TULA.
Journey to Tula—The Toltecs—Ancient
Historians—Origins—Peregrinations—Foundation of Tula—Toltec
Religion—Chief Divinities—Art—Industry—Measurement of Time—The
Word _Calli_—Architecture.
The journey to Tula, capital of the Toltecs, our next destination, is
performed partly by railway and partly by diligence over a distance of
some sixteen leagues north of Mexico. The valley in this month (August)
is at its best; immense plantations of Indian corn give it the aspect
of a green sea, whilst a grand range of mountains and lofty summits
bound it at the horizon. We go through the Tejan district, stopping a
few minutes at Tacuba, where the old cypress of the “Melancholy night”
is again pointed out to us. Our next station is Atzacapotzalco, once
an independent state; then Tlanepantla. The country, as far as the
eye can reach, presents nothing but the same plantations, the same
hamlets, the same poor squalid huts, whilst here and there a few
Indians in tatters, and swarms of naked children, gaze at us stupidly
as we speed along. Now we come to a fortress-like church, formerly
used as a stronghold by the Pronunciados; we notice for the first time
some stunted poplars, some rare willow-trees, and by-and-by hedges
of prickly pear, and now that we are in the diligence, the country
somewhat changes; instead of long stretches of green maize, we have
immense plantations of aloe, which to my mind, whether viewed from
afar or near, are never a picturesque feature in the landscape. It is
a wonder how we advance at all, for the wheels of our carriage almost
disappear in the ruts of the worst road I ever travelled upon; I am
confident that nothing has been done to it since the day it was opened.
We cross a muddy river, when, with cracking of whip and galloping
horses, we enter a village shaded by great ash-trees, and draw up
before a respectable-looking inn, where we take up our quarters, for we
are in Tula, once the brilliant capital of the Toltecs, but now reduced
to a small straggling town numbering some 1,500 souls.
The Toltecs, as was stated before, were one of the Nahuan tribes,
which from the seventh to the fourteenth century spread over Mexico
and Central America. Their existence has been denied by various modern
historians, although all American writers agree that the numerous bands
which followed them in the country received their civilisation from
them. It must be admitted, however, that our knowledge rests chiefly
on traditionary legends full of anachronisms, transmitted to us by the
nations that came after them; but it will be our care to fill up the
enormous discrepancies to be met with at almost every page, by the
monuments it has been our good fortune to bring to light. Two writers,
Ixtlilxochitl and Mariano Veytia, have written about this people: the
first in his “Historia Chichemeca” and “Relaciones,” the second in
his “Historia Antigua de Mejico;” the latter being more explicit, it
is from him that we will chiefly borrow, without neglecting, however,
other chroniclers. Both made use of the same documents, drew from the
same sources, the traditionary legends of their country; and Veytia,
besides his own, had access to Botturini’s valuable collection of
Mexican manuscripts, so that he was well acquainted with American
antiquities. Ixtlilxochitl, on the other hand, as might be expected,
in writing the history of his ancestors, whose language he understood
and whose hieroglyphs he could decipher, is inspired by patriotic zeal;
and it will be found that these historians have just claims to our
admiration for the compass of their inquiries, and the sagacity with
which they conducted them.
[Illustration: EXTRACTING PULQUE.]
A third writer, Ramirez, by far the most illustrious of those who have
treated the same subject, speaking of the two historians who preceded
him, says: “I am not claiming infallibility for our historians, yet
it must surely be conceded that, if no credence is given to our own,
the same measure must be meted out to all the traditions of other
countries, for neither Diodorus, Josephus, Livy, Tacitus, nor other
historians, are able to bring the array of documents with which our
history abounds in support of their assertions. I have purposely
omitted Herodotus, the most curious and instructive among ancient
historians, because modern discoveries and modern criticism have
cleared him from the unjust attacks of Plutarch. A history is true and
highly instructive, although it may contain absurd propositions, if it
faithfully transmits the traditions, the belief, and the customs of a
people; as it may be absolutely false, although relating facts which
seem natural and probable, but are only the invention of the author.
Mexican history and biography, like those of other nations, are founded
on tradition and historical documents; than which none are better
authenticated or more trustworthy.”
We think Ramirez proves his case, and, in writing these chapters, we
will not be more critical than he is.[24]
Veytia,[25] like all historians of that time, places the primitive
home of the Toltecs in Asia, to make his account agree with Genesis,
where it is said that after the destruction of the Babylonian Tower,
“The Lord scattered the sons of men upon the face of all the earth.”
