ANTIQUITIES OF THE ISTHMUS, COSTA RICA, MOSQUITO COAST, AND NICARAGUA.
THE ISTHMUS -- ROMAN COIN AND GALLEY -- HUACAS OF CHIRIQUÍ
-- INCISED STONE-CARVINGS -- SCULPTURED COLUMNS -- HUMAN
REMAINS -- GOLDEN ORNAMENTS -- WEAPONS -- IMPLEMENTS --
POTTERY -- MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS -- COSTA RICA -- STONE
HAMMERS -- ANCIENT PLANTATIONS -- IMAGES OF GOLD -- TERRA
COTTAS -- AXE OF QUARTZ -- WONDERFUL HILL -- PAVED ROAD --
STONE FROG -- MOSQUITO COAST -- GRANITE VASES --
REMARKABLE REPORTS -- ANIMAL GROUP -- ROCK-PAINTINGS --
GOLDEN FIGURE -- HOME OF THE SUKIA -- NICARAGUA --
AUTHORITIES -- MOUNDS -- SEPULCHRES -- EXCAVATIONS --
WEAPONS -- IMPLEMENTS -- ORNAMENTS -- STATUES -- IDOLS --
POTTERY -- METALS.
The ancient Muiscas of Colombia, or New Granada, have left interesting
relics of their antiquity, which, with some points of resemblance,
present marked contrasts to the monuments of Peruvian civilization
farther south, and of Maya, Quiché, and Aztec civilizations in North
America.[II-1] In that part of Colombia, however, which is included
within the limits of the Pacific States, extending from the gulf of
Darien westward to Costa Rica, no such relics have yet come to light,
except in the western provinces of Chiriquí and Veragua,
notwithstanding the extensive explorations that have been made in
various parts of the Isthmus in the interests of interoceanic
communication.[II-2]
[Sidenote: CHIRIQUÍ ROCK-SCULPTURES.]
The province of Chiriquí lies on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, and
it is in its central region about the town of David, that monuments of
a past age have been unearthed.[II-3] These monuments are of three
classes; the first consisting of rude figures cut on the surface of
large boulders. The best known of this class, and in fact the only one
definitely described, is the Piedra Pintal at Caldera, a few leagues
from David, which is fifteen feet high, about sixteen in diameter, and
somewhat flattened at the top. Top and sides are covered with curves,
ovals, and concentric rings; while on the eastern side there are also
fantastic figures, with others supposed to represent the sun, a series
of varying heads, and scorpions. The figures are cut to a depth of
about one inch, but on the parts most exposed to the weather are
nearly effaced.
[Illustration: Incised Figures on the Rocks of Chiriquí.]
Another lava boulder similarly incised found in the parish of San
Miguel is pronounced by Mr Squier, from the examination of a drawing,
to resemble stones seen by him in other parts of Central America. I
copy Seemann's cuts of several of the characters.[II-4] The second
class includes a few stone columns, some of them ten or twelve feet
high, found at David and in Veragua as well. These seem never to have
been seen in situ, but scattered and sometimes used for building
purposes by the present inhabitants. Their peculiarity is that the
characters engraved on their surface are entirely different from those
of the Piedra Pintal, being smaller and cut in low relief. Drawings of
these possibly hieroglyphic signs, by which to compare them with those
of Copan, Palenque, and Yucatan, are not extant. The third class
comprises the _huacas_, or tombs, a large number of which have been
opened, and a variety of deposited articles brought to light. The
tombs themselves are of two kinds. Those of the first kind are mere
pebble-heaps, or mounds, three or four feet high, and the only
articles taken from them are three-legged stones for grinding corn,
known in all Spanish America as _metates_. The other graves have rude
boxes or coffins of flat stones, with, in a few instances, rude stone
posts several feet in height. Graves of this class are found to
contain golden ornaments, with trinkets and implements of stone and
burned clay. In most of them no traces of human remains are met; and
when human bones do occur, they usually crumble to dust on exposure to
the air, one skull, however, described as broad in the middle and flat
behind, having been secured, and a plaster cast exhibited to the
American Ethnological Society.[II-5]
[Sidenote: POTTERY OF CHIRIQUÍ.]
The golden ornaments taken from the huacas of Chiriquí amount to many
thousands of dollars in value. They are of small size, never exceeding
a few inches in either dimension, are all cast and never soldered, and
take the shape of men, animals, or birds. One represents a man holding
a bird in each hand, with another on his forehead. The gold is
described by Dr Davis as being from ten to twenty carats fine, with
some copper alloy; but by another party the alloy is pronounced
silver.[II-6] Of stone are found ornaments, such as round agates
pierced in the middle; weapons, including axes, chisel-heads, and
arrow-heads, the latter of peculiar make, being pyramidal in form,
with four cutting edges converging to a point, and in some instances
apparently intended to fit loosely into a socket on the shaft; images,
perhaps idols, in the shape of animals or men, but these are of
comparatively rare occurrence;[II-7] and various articles of unknown
use. One of the latter dug up at Bugabita is described as a
"horizontal tablet, supported on ornamented legs, and terminating in
the head of a monster--all neatly carved from a single stone," being
twenty inches long, eight inches high, and weighing twenty-five
pounds. Another was conjectured to have served for grinding
paints.[II-8] Articles of burned clay are more numerous in the huacas
than those of other material. Small vases, jars, and tripods, some of
the latter having their three legs hollow and containing small earthen
balls which rattle when the vessels are moved, with musical
instruments, compose this class of relics. The earthen ware has no
indication of the use of the potter's wheel; is found both glazed and
unglazed; is painted in various colors, which, however, are not burned
in, but are easily rubbed off when moist; and many of the articles are
wholly uninjured by time. The specimens, or some part of each, are
almost invariably molded to imitate some natural object, and the
fashioning is often graceful and true to nature. Perhaps the most
remarkable of these earthen specimens, and indeed of all the Chiriquí
antiquities, are the musical wind-instruments, or whistles. These are
of small dimensions, rarely exceeding four inches in length or
diameter, with generally two but sometimes three or four finger-holes,
producing from two to six notes of the octave. No two are exactly
alike in form, but most take the shape of an animal or man, the
mouth-hole being in the tail of the tiger and bird, in the foot of the
peccary, in the elbow of the human figure. Some have several
air-cavities with corresponding holes to produce the different notes,
but in most, the holes lead to one cavity. One had a loose ball in its
interior, whose motion varied the sounds. Several are blown like
fifes, and nearly all have a hole apparently intended for suspending
the instrument by a string.[II-9] Other antiquities are reported to
exist at various points of the Isthmus, which white men have never
seen; instance a rocking stone in the mountains of Veragua.[II-10]
I close my somewhat scanty information concerning the antiquities of
Chiriquí with the general remarks which their examination has elicited
from different writers. Whiting and Shuman speak of the sculptured
columns of Muerto Island as being similar to those in Yucatan
described by Stephens;[II-11] but it is hardly probable that this
opinion rests on an actual comparison of the hieroglyphics. Dr Merritt
deems the axe or chisel heads almost identical in form as well as
material with specimens dug up in Suffolk County, England; some of the
same implements resemble those seen by Mr Squier in actual use among
the natives of other parts of Central America; while the arrow-heads
and musical instruments are pronounced different in some respects from
any others known, either ancient or modern. The incised characters
represented in the cut on page 17, together with many others, if we
may believe Mr Seemann, have a striking resemblance to those of
Northumberland, England, as shown by Mr Tate.[II-12] In some of the
terra cottas, a likeness to vessels of Roman, Grecian, and Etruscan
origin has been noted; the golden figures, in the opinion of Messrs
Squier and May, being like those found further south in the country of
the ancient Muiscas.[II-13]
One point bearing on the antiquity of the Chiriquí relics is the
wearing away by the weather of the incised sculptures, which appear to
Mr Seemann to belong to a more ancient, less advanced civilization
than those in low relief.[II-14] Another is the disappearance as a
rule of human remains, which, however, as Dr Torrey remarks,[II-15]
cannot in this climate and soil be regarded as an indication of great
age; and, moreover, against the theory of a remote origin of these
relics, and in favor of the supposition that all may be the work of
the not distant ancestors of the people found by the Spaniards in
possession of the country, we have the fact that gold figures similar
to those found in the huacas were made, worn, and traded by the
natives of the Isthmus at the time of its discovery and
conquest;[II-16] that the animals so universally imitated in all
objects whether of gold, stone, or clay, are all native to the
country, with no trace of any effort to copy anything foreign; and
that similar clay is still employed in the manufacture of rude
pottery.[II-17]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: COSTA RICAN RELICS.]
