ ^ o %a3AINIl-3WV' v^lOSANCElfj> -^^^•lIBRARYOr 3 1158 00135 8414 ^t-llBRARYöA UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY '^Aa]AIN(l-3WV^ '^«I/OJIIVOJO^ "^({/OdllV. .V. 001 091 587 4 ^vWSANCflfj> ■^Aa3AlNn-3WV' ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^;OFCALIF0% "^öAüvuani^ '^öAHvyain^ .^WEUNIVERi//, o o .>^ILIBRARYQ^ s^OFCAllFO^ 9? v>clOSANCElfj> ■^/^Ü^AINnjUV \VlOSANCElfj> ^/5il3AINn-3UV ^^ILIBRARYd?/-' %0JI]V3J0^ i^OFCAEIFO/?,^ /n.i uwiifiri n\SS- >- W^EUNIVERy//- :f ^IMCElfx^ ^ ^ ^ ^N^^lIBRARYö^ ^lUB 6> vr. 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