According to him, they crossed Tartary and entered America through
the Behring Straits, by means of large flat canoes, and square rafts
made of wood and reeds; the former are described, and called _acalli_,
“water houses,” in their manuscripts. Directing their course southward,
they built their first capital, _Tlapallan_, “coloured,” subsequently
_Huehue-Tlapallan_, to distinguish it from a later _Tlapallan_.
Huehue-Tlapallan was the cradle whence originated the various tribes
which peopled America. Each tribe was called after the father or chief
of the family, who was also its ruler; hence came the _Olmecs_, from
Olmecatl; the _Xicalancas_, from Xicalantl, etc.; it is uncertain
whether the _Chichemecs_ derived their appellation from Cichen, the
man, or Chichen, the town in Yucatan.[26]
The Toltecs, by the common consent of historians, were the most
cultured of all the Nahua tribes, and better acquainted with the mode
of perpetuating the traditions of their origin and antiquities. To them
is due the invention of hieroglyphs and characters, which, arranged
after a certain method, reproduced their history on skins of animals,
on aloe and palm-leaves, or by knots of different colours, which they
called _nepohualtzitzin_, “historical events,” and also by simple
allegorical songs. This manner of writing history by maps, songs, and
knots, was handed down from father to son, and thus has come to us.[27]
Tlacatzin was the next city they built; and here, after thirteen
years of warfare, they separated from the main body of the nation
and migrated some seventy miles to the south, where in 604 they
founded Tlapallanco, “small Tlapallan,” in remembrance of their first
capital. But the arrival of fresh immigrants caused them to remove
further south, and, under the command of their wise man, _Hueman_,[28]
“the Strong Hand,” who is endowed with _power_, _wisdom_, and
_intelligence_, the Toltecs set out in 607, and marked their progress
by building Jalisco, where they remained eight years; then Atenco,
where they were five years; and twenty years at Iztachuexuca. In after
times other Nahuan tribes followed them by different routes, as the
ruins in New Mexico and the Mexican Valley everywhere attest.
Las Casas Grandes, the settlements in the Sierra Madre, the ruins
of Zape, of Quemada, recalling the monuments at Mitla, others in
Queretaro, together with certain features in the building of temples
and altars, which remind one of the Mexican manuscripts from which the
Toltec, Aztec, and Yucatec temple was built, make it clear that the
civilising races came from the north-west; and Guillemin Tarayre,[29]
like ourselves, sees in the _calli_ the embryo of the _teocalli_, which
developed into the vast proportions of the pyramidal mounds found at
Teotihuacan, Cholula, in Huasteca, Misteca, Tabasco, and Yucatan.
The next city built by the Toltecs was Tollatzinco, where they
remained sixteen years; and finally settled at Tollan or Tula, which
became their capital. The date of its foundation is variously given;
Ixtlilxochitl sets it down at 556, Clavigero 667, and Veytia assigns
713 A.D. as the probable date. In our estimation, this divergence of
opinion confirms rather than invalidates the existence of this people.
When the Aztecs reached Anahuac, Atzacapotzalco, Colhuacan, and
Texcuco were small flourishing states. They had inherited from the
Toltecs many useful arts, their code of morals, philosophy and
religion, which in their turn they taught the Aztecs, so that the
institutions and customs of these different tribes were common to all;
and in default of documents which have been lost, we ascribe nearly all
the historians of the Conquest relate of the Aztecs, whom they found
the dominant race, as applicable to the Toltecs, the fountain of all
progress both on the plateaux and in Central America, where we shall
follow them. As for the Aztecs, who settled for the first time on the
Mexican lake at the beginning of the fourteenth century, they were at
that period nothing but a rude, barbarous tribe, and to the last day of
their political existence they remained a military caste.
Among the ruins to be found at Tula are those of an unfinished temple
called _Quetzali_, consisting of pillars in the shape of serpents, the
heads of which form the basement and the tails the capital.