Costa Rica, adjoining Chiriquí on the west, is the first or most
southern of the states which belong politically to North America, all
the Isthmus provinces forming a part of Colombia, a state of the
southern continent. Stretching from ocean to ocean with an average
width of ninety miles, it extends north-westward in general terms some
two hundred miles from the Boca del Drago and Golfo Dulce to the Rio
de San Juan and the southern shores of Lake Nicaragua in 11° north
latitude. Few as are the aboriginal monuments reported to exist within
these limits, still fewer are those actually examined by travelers.
[Illustration: Terra Cottas from the Graves of Costa Rica.]
[Sidenote: IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS.]
Drs Wagner and Scherzer, who traveled extensively in this region in
1853-4, found in all parts of the state, but more particularly in the
Turialba Valley, which is in the vicinity of Cartago, traces of old
plantations of bananas, cacao, and palms, indicating a more systematic
tillage of the soil, and consequently a higher general type of culture
among the former than are found among the modern native Costa Ricans.
The only other antiquities seen by these intelligent explorers were a
few stone hammers thought to resemble implements which have been
brought to light in connection with the ancient mines about Lake
Superior; but the locality of these implements is not stated. Cabo
Blanco, reported by Molina[II-18] as containing the richest deposit of
ancient relics, yielded nothing whatever to the diligent search of the
German travelers; nor did their failure here leave them sufficient
faith to continue their researches on the island of Chira, where,
according to the same authority, there are to be found ruined
aboriginal towns and tombs. At San José they were told of figures of
gold alloyed with copper which had been melted at the government mint,
and they briefly mention hieroglyphics on a few ancient ornaments
nowhere described.[II-19] Mr Squier describes five vessels of earthen
ware or terra cotta obtained, in localities not mentioned, from Costa
Rican graves. Four of these are shown in the accompanying cut. Fig. 1,
symmetrically shaped, is entirely without decoration; Fig. 2 is a
grotesque image supposed to have done duty originally as a rattle;
Fig. 3 has hollow legs, each containing a small earthen ball, which
rattles at each motion of the vase; and the top of Fig. 4 is
artistically moulded, apparently after the model of a tortoise's back.
An axe of green quartz is also described, which to Mr Squier seemed to
indicate a higher grade of skill in workmanship than any relic of the
kind seen in Central America. The cutting edge is slightly curved,
showing the instrument to have been used as an adze; the surface shown
in the cut is highly polished, and the whole is penetrated by a small
hole drilled from side to side parallel to the face where the notches
appear. This implement seems to present a rude representation of a
human figure whose arms are folded across its breast. Other implements
similar in material but larger and of ruder execution, are said to be
of not unusual occurrence in the sepulchres of this state.[II-20]
[Illustration: Axe of Green Quartz.]
Mr Boyle makes the general statement that gold ornaments and idols are
constantly found, and that the ancient mines which supplied the
precious metal are often seen by modern prospectors. Dr Merritt also
exhibited specimens of gold, both wrought and unwrought, from the
(ancient?) mines of Costa Rica, at a meeting of the American
Ethnological Society in February, 1862.[II-21] While voyaging on the
Colorado, the southern mouth of the Rio de San Juan, Mr Boyle was told
by a German doctor, his traveling companion, of a wonderful artificial
hill in that vicinity, but of whose exact locality the doctor's ideas
appeared somewhat vague. On this hill, according to his statement, was
to be seen a pavement of slate tiles laid in copper; but the
interesting specimens which he claimed to have collected in this
neighborhood had been generously presented by him to museums in
various parts of the world, and therefore he was unable to show any
of them.[II-22] Father Acuña, an enthusiastic antiquary of the Rich
Coast, living at Paraiso near Cartago, reports an ancient road which
he believes to have originally connected Cartago with the port of
Matina, and to have formed part of a grand aboriginal system of
highways from the Nicaraguan frontier to the Isthmus, with branches to
various points along the Atlantic coast. The road is described as
thirty-six feet wide, paved with rounded blocks of lava, and guarded
at the sides with sloping walls three feet in height. Where the line
of the road crossed deep ravines, bridges were not employed, but in
their stead the ascent and descent were effected by means of massive
steps cut in the rocky sides. Some relics found near this road were
given to New York gentlemen. The priest also speaks of tumuli
abounding in the products of a past age, which dot the plains of
Terraba, once the centre, as he believes, of a populous American
empire.[II-23] A channel which connects the Rio Matina with Moin Bay
has been sometimes considered artificial, but Mr Reichardt pronounces
it probably nothing more than a natural lagoon.[II-24] In the
department of Guanacaste, near the gulf of Nicoya, was found the
little frog in grey stone shown, full-sized, in the cut. The hole near
the fore feet would seem to indicate that it was worn suspended on a
string as an ornament.[II-25]
[Illustration: Frog in Grey Stone.]
Such is the meagre account I am able to give of Costa Rican monuments.
True, neither this nor any others of the Central American states have
been thoroughly explored, nor are they likely to be for many years,
except at the few points where the world's commerce shall seek new
passages from sea to sea. The difficulties are such as would yield
only to a denser population of a more energetic race than that now
occupying the land. The only monuments of the aboriginal natives
likely to be found are those buried in the ancient graves. The
probability of bringing to light ruined cities or temples south of
Honduras is extremely slight. It is my purpose, however, to confine
myself to the most complete account possible of such remains as have
been seen or reported, with very little speculation on probable
discoveries in the future.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE MOSQUITO COAST.]
Our next move northward carries us to Cape Gracias á Dios on the
Atlantic, and to the gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific, the inclosed
territory of Nicaragua stretching some two hundred and fifty miles
north-westward to the Wanks River and Rio Negro, widening in this
distance from one hundred and fifty to about three hundred miles.
Dividing this territory by a line along the central mountain ranges,
or water-shed, into two nearly equal portions, the western or Pacific
slope is the state of Nicaragua proper, while the eastern or Atlantic
side is known as the Mosquito Coast. This latter region is almost
entirely unexplored except along the low marshy shore, and the natives
of the interior have always been independent of any foreign control.