Some writers, amongst whom is Botturini, think the Toltecs were
preceded by the Olmecs and Xicalancas on the territories of Tlaxcala,
Huexcotzinco, and Puebla, when, after years of inter-tribal conflict,
they settled in the Yucatan peninsula. But we have found in several
Indian writers, that at the coronation of _Chalchiuhtlanetzin_, “bright
stone,” King of the Toltecs, the Olmecs and Xicalancas came to swear
allegiance and submit to his authority; and there is nothing to make
one suppose that they were compelled to leave the country, for they
seem to have amalgamated so well with the new-comers that their very
name was merged in theirs, although they retain the memory of their
origin even to this day. “_There can be no doubt_,” says Veytia,
“_that some of these people_ (Toltecs) _established themselves in
Yucatan_”[30]—a remarkable passage, which we find confirmed at every
step. According to the same authority, they built Tula in six years,
when, to avoid the personal jealousy of the Caciques, they petitioned
for the second son of King Huehue-Tlapallan, whom they proclaimed their
ruler under the name of _Chalchiuhtlanetzin_.
[Illustration: TOLTEC POTTERY.]
All the Toltecs did was excellent, graceful, and delicate; exquisite
remains of their buildings covered with ornamentation, together with
pottery, toys, jewels, and many other objects are found throughout New
Spain, for, says Sahagun,[31] “they had spread everywhere.” Both Veytia
and Ixtlilxochitl[32] ascribe a common origin to the Nahua, Toltec,
Acolhuan, and Mexican tribes. “The Toltecs were good architects and
skilled in mechanic arts; they built great cities like Tula, the ruins
of which are still visible; whilst at Totonac they erected palaces of
cut stone, ornamented with designs and human figures, recalling their
chequered history.” “At Cuernavaca” (probably Xochicalco), he adds,
“were palaces entirely built of cut stone, without mortar, beams,
girders, or wood of any kind.” Torquemada speaks of the Toltecs in
the same terms, observing that “they were supposed to have come from
the west, and to have brought with them maize, cotton, seeds, and the
vegetables to be found in this country; that they were cunning artists
in working gold, precious stones, and other curiosities.”[33] On the
other hand, Clavigero thinks “they were the first nation mentioned
in American traditions, and justly celebrated among the Nahuas, for
their culture and mechanic skill; and that the name _Toltec_ came to
be synonymous for architect and artificer.”[34] Quotations might be
multiplied _ad infinitum_, but the foregoing will suffice to prove the
existence of this people and their peculiar genius.
[Illustration: TLALOC, FROM A PIECE OF POTTERY.]
Their law of succession was somewhat curious: each king was to rule
one of their centuries of fifty-two years; if he lived beyond it he
was required to give up the crown to his son, and, in case of death,
a joint regency took the reins of government for the remaining years.
Their sacred book, _teomoxtli_, contained both their annals and their
moral code. It is conjectured, with what evidence is uncertain, that
they worshipped an “unknown god,” perhaps the origin of the “unknown
god” to whom the King of Texcuco raised an altar. Their principal
deities, however, were _Tonacatecuhtli_, the “Sun” and the “Moon,”
to whom temples were first erected; to these they added _Tlaloc_,
god of rain, and _Quetzalcoatl_, god of air and wisdom.[35] Tlaloc,
according to Torquemada, was the oldest deity known, for when the
Acolhuans, who followed the Chichemecs, arrived in the country, he
was found on the highest summit of the Texcucan mountain.[36] His
paradise, called _Tlalocan_, was a place of delight, an Eden full of
flowers and verdure; whilst the surrounding hills were called “Tlaloc
mounts.”[37] He was emphatically the god of many places, of many
names, and numerous personifications; as Popocatepetl he presided over
the formation of clouds and rain, he was the “world-fertiliser,” the
“source of favourable weather,” sometimes represented dark in colour,
his face running with water to signify a rich yielding soil; he carried
a thunderbolt in his right hand, a sign of thunder and lightning;
whilst his left held a tuft of variegated feathers, emblem of the
different hues of our globe; his tunic was blue hemmed with gold, like
the heavens after rain. His wife, _Chalchiuhtlicue_, goddess of waters,
was represented wearing a blue petticoat, the colour of the mountain
Iztaccihuatl when seen at a distance, which was sacred to her.
Most historians mention Quetzalcoatl, at first a generic name, whom
posterity endowed with every virtue and deified.[38] His great temple
was at Tula, but he was also worshipped in Yucatan under the name of
_Cukulcan_,[39] having the same meaning with Quetzalcoatl. He had
travelled thither with a branch of the Toltecs, which, advancing
from west to east, had taken Tabasco on their way, and occupied the
peninsula earlier than a second branch, which entered the country by
a southern route, under the command of their chief _Tutulxiu_, and
became the rival and enemy of the first, whose reigning family were
the _Cocomes_, “auditors.” The worship of Quetzalcoatl extended on
the plateaux and in the peninsula, where the chiefs claimed to be
descended from him. The symbol by which he is best known is “feathered
serpent;” but he was severally called _Huemac_,[40] the “Strong Hand,”
the “white-bearded man,” his mantle studded with crosses, or dressed
in a tiger’s skin; “god of air,” when he was the companion of Tlaloc,
whose path he swept, causing a strong wind to prevail before the rainy
season; and also a youthful, beardless man, etc. The various attributes
of Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc developed according to the people, the
country, and epoch. Such transformations have been observed among all
nations: in India the great Agni was at first but the spark produced by
rubbing two pieces of wood together, which became cloud, dawn, the sun,
the flash, Indra, etc. With the Greeks, Apollo was the god of light,
poetry, music, medicine, etc. The Christian religion presents the same
phenomenon; for we have the Ancient of Days, the Dove, the Lamb, the
Vine. Thus Tlaloc, god of rain, is sometimes seen on ancient vases, his
eyes circled with paper, his face running with water; or as an embryo
cross, a perfect cross; and again in the form of a man lying on his
back, supporting a vase to collect rain. The latter representation is
found in Mexico, Tlaxcala, and Yucatan. Several writers[41] mention
that crosses were found throughout Mexico, Yucatan, and Tabasco, being
another and later personification of Tlaloc. They have all been lost;
but we reproduce those found by us, presenting various distinct forms.
The _cultus_ of the cross is of great antiquity and almost universal,
for we find it in Greece, in India, on pottery of the Bronze Period
(the suastica); whilst among the Slaves it was, as in America, the god
of storm and rain.
[Illustration: TOLTEC CROSSES.
No. 1, Serpent’s Cross. No. 2, Cross seen on Quetzalcoatl’s Tunic
and on the Palaces at Mitla. No. 3, Mayapan Cross. No. 4, Cross of
Teotihuacan. Nos. 5 and 7, Crosses in the Temples of Palenque. No.
6, Cross met with in the Temples of Lorillard City.]
The same may almost be said of the serpent.[42] It was reverenced in
Egypt, in America, and is found at the beginning of Genesis; whilst
in the north-west of India, the _Nagas_ were serpent worshippers,
whose great ancestor _Naga_ was supposed to have been present at the
Creation as Genius of the Ocean. He was the god of wisdom, the titular
deity of mankind; and we find him at Bœroe-Bœdor, in Java, beautifully
sculptured on a bas-relief, where Buddha is seen crossing the seas
on a lotus-wreath, whilst close to him two immense serpents (Nagas)
are raising their heads towards him in token of reverence. He is also
worshipped in Cambodia, and his image is reproduced on the magnificent
monuments of Angcor-Tom.
[Illustration: QUETZALCOATL, UNDER HIS BEST-KNOWN ATTRIBUTES.]
The festival which was celebrated in honour of Quetzalcoatl during the
_teoxihuitl_, “sacred year,” was preceded by a severe fasting of eighty
days, during which the priests devoted to his service were subjected
to horrible penances. He reigned successively at Izamal, in Yucatan,
Chichen-Itza, and Mayapan, under the name of _Cukulcan_. To this god
were ascribed the rites of confession and penance.
[Illustration: COTTON SPINNING.]