In respect of ancient remains the Mosquito Coast has proved even more
barren of results than Costa Rica. A pair of remarkable granite vases
preserved in an English museum are said to have come from this region,
but as no particulars of their discovery are given, it is of course
possible, considering the former unsettled condition of all Central
American boundary lines, not altogether remedied in later times, that
there may be an error in locality. It is from ten to twelve inches in
diameter and height, as nearly as can be ascertained from the drawing,
and Humboldt remarks the similarity of its ornamentation to that found
on some parts of the ruins of Mitla in Oajaca, described in a future
chapter. One of the vases as represented in Humboldt's drawing, is
shown in the cut. The second vase is somewhat larger, more nearly
uniform in size at top and bottom, with plain legs, only
diamond-shaped ornaments on the body of the vessel, and handles which
take the form of a head and tail instead of two heads as in the first
specimen.[II-26]
[Illustration: Granite Vase from the Mosquito Coast.]
Christopher Columbus in a letter speaks of having seen on this coast,
which he calls Cariay, a sculptured tomb in the forest as large as a
house; and Mr Helps imagines the Spanish conquerors sailing up the coast
and beholding amidst the trees white structures "bearing some likeness
to truncated pyramids, and, in the setting sun, dark figures would be
seen against the horizon on the tops of these pyramids;"[II-27] but as
he is describing no particular voyage, some allowance may be made for
the play of his imagination. Mr Boyle is enthusiastic over "the vast
remains of a civilization long since passed away," but far superior to
that of Spain, including rocks cut down to human and animal shapes,
artificial hills encased in masonry, streams turned from their
courses, and hieroglyphic sculptures on the cliffs,--all in the
Mosquito wilds. As a foundation for this, three men who descended the
Rio Mico and Blewfields River from Libertad, Nicaragua, to the sea,
claim to have beheld extraordinary ancient works. These took the form
of a cliff cut away where the river passed through a narrow cañon,
leaving a group of stone animals, among which was a colossal bear,
standing erect on the brink of the precipice as if to guard the
passage. The natives reported also to Mr Pim the existence of grand
temples of the antiguos, with an immense image of the aboriginal god
Mico (a monkey) on the banks of this river; but when subjected to
cross-questioning, their wonderful stories dwindled to certain rude
figures painted on the face of a cliff, which Mr Pim was unable to
examine, but which seemed from the native description similar to the
cliff-paintings at Nijapa Lake in Nicaragua, to be described on a
future page.[II-28]
[Illustration: Golden Image.]
[Sidenote: COLOSSAL BEAR AND GOLDEN IMAGE.]
From a mound of earth fifteen feet in diameter, and five or six feet
high, on an island in Duckwarra Lagoon, south of Cape Gracias á Dios,
Mr Squier unearthed a crumbling human skeleton, at whose head was a
rude burial vase containing chalcedony beads, two arrow-heads of the
same material, and the human figure shown full-sized in the cut,
fashioned from a piece of gold plate. Antonio, an intelligent Maya
servant, could see no resemblance in this figure to any relics of his
race in Yucatan. Two additional vases of coarse earthen ware were
discovered, but contained no relics. On another occasion, during a
moonlight visit to the 'Mother of Tigers,' a famed native _sukia_, or
sorceress, on the Bocay, which is a branch of the Wanks, about fifty
miles south-westward from Cape Gracias, Mr Squier claims to have seen
a ruined structure, part of which is shown in the cut. The building
was of two stories, but the upper walls had fallen, covering the
ground with fragments. It is described as "built of large stones, laid
with the greatest regularity, and sculptured all over with strange
figures, having a close resemblance, if not an absolute identity" with
those drawn by Catherwood. A short distance from the building stood an
erect stone rudely sculptured in human form, facing east, as in the
cut. There are, however, some reasons for doubting the accuracy of
these Bocay discoveries, notwithstanding the author's well-known skill
and reliability as an antiquarian, since they were published under a
nom de plume, and in a work perhaps intended by the writer as a
fictitious narrative of adventures.[II-29]
[Illustration: Home of the Sukia.]
[Illustration: Mosquito Statue.]
* * * * *
Across the dividing sierras, the Pacific slope, or Nicaragua proper,
has yielded plentiful monuments of her former occupants, chiefly to
the researches of two men, Messrs Squier and Boyle. The former
confined his explorations chiefly to the region between the lakes and
ocean, while the latter has also made known the existence of remains
on the north-east of Lake Nicaragua, in the province of
Chontales.[II-30]
[Sidenote: CLASSIFICATION OF RELICS.]
Although nothing like a thorough exploration of the state has ever
been made, yet the uniformity of the remains discovered at different
points enables us to form a clear idea of the character, if not of the
full extent, of her antiquities, which for convenience in description
may be classified as follows: I. Mounds, sepulchres, excavations, and
other comparatively permanent works; II. Figures painted or cut on
rocks or cliffs; III. Statues or idols of stone; IV. Stone weapons,
implements, and ornaments; V. Pottery; VI. Articles of metal.
Remarking that nowhere in Nicaragua have traces of ruined cities been
found, nor even what may be regarded positively as the ruins of
temples or other buildings, I proceed to describe the first class, or
permanent monuments, beginning in the south-west, following the coast
region and lake islands northward, and then returning to the
south-eastern province of Chontales.
First on the south are the cemeteries of Ometepec Island, which is by
some supposed to have been the general burial place of all the
surrounding country. These cemeteries, according to Woeniger, are
found in high and dry places, enclosed by a row of rough flat stones
placed a few inches apart and projecting only slightly above the
surface of the ground. Friederichsthal represents the sepulchres as
three feet deep and scattered at irregular intervals over a plain.
Boyle found both fixed cemeteries fenced with a line of heavy stones
and also separate graves.[II-31] Thus no burial mounds proper seem to
exist on the island. The ashes or unburned bones of the dead are found
enclosed in large earthen vases, together with what may be considered
as the most valued property of the deceased, or the most appropriate
gifts of friends, in the shape of weapons, ornaments, vessels, and
implements of stone, clay, and perhaps metal, all of which will be
described in their turn. When the burial urn is found to contain
unburned bones, its mouth is sometimes closed with the skull; in other
cases one or more inverted earthen pans are used for that purpose.
[Sidenote: EL BAÑO AT MASAYA.]
On Zapatero, an island which lies just north of Ometepec, distributed
over a level space covered with a dense growth of trees, are eight
irregular heaps of loose unhewn stones, showing no signs of system
either in the construction of each individual mound or in their
arrangement with reference to each other.[II-32] An attempt to open
one of the largest of the number led to no results beyond the
discovery of an intermixture of broken pottery in the mass of stones.
They are surrounded, as we shall see, by statues, and are believed by
Mr Squier to be remains of the teocallis known to have served the
Nicaraguans as temples at the time of the conquest.[II-33] At the foot
of Mt Mombacho, a volcano south of Granada, was found a ruined cairn,
or sepulchre, about twenty feet square, not particularly described,
but similar to those which will be mentioned as occurring in the
department of Chontales; others were said by the inhabitants to have
been found in the same vicinity.[II-34] In a steep-banked ravine near
Masaya, the rocky sides of which present numerous sculptured figures,
or hieroglyphics, a shelf some nine feet wide is cut in the
perpendicular cliff which towers one hundred feet in height at its
back. On this shelf is a rectangular excavation eight by four feet and
eighteen inches deep, with regularly sloping and smoothly cut sides,
surrounded by a shallow groove which leads to the edge of the
precipice, presumably designed to carry off rain-water. This strange
excavation is popularly known as El Baño, although hardly of
sufficient size to have served as a bath; a rudely cut flight of steps
leads up the cliff to the shelf, and two pentagonal holes penetrate
the face of the cliff at its back horizontally to a great depth, but
these may be of natural formation. Some kettle-shaped excavations are
reported also along the shore of the lake, now and possibly of old
used in tanning leather.[II-35] Mr Boyle speaks of the road by which
water is brought up from the lake to the city by the women of Masaya,
a deep cut in the solid rock, a mile long and descending to a depth of
over three hundred feet, as a reputed work of aboriginal engineering,
but as he seems himself somewhat doubtful of the fact, and as others
do not so mention it, this may not properly be included in our list of
ancient monuments.[II-36] In the cliff at Nijapa, an old crater-lake
near Managua, is what has been regarded by the natives as a wonderful
temple excavated from the solid rock by the labors of the Antiguos,
their ancestors. Indeed its entrance bears a strong resemblance, when
viewed from the opposite side of the lake, to the arched portals of a
heathen temple, but, explored by both Squier and Boyle, it proved to
be nothing more than a natural cavern.[II-37]
Across the lake northward from Managua the volcano of Momotombo,
projecting into the waters, forms a bay in a locality once occupied
traditionally by a rich and populous city. If we may credit the Abbé
Brasseur de Bourbourg, its ruins are yet to be seen beneath the waters
of the bay.[II-38] Captain Belcher visited the country in 1838, and
was told that a causeway formerly extended across from the main to the
island of Momotombita, probably for the use of the priests of ancient
faith, since the island is rich in idols. He even was able to see the
remains of the causeway extending in the dry season some three hundred
and sixty yards from the shore; but a closer examination convinced Mr
Squier that the supposed ruins were simply a natural formation whose
extreme hardness had resisted better than the surrounding strata the
action of the waves.[II-39]
On the slope of a small bowl-shaped valley near Leon is what the
natives call the Capilla de la Piedra, a natural niche artificially
enlarged in the face of a large rock facing the amphitheatre. It is
spacious enough to accommodate four or five persons, and a large flat
stone like an altar stands just at the entrance. At Subtiava, an
Indian pueblo near Leon, is a stone mound, sixty by two hundred feet,
and ten feet high, very like those at Zapatero, except that in this
case the stones about the edges present some signs of regularity in
their arrangement. It is very probably the ruin of some old
temple-mound, and even in modern days the natives are known to have
secretly assembled to worship round this stone-heap the gods of their
antiquity. Several low rectangular mounds were also seen but not
examined at the base of the volcano of Orota, north-east of
Leon.[II-40]
[Sidenote: CHONTAL BURIAL MOUNDS.]
Returning to the south-eastern Chontal province, the only
well-attested permanent monuments are burial mounds or cairns of
stone, although the Chevalier Friederichsthal claims to have found
here "remains of ancient towns and temples," which, nevertheless, he
does not attempt to describe, and Mr Squier mentions a traditionary
ruined city near Juigalpa.[II-41] The cairns are found in the regions
about the towns of Juigalpa and Libertad, although exploration would
doubtless reveal their existence elsewhere in the province. At both
the places named they occur in great numbers over a large area. "At
Libertad," says Mr Boyle, "graves were so plentiful we had only the
embarrassment of choice. Every hill round was topped with a vine-bound
thicket, springing, we knew, from the cairn of rough stone reverently
piled above some old-world chieftain." No farther description can be
given of them than that they are rectangular embankments of unhewn
stone, built, in some cases at least, with regularly sloping sides,
and of varying dimensions, the largest reported being one hundred and
twenty by one hundred and seventy-five feet, and five feet high. Being
opened they disclose earthen burial urns containing, as at Ometepec,
human remains, both burned and unburned, and a great variety of stone
and earthen relics both within and without the cinerary vase. The
burial deposit is oftenest found above, but sometimes also below, the
original surface of the ground. These cairns appear to have somewhat
more regularity, on the exterior at least, than the stone tumuli of
Ometepec. A more thorough examination of both is necessary before it
can be determined whether or not the Ometepec mounds are, as Mr Squier
believes, the ruins of teocallis and not tombs, and whether some of
the Chontal cairns may not be the ruins or foundations of ancient
structures. There can be little doubt that the Nicaraguans employed
the mound-temple in their worship, and it is somewhat remarkable if
modern fanaticism has left no traces of them; yet it is probable that
wood entered more largely into their construction than in more
northern climes. Mr Boyle found one grave near Juigalpa differing from
the usual Chontal method of interment, and agreeing more nearly with
that practiced in Mexico and Ometepec; and Mr Pim mentions the
occurrence of numerous graves in the province, of much smaller size
and of different proportions, the largest being twenty by twelve feet,
and eight feet high.[II-42]
Near Juigalpa was seen a hill whose surface was covered with stones
arranged in circles, squares, diamonds, and rays about a central
stone;[II-43] also a hill of terrace-formation which from a distance
seemed to be an aboriginal fortification.[II-44] In the same
neighborhood is reported a series of trenches stretching across the
country, one of them traced for over a mile, nine to twelve feet wide,
widening at intervals into oval spaces from fifty to eighty feet in
diameter, and these enlargements containing alternately two and four
small mounds arranged in lines perpendicular to the general direction
of the trench.[II-45] "Several rectangular parallelograms outlined in
loose stone," in the vicinity of Libertad, are supposed by Mr Boyle to
be Carib works, not connected with the Chontal burial system.[II-46]
[Illustration: Trench near Juigalpa.]
I come secondly to the hieroglyphic figures cut or painted on
Nicaraguan cliffs. These appear to belong for the most part to that
lowest class of picture-writing common throughout the whole length of
the North American continent, even in the territory of the most savage
tribes. Doubtless many of these figures were executed in commemoration
of events, and thus served temporarily as written records; but it is
doubtful if the meaning of any of these inscriptions ever survived the
generation which originated them, and certain that they are not
understood by native or by antiquarian at the present day. It is not
unlikely that some of them in Nicaragua may be rude representations of
deities, and thus identified with the same gods preserved in stone,
and with characters in the Aztec picture-writings; but the
picture-writing of the Nicaraguan Nahuas, unlike that of their
brethren of Anáhuac, was not committed to paper during the first years
of the conquest, and has consequently been lost.
[Sidenote: CLIFF-CARVINGS AT MASAYA.]
At Guaximala a cave is mentioned having sculptures on the rocks at its
entrance. The natives dared not cross the figured portal.[II-47] In
the ravine near Masaya, already spoken of as the locality of the
excavation known as El Baño, the steep side-cliffs are covered with
figures roughly cut in outline, and often nearly obliterated by the
ravages of time. They are shown in Squier's drawings on the following
page, the order in which the groups occur being preserved.
Mr Squier detects among the objects thus rudely delineated, the sun
twice represented, a shield, arrows or spears, the _Xiuhatlatli_ of
the Aztec paintings, which is an instrument for hurling spears, and a
monkey. Besides the regular groups, isolated single figures are seen,
among which the two characters shown in the accompanying cut are most
frequently repeated. The same vicinity is reported to contain figures
both painted and cut in other localities.[II-48]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Rock-Sculptures at Masaya.]
[Sidenote: CLIFF-PAINTINGS AT NIJAPA.]
On the old crater-walls, five hundred feet in height at the lowest
point, which inclose Lake Nijapa, a few miles south-west of Managua,
are numerous figures painted in red. Portions of the walls have been
thrown down by an earthquake, the débris at the water's edge being
covered with intricate and curious red lines; and most of those still
in place have been so defaced by the action of wind and water that
their original appearance or connection cannot be distinguished.
[Illustration: Feathered Serpent at Lake Nijapa.]
Among the clearest of the paintings is the coiled feathered serpent
shown in the cut. It is three feet in diameter, across the coil, and
is painted forty feet up the perpendicular side of the precipice. This
would seem to be identical with the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, or the Quiché
Gucumatz, both of which names signify 'plumed serpent.' Of the
remaining figures, shown in the cut on the following page, the red
hand is of frequent occurrence here, and we shall meet it again
farther north, especially in Yucatan. The central upper figure is
thought by Mr Squier to resemble a character in the Aztec paintings;
and among those thrown down the sun and moon are said to have been
prominent.[II-49]
[Illustration: Rock-paintings of Nijapa.]
In the Chontal province none of these pictorial remains are reported,
yet Mr Boyle believes that many of the ornamental figures on pottery
and stone vessels are hieroglyphic in their nature; founding this
opinion on the frequent repetition of complicated groups, as for
instance that in the cut, which is repeated four times on the
circumference of a bowl.[II-50]
[Illustration: Chontal Hieroglyphic.]
[Sidenote: STONE STATUES OR IDOLS.]
Statues in stone, representing human beings generally, but in some
cases animals and monsters also, have been found and described to the
number of about sixty, constituting our third and the most interesting
class of Nicaraguan relics. Ometepec, rich in pottery and other
relics, and reported also to contain idols, has yielded to actual
observation only the small animal couchant represented in the cut. It
was secretly worshiped by the natives for many years, even in modern
times, until this unorthodox practice was discovered and checked by
zealous priests. This animal idol was about fourteen inches long and
eight inches in height.[II-51]
[Illustration: Ometepec Idol.]
[Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 1, 2.]
[Sidenote: IDOLS ON ZAPATERO ISLAND.]
The island of Zapatero has furnished some seventeen idols, which are
found in connection with the stone-heaps already described, lying for
the most part wholly or partially buried in the sand and enveloped in
a dense shrubbery. It is not probable that any one of them has been
found in its original position, yet such is their size and weight that
they are not likely to have been moved far from their primitive
locality. Indeed Mr Squier, with a large force of natives, transformed
into zealous antiquarians by a copious dispensation of brandy, had the
greatest difficulty in placing them in an upright position. An
ancient crater-lake conveniently near at hand accounts satisfactorily
for the almost entire absence of smaller idols, and would doubtless
have been the receptacle of their larger fellow-deities, had the
strength of the priestly iconoclasts been in proportion to their godly
spirit, as was the case with Mr Squier's natives. As it was they were
obliged to content their religious zeal with overthrowing and defacing
as far as possible these stone gods of the natives. There seems to be
no regularity or system in the arrangement of the statues with respect
to each other, and very little with respect to the stone mounds. It is
probable, however, that, if the latter are indeed ruined teocallis,
the statues stood originally round their base rather than on their
summit. The idols of Zapatero, which is within the limits of the
Niquiran or Aztec province, are larger and somewhat more elaborate in
workmanship than those found elsewhere; and the genital organs appear
on many of their number, indicating perhaps the presence here of the
wide-spread phallic worship. The cuts show ten of the most remarkable
of these monuments.
Fig. 1 is nine feet high and about three feet in diameter, cut from a
solid block of black basalt. The head of the human figure crouching on
its immense cylindrical pedestal forms a cross, a symbol not uncommon
here or elsewhere in America. All the work, particularly the
ornamental bands and the niches of unknown use or import in front, is
gracefully and cleanly cut. Fig. 2 is a huge tiger eight feet high
seated on a pedestal. The heads and other parts of different animals
are often used in the adornment of partially human shapes both in
stone work and pottery, but purely animal statues, intended as this
apparently is, for idols, are rare. Fig. 3, an idol "of mild and
benignant aspect" is shown in the leaning position in which it was
found. Fig. 4, standing in the background, was raised from its fallen
position to be sketched.
[Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 3, 4.]
[Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 5.]
[Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 6.]
Fig. 5 represents a statue which, with its pedestal, is over twelve
feet high. The well-carved head of a monster, two feet eight inches
broad, surmounts the head of a seated human form, a common device in
the fashioning of Nicaraguan gods. A peculiarity of this monument is
that the arms are detached from the sides at the elbows;
free-sculptured limbs being of rare occurrence in American aboriginal
carvings. Fig. 6 is a slab three by five feet, bearing a human figure
cut in high relief, the only sculpture of this kind discovered in
Nicaragua. The tongue appears to hang upon the breast, and the eyes
are merely two round holes. Fig. 7, on the following page, represents
a crouching human form, on whose back is a tiger or other wild beast
grasping the head in its jaws, a favorite method among these southern
Nahua nations of representing in stone and clay the characteristics of
what are presumably intended as beings to be worshiped. The expression
of the features in the human face is described by Mr Squier as
differing from any of the others found in this group. This idol and
the following, with many other curious monuments of antiquity
obtained by the same explorer, are now in the museum of the
Smithsonian Institution at Washington.
[Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 7.]
Fig. 8 is carved on a slab five feet long and eighteen inches wide,
representing a person who holds to his abdomen what seems to be a mask
or a human face.
Fig. 9 is of very rude execution and seemingly represents a human
figure wearing an animal mask, which is itself surmounted by another
human face. Two small cup-shaped smoothly cut holes are also noted in
the head-dress. Fig. 10 is a stone three feet and a half high, but
slightly modified by the sculptor's art, which gave some semblance of
the human form.
[Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 8, 9.]
From the cuts given a good general idea of the Zapatero monuments may
be obtained; of the others described, one is a man with a calm, mild
expression of countenance, seated with knees at chin and hands on
feet on a round-topped square pedestal which tapers towards the
bottom.
[Illustration: Idols of Zapatero.--Fig. 10.]
[Sidenote: IDOLS AT GRANADA.]
Two statues from Zapatero stand at the street-corners of Granada; one,
known as the Chiflador, is much broken; the other has the crouching
animal on the human head. Another from the same island stands by the
roadside at Dirioma, near Granada, where it serves as a boundary mark.
According to Mr Boyle this statue is of red granite, and it seemed to
Mr Squier more delicately carved than those at Zapatero.[II-52]
In the vicinity of the cairn already spoken of at the foot of Mount
Mombacho, were found six statues with abundant fragments. One had what
seemed a monkey's head, with three female breasts and a phallus among
the complicated sculptures below; a rudely cut animal bore some
resemblance to a bear; a broken figure is said by the natives to have
represented, when whole, a woman with a child on her back. One female
figure, of which there is no drawing, is pronounced by Mr Boyle "very
far the best-drawn statue we found in Nicaragua." A sleeping figure
with large ears, a natural face, absurd arms, and a phallus, with the
life-sized corpse or sleeper of the cut complete the list.
[Illustration: Sleeping Statue of Mombacho.]
Mr Boyle believes the statues of Mombacho, like other relics there
found, to unite the styles of art of the Chontales and the Aztec
natives of Ometepec; showing, besides the cairns, the simplicity of
sculpture peculiar to the former, together with the superior skill in
workmanship and the distinction of sex noticeable in the monuments of
the latter.[II-53]
[Sidenote: IDOLS OF PENSACOLA ISLAND.]
Pensacola is one of the group of islands lying at the foot of Mt
Mombacho in Lake Nicaragua. On this island the three statues shown in
the following cuts have been dug up, having been buried there
purposely by order of the catholic authorities in behalf of the
supposed spiritual interests of the natives. Fig. 1 is cut from hard
red sandstone; the human face is surmounted by a monster head, and by
its side the open mouth and the fangs of a serpent appear. The limbs
of this statue, unlike those of most Nicaraguan idols, are freely
sculptured and detached so far as is consistent with safety.
[Illustration: Pensacola Idols.--Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Pensacola Idols.--Fig. 2.]
Fig. 2 is an animal clinging to the back of a human being, concerning
which Mr Squier remarks: "I never have seen a statue which conveyed so
forcibly the idea of power and strength." The back is ribbed or
carved to represent overlapping plates like a rude coat of mail, and
the whole is nine feet high and ten feet in circumference. Fig. 3 is
the head and bust--the lower portion having been broken off--of a
hideous monster, with hanging tongue and large staring eyes, large
ears, and distended mouth, "like some gray monster just emerging from
the depths of the earth at the bidding of the wizard-priest of an
unholy religion," not inappropriately termed 'el diablo' by the
natives, when first it met their view.[II-54]
[Illustration: Pensacola Idols.--Fig. 3.]
[Sidenote: MOMOTOMBITA RELICS.]
Momotombita Island formerly contained some fifty statues standing
round a square, and facing inward, if, as Mr Squier believes, we may
credit the native report. All are of black basalt, and have the sex
clearly marked, a large majority representing males.
[Illustration: Idols of Momotombita.--Fig. 1 and 2.]
Fig. 1 is a statue noticeable for its bold and severe cast of
features, and for what is conjectured to be a human heart held in the
mouth, as is shown in the front view, Fig. 2. Fig. 3 was found at a
street-corner at Managua, but had been brought originally from the
island. Another, also from Momotombita, was found at Leon and
afterwards deposited in the Smithsonian Institution. It evidently
served as a support for some other object; the back is square and
ribbed like the one at Pensacola, the eyes closed, and "the whole
expression grave and serene." The colossal head shown in the cut on
the preceding page was among the other fragments found on the island,
where two groups of relics are said to exist, only one of which has
been explored.[II-55]
[Illustration: Idols of Momotombita.--Fig. 3.]
[Illustration: Colossal Head from Momotombita.]
[Illustration: Piedra de la Boca.]
The Piedra de la Boca is a small statue, or fragment, with a large
mouth, standing at a street-corner in Granada, having been brought
from one of the lake islands. The natives still have some feelings of
dependence on this idol in times of danger. Several rudely carved,
well-worn images stood also at the street-corners of Managua in
1838.[II-56]
[Sidenote: IDOLS OF SUBTIAVA.]
[Illustration: Idols of Subtiava.--Fig. 1.]
At the Indian pueblo of Subtiava near Leon many idols were dug up by
the natives for Mr Squier, eight of them ranging from five and a half
to eight feet in height and from four to five feet in circumference.
The natives have always been in the habit of making offerings secretly
to these gods of stone, and only a few months before Mr Squier's visit
a stone bull had been broken up by the priests. About the large stone
mound before described are numerous fragments, but only one statue
entire, which is shown in Fig. 1. It projects six feet four inches
above ground and is cut from sandstone. At the lower extremity of the
flap which hangs from the belt in front is noted a cup-like hole large
enough to contain about a quart. Fig. 2, of the same material, is two
feet six inches in height, and represents a female either holding a
mask over her abdomen, or holding open the abdomen for the face to
look out. Fig. 3 and 4 show a front and rear view of another statue,
in which the human face, instead of being surmounted by, looks out
from the jaws of some animal. The features of the face had been
defaced apparently by blows with a hammer; the ornamentation was
thought to resemble somewhat that of the Copan statues. Others
mentioned and sketched at Subtiava have a general resemblance to
these.[II-57]
[Illustration: Idols of Subtiava.--Fig. 2.]
[Sidenote: IDOLS OF CHONTALES.]
The Chontal statues are divided by Mr Boyle into two classes; the
first of which includes idols, with fierce and distorted features,
never found on the graves, but often near them; while the second is
composed of portrait-statues, always distinguished by closed eyes and
a calm, "simple, human air about their features, however irregularly
modeled." The latter are always found on or in the cairns under which
bodies are interred, and are much more numerous than the idols proper.
Unfortunately we have but few drawings in support of this theory. It
is true that the two classes of features are noticeable elsewhere, as
well as here, but the position of the statues does not seem to justify
any such division into portraits and idols. Mr Boyle also believes the
Chontal sculptures better modeled though less elaborate than those of
the south-west.[II-58]
[Illustration: Idols of Subtiava.--Fig. 3 and 4.]
[Illustration: Chontal Statues.--Fig. 1 and 2.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
Fig. 1 is one of several statues found near Juigalpa; it is of the
portrait class, and is remarkable for the wen over the eye and a cross
on the breast. Fig. 2 is the head of another taken from a cairn near
Libertad, and since used to prop up a modern wall. Fig. 3 is what Mr
Pim terms a head-stone of one of the graves in the same locality. Many
of the images have holes drilled through them; there is no distinction
of sex, and here, as elsewhere, there is no attempt at drapery. Entire
statues seem to be rare, but fragments very abundant. Mr Squier notes
in all the Nicaraguan statues a general resemblance, but at the same
time marked individuality, and deems it possible to identify many of
them with the gods of the Mexican Pantheon.[II-59]
[Sidenote: NICARAGUAN WEAPONS.]
My fourth class includes weapons, implements, ornaments, and other
miscellaneous articles of stone. There is a mention without
description of arrow-heads and flint flakes dug up from the graves of
Ometepec. Celts, much like those extant in European collections, are
reported as of frequent occurrence; two of granite and one of basalt
at Ometepec, and one of chipped flint at Zapatero, the latter being
regular in outline, with a smooth sharp edge, believed by Mr Boyle to
be of very rare form, and unique in America. Axes are also said to be
numerous, there being specially mentioned one of basalt, broad and
thin, from Ometepec; and a similar one, three or four inches wide, six
inches long, and of a uniform thickness, not exceeding one third of an
inch, from Zapatero.
[Illustration: Nicaraguan Weapons.--Fig. 1 and 2.]
[Illustration: Nicaraguan Weapons.--Fig. 3 and 4.]
Fig. 1 is a rude aboriginal weapon from a cairn near Libertad, called
by Mr Pim a hatchet. Fig. 2 is an axe of syenite found by Mr Squier
at Granada, where he states that similar relics are not uncommon. Fig.
3 is one of two very beautiful double-edged battle-axes from the
Chontal cairns. It is of volcanic stone, twelve and a half inches long
by seven and three fourths inches wide. Fig. 4 represents a flint axe
from Zapatero Island as sketched by Mr Boyle. A knife ten inches long
was also found by Pim in a Chontal grave.[II-60]
[Illustration: Granite Vase from Brita.]
[Sidenote: STONE IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS.]
Stone vessels are rare, though a granite vase, eighteen inches high,
as shown in the cut, was dug up at Brita, near Rivas; and two marble
vases of very superior workmanship were found in a Libertad mound. One
was of the tripod form and badly broken; the other was shaped like a
can resting on a stand, with ornamental handles, and having its sides,
not thicker than card-board, covered with grecs and arabesques.[II-61]
Metates occur often on both sides the lakes. The cut on the following
page shows one dug up at Leon, being very similar to those still in
use in the country, but more elaborate in its ornamentation. Those
east of the lakes are flat instead of curved, but still superior to
any now made, and in connection with them have been found the pestles
with which maize was crushed.[II-62]
[Illustration: Nicaraguan Metate.]
Broken pedestals and sculptured fragments whose original purpose is
unknown occur frequently, and stone rattles were formerly found about
Juigalpa. Beads of lava, basalt, and chalcedony, in collections
suggestive of small necklaces, are numerous, particularly at Ometepec.
Those of lava are often wonderfully wrought, about an inch long,
ringed or grooved on the surface, pierced lengthwise with a hole only
large enough to admit a fine thread, and yet the whole, of the most
brittle material, not thicker than twine. Those of chalcedony are of
larger size.[II-63]
The niche near Leon, known as the Capilla de la Piedra, had before its
entrance a flat stone resembling an altar. At Zapatero Mr Squier found
four stones also apparently intended for sacrificial purposes. One of
these, an oval stone imbedded in the earth, and covered on its upper
surface with inscribed characters, is shown in the cut. Near the Simon
mine in Nueva Segovia, the north-eastern province of the state, was
found by Mr Pim a broken font, the only relic of this region, on the
exterior of which the following figure is carved, supposed to
represent the sun. It has also the peculiarity of what seem intended
for long moustaches.[II-64]
[Illustration: Altar from Zapatero.]
[Illustration: Sun-sculpture in Nueva Segovia.]
[Illustration: Burial Urns from Ometepec.]
[Sidenote: NICARAGUAN POTTERY.]
The fifth class embraces all articles of pottery, abundant throughout
the whole extent of the state, but especially so on the lake islands,
where the natives actually dig them from the earth to supply their
present needs. None of the localities which have yielded other relics
is without its deposit of earthen ware, either whole or in fragments.
The fact that vessels unearthed by the natives, when unbroken, are
wholly uninjured by their long rest under a damp tropical soil,
indicates their excellence in material and construction. It is not
indeed probable that in material or methods of manufacture the ancient
differed essentially from the modern pottery; but in skill and taste
the former was unquestionably far superior. Mr Squier pronounces the
work equal to the best specimens of the Mexican and Peruvian potters.
He finds no evidence of the use of the wheel; Mr Boyle, however,
thinks it was employed, but rarely. The clay varies from brown to
black, and the glazing, often sufficiently thick to be chipped off
with a knife, is usually of a whitish or yellowish hue. The colors
with which most articles are painted are both brilliant and durable,
red being a favorite. In some cases the paint seems to have penetrated
the substance of the pottery, as if applied before the clay was dry.
The figures of the cut illustrate the two most common forms of the
cinerary, or burial, urns, both from Ometepec, the former sketched by
Mr Boyle and the latter by Mr Squier. The urns contain a black sticky
earth supposed to represent traces of burned flesh, and often
unburned bones, skull, or teeth, together with a collection of the
smaller relics which have been described. The bones of animals,
deer-horns, and boar-tusks, and bone implements rarely or never occur.
Earthen basins of different material and color from the urns are
often--always in the Chontal graves--found inverted one over another
to close the mouth. The burial vases are sometimes thirty-six inches
long by twenty inches high, painted usually on the outside with
alternate streaks of black and scarlet, while serpents or other
ornaments are frequently relieved on the surface. One or two handles
are in most cases attached to each. Mr Squier believes a human skull
to have been the model of the urns. Five of them at Libertad are
noticed as lying uniformly east and west. It appears evident that many
of the articles found in or about the graves had no connection with
burial rites, some of them having undoubtedly been buried to keep them
from the hands of the Spaniards. The figures of the cuts, from Mr
Boyle, show two forms of vessels which are frequently repeated among
an infinite variety of other shapes. The tripod vase with hollow legs
is a common form, of which Fig. 1 is a fine specimen from Ometepec,
five and three fourths inches high, and six inches in diameter, with a
different face on each leg. Fig. 2 is a bowl from Zapatero which
occurs in great numbers, of uniform shape and decoration, but of
varying size, being ordinarily, however, ten inches in diameter and
four and one fourth inches high. Both inside and outside are painted
with figures which from their uniformity in different specimens are
deemed by Mr Boyle to have some hidden hieroglyphic meaning. It is
also remarked that vessels intended to be of the same size are exactly
equal in every respect. Another common vessel is a black jar, glazed
and polished, about four inches high and five and one fourth inches in
diameter, made of light clay, and having a simple wavy ornament round
the rim. Animals or parts of animals, particularly alligators, often
form a part of the ornamentation of pottery, but complete animals in
clay are rare, a rude clay stag being the only relic of the kind
reported. The device of a beast springing on the back of a human form,
so frequent among the statues or idols, also occurs in terra cotta.
The four figures of the cut show additional specimens in terra cotta
from Mr Squier, of which Fig. 2 is from Ometepec.[II-64]
[Illustration: Ometepec Tripod Vase.--Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Bowl from Zapatero.--Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: Nicaraguan Figures in Terra Cotta.]
[Sidenote: RELICS OF THE USE OF METALS.]
It only remains to speak of the sixth and last class of Nicaraguan
relics; viz., articles of metal, which may be very briefly disposed
of. The only gold seen by any of our authorities was "a drop of pure
gold, one inch long, precisely like the rattles worn by Malay girls,"
taken by Mr Boyle from a cinerary vase at Juigalpa. But all others
mention small gold idols and ornaments which are reported to have been
found, one of them weighing twenty-four ounces; so that there can be
but little doubt that the ancient people understood to a limited
extent the use of this precious metal, which the territory has never
produced in large quantities. Copper, on the contrary, is said to be
abundant and of a variety easily worked, and yet the only relic of
this metal discovered is the copper mask, which Mr Squier supposes to
represent a tiger's face, shown in the cut. It was presented to him by
a man who claimed to have obtained it from Ometepec. Mr Boyle
believes, with reason as I think, that in a country abounding in the
metal, the skill and knowledge requisite to produce the mask would
most certainly have left other evidences of its possession. The
authenticity of this mask, when considered as a Nicaraguan relic, may
be regarded as extremely problematical.[II-65]
[Illustration: Copper Mask.]
Nicaraguan antiquities, concerning which I have now given all the
information in my possession, give rise to but little discussion or
visionary speculation. Indeed there is little of the mysterious
connected with them, as they do not necessarily carry us farther back
into the past than the partially civilized people that occupied the
country in the sixteenth century. Not one relic has appeared which may
not reasonably be deemed their work, or which requires the agency of
an unknown nation of antiquity. Yet supposing Nicaragua to have been
long inhabited by a people of only slightly varying stages of
civilization, any one of the idols described may have been worshiped
thousands of years before the Spanish conquest. The relics are over
three hundred years old; nothing in themselves proves them to be less
than three thousand. Comparison with more northern relics and history
may fix their age within narrower limits.
FOOTNOTES:
[II-1] A general view of South American antiquities is given in
another chapter of this volume.
[II-2] I might except a Roman coin of the time of Cæsar Augustus, and
a buried ship, or galley, of antique model, said to have been
discovered in early times by the Spaniards in the vicinity of Panamá,
and which figured somewhat largely in early speculations on the
question of American origin. I need not say that the evidence for the
authenticity of such a discovery is extremely unsatisfactory. See:
_García_, _Orígen de los Ind._, p. 174, with quotation from _Marineo_,
_Sumario_, (Toledo, 1546,) fol. 19--apparently the original authority
in the matter--and a reference to other editions and works; _Solórzano
Pereyra_, _De Ind. Jure_, tom. i., p. 93; _Id._ _Política Ind._, tom.
i., p. 22; _Horn_, _Orig. Amer._, p. 13; _Simon_, _Noticias
Historiales_, (Cuença, 1626,) lib. i., cap. x.
[II-3] Authorities on the Isthmian antiquities are not numerous. Mr
Berthold Seemann claims to have been the first to discover stone
sculptures near David in 1848, and he read a paper on them before the
Archæological Institute of London in 1851. He also briefly mentions
them in his _Voy. Herald_, vol. i., pp. 312-13, for which work
drawings were prepared but not published. Some of the drawings were,
however, afterwards printed in _Bollaert's Antiq. Researches in N.
Granada_, (Lond., 1860,) and a few cuts of inscribed figures also
inserted with farther description by Seemann in _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, pp. 25-32. It is stated in the last-named work that M.
Zeltner, French Consul at Panamá, whose private collection contained
specimens from Chiriquí, published photographs of some of them with
descriptive letter-press. Bollaert also wrote a paper on 'The Ancient
Tombs of Chiriquí,' in _Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact._, vol. ii., pp.
151, 159. On various occasions from 1859 to 1865, travelers or
residents on the Isthmus, chiefly parties connected with the Panamá
railway, sent specimens, drawings, and descriptions to New York, where
they were presented to the American Ethnological Society, or exhibited
before and discussed by that body at its monthly meetings, an account
of which may be found in the _Hist. Mag._, vol. iii., p. 240, vol.
iv., pp. 47-8, 113, 144, 176-7, 239-41, 274, 338, vol. v., pp. 50-2,
vol. vi., pp. 119, 154, vol. ix., p. 158. A report on the Chiriquí
antiquities by Dr Merritt was printed by the same society. The above,
with slight mentions in _Cullen's Darien_, p. 38, from _Whiting and
Shuman's Report on Coal Formations_, April 1, 1851, and in _Bidwell's
Isthmus_, pp. 37-8, from _Hay's Report_, in _Powles' N. Granada_, are
the only sources of information on the subject with which I am
acquainted.
[II-4] _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp. 25, 28-31; _Seemann's Voy.
Herald_, vol. i., pp. 312-13; _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 338.
[II-5] _Hist. Mag._, vol. ix., p. 158.
[II-6] _Id._, vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 239-40.
[II-7] Three statues presented by Messrs Totten and Center in 1860
were about two feet high, of a dark, hard stone, in human form with
features and limbs distorted. Two of them had square tapering
pedestals apparently intended to support the figures upright in the
ground. _Id._, vol. iv., p. 144.
[II-8] _Id._, vol. iv., pp. 239-40, 274.
[II-9] _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., pp. 144, 177, 240-1, 274.
[II-10] _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. i., p. 314.
[II-11] _Cullen's Darien_, p. 38.
[II-12] _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp. 25-32; _Tate's Ancient
British Sculptured Rocks_.
[II-13] _Bidwell's Isthmus_, p. 37; _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 176.
[II-14] 'A much higher antiquity must be assigned to these
hieroglyphics than to the other monuments of America.' _Voy. Herald_,
vol. i., p. 313.
[II-15] _Hist. Mag._, vol. v., p. 50.
[II-16] Vol. i., chap. vii. of this work.
[II-17] _Merritt and Davis_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. iv., pp. 176, 274.
[II-18] In a work which I have not seen. That author's _Coup d'Œuil
sur la République de Costa Rica_, and _Memoir on the Boundary
Question_, furnish no information on the subject.
[II-19] _Wagner and Scherzer_, _Costa Rica_, pp. 465-6, 471, 522-4,
561.
[II-20] _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 338-9, and
plate.
[II-21] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 86; _Hist. Mag._, vol. vi., p.
119.
[II-22] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 25-6.
[II-23] _Meagher_, in _Harper's Mag._, vol. xx., p. 317.
[II-24] _Reichardt_, _Cent. Amer._, pp. 121-2.
[II-25] _Squier's Nicaragua_, p. 511.
[II-26] _Pownal_, in _Archæologia_, vol. v., p. 318, pl. xxvi.;
_Humboldt_, _Vues_, tom. ii., p. 205, pl. xiii.; (Ed. in folio, pl.
xxxix.); _Id._, in _Antiq. Mex._, tom. i., div. ii., pp. 27-8, tom.
ii., suppl. pl. vii., fig. xi.
[II-27] _Colon_, _Carta_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, tom. i.,
p. 307; _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. ii., p. 138.
[II-28] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 296-9; _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, p. 401.
[II-29] _Bard's (E. G. Squier) Waikna, or Adventures on the Mosquito
Shore_, pp. 216-17, 254, 258-60. The 'King of the Mosquitos' somewhat
severely criticised the work, in which, by the way, His Royal Highness
is not very reverently spoken of, as 'a pack of lies, especially when
it was notorious that the author had never visited the Mosquito
Coast.' _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, p. 271. 'Le désert qui s'étend
le long de la côte de la mer des Antilles, depuis le golfe Dulce
jusqu'à l'isthme de Darien, n'a pas offert jusqu'à présent de vestiges
indiquant que le peuple auquel on doit les monuments de Palenquè, de
Quiragua, de Copan, ait émigré au sud de l'isthme.' _Friederichsthal_,
in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 301.
[II-30] _Squier's Nicaragua_; _Boyle's Ride Across a Continent_. Mr E.
G. Squier resided in Nicaragua as Chargé d'Affaires of the United
States during the year 1849-50. On account of his position he was
afforded facilities for research not enjoyed by other foreigners, and
which his well-known antiquarian tastes and abilities prompted and
enabled him to use to the best advantage during the limited time left
from official duties. Besides the several editions of the work
mentioned, Mr Squier's accounts or fragments thereof have been
published in periodicals in different languages; while other authors
have made up almost wholly from his writings their brief descriptions
of Nicaraguan antiquities. See _Wappäus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p. 341;
_Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 128-35; _Tiedemann_, in _Heidelberger
Yahrb._, 1851, pp. 81, 91, 170; _Müller_, _Amerikanische
Urreligionen_, pp. 463, 484, 498, 544; _Andree_, in _Westland_, tom.
ii., pp. 3, 251; _Heine_, _Wanderbilder_, p. 181; _Holinski_, _La
Californie_, p. 252; _Baldwin's Anc. Amer._, p. 124. Frederick Boyle,
F.R.G.S., visited the country in 1865-6, with the examination of
antiquities as his main object. Both works are illustrated with plates
and cuts; and both authors brought away interesting specimens which
were deposited by the American in the Smithsonian Institution, and by
the Englishman in the British Museum. 'J'avoue