The religion of the Toltecs was mild, like their disposition; no human
blood ever stained their altars, their offerings consisting of fruits,
flowers, and birds; nevertheless, their laws, which were the same for
all classes, were stringent and severe. Polygamy was forbidden, and
kings themselves were not allowed concubines, whilst their priests were
deserving of the respect which was shown them from prince and peasant
alike. They had sculptors, mosaists, painters, and smelters of gold and
silver; and by means of moulds knew how to give metals every variety
of shape; their jewellers and lapidaries could imitate all manner of
animals, plants, flowers, birds, etc. Cotton was spun by the women, and
given a brilliant colouring both from animal and mineral substances;
it was manufactured of every degree of fineness, so that some looked
like muslin, some like cloth, and some like velvet. They had also the
art of interweaving with these the delicate hair of animals and birds’
feathers, which made a cloth of great beauty. Ixtlilxochitl[43] is
afraid to pursue the panegyric of this people, lest it should appear
exaggerated. Their calendar was adopted by all the tribes of Anahuac
and Central America; it divided the year into eighteen months of twenty
days each, adding five intercalary days to make up the full number of
three hundred and sixty-five days; these belonged to no month, and were
regarded as unlucky. Both months and days were expressed by peculiar
signs; and as the year has nearly six hours in excess of three hundred
and sixty-five days, they provided for this by intercalating six days
at the end of four years, which formed leap year. _Tlapilli_, “knots,”
were cycles of thirteen years; four of these cycles was a century,
which they called _xiuhmolpilli_, “binding up of knots,” represented by
a quantity of reeds bound together. Besides the “bundle” of fifty-two
years, the Toltecs had a larger cycle of one hundred and four years,
called “a great age,” but not much used. The whole system rested
on the repetition of the signs denoting the years, enabling one by
means of dots to determine accurately to what cycle or what century
each year belonged. And as these signs stood differently in each
cycle, confusion was impossible; for the century being indicated by a
number showing its place in the cycle, the dots would make it easy to
determine to what age any given year belonged, according to its place
at knot first, second, third, or fourth. Thus for instance, the year
_tecpatl_ “flint,” _calli_ “house,” _tochtli_ “rabbit,” and _acatl_
“reed,” beginning the great cycle, would have one, five, nine, thirteen
dots in the first series; four, eight, twelve, in the second; three,
seven, fourteen, in the third; and two, six, ten, in the fourth series,
which would come first in the new cycle, and the latter having its
appropriate sign would enable one to see at once that “Flint” 12 was
the twelfth year in the second series of the first cycle or century;
that “Flint” 2 was the second year in the fourth series of the first
cycle, etc. Example:
TLAPILLI.
FIRST SERIES. SECOND SERIES.
1. Flint 6. House 10. House 1. House
. ... ..... .
... .....
2. House 7. Rabbit 11. Rabbit 2. Rabbit
.. . . . . . . . . . . ..
. . . . . . . .
3. Rabbit 8. Reed 12. Reed 3. Reed
... .... ...... ...
.... ......
4. Reed 9. Flint 13. Flint 4. Flint, etc.
.. . . . . . . . . . . . . ....
.. . . . . . . . . . .
5. Flint.
.....
It will be seen later that the hieroglyph _calli_ is the outline of the
Toltec palace and temple, the foundation of his architecture, which
never varies, and which we shall find in all monuments, whether we
travel north or south, on the plateaux or in the lowlands; so that
had everything else been destroyed, we might nevertheless pronounce
with safety that all the monuments in North America were of Toltec
origin. The genius of a nation, like that of an individual, has
generally one dominant note, traceable through the various expressions
of her art. India has _topes_ and _pagodas_, Egypt _sphinxes_ and
hypostyle chambers, Greece three orders of columns. North America has
only a plain wall ending with two projecting cornices having an upright
or slanting frieze, more or less ornamented but of no appreciable
difference.
A description of the ceremonies which took place at the end of
every great cycle, will find here a natural place, and enable us to
understand subsequent events.
[Illustration: CALLI, IN PROFILE.]
The Aztecs celebrated their great festival of the new fire at the end
of each century of fifty-two years, called by Sahagun _toxiuilpilli_,
and by others _xiuhmolpilli_. As the end of the century drew near they
were filled with apprehension, for if the fire failed to be rekindled,
a universal dissolution was expected to follow. In their despair
at such a contingency they threw away their idols, destroyed their
furniture and domestic utensils, and suffered all fires to go out. A
lofty mountain near Iztapalapan, some two leagues from Mexico, was
the place chosen for kindling the new fire, which was effected by the
friction of two sticks placed on the breast of the victim. The fire was
soon communicated to a funeral pile, on which the body of the victim
was placed and consumed. This ceremony always took place at midnight,
and as the light mounted up towards heaven shouts of joy burst forth
from the multitudes who covered the hills, the house-tops, and terraces
of the temples, their eyes directed towards the mountain of sacrifice.
Couriers, with torches lighted at the blazing fire, rapidly bore them
to the inhabitants of the surrounding districts, whilst every part of
the city was lighted with bonfires. The following days were given up to
festivity, the houses were cleansed and whitewashed, the broken vessels
were replaced by new ones, and the people dressed in their gayest
apparel. If we except human sacrifice, this must have been a Toltec
ceremony.[44]
[Illustration: CAPITAL, FOUND AT TULA.]
[Illustration: THE PYRAMID OF THE SUN, TULA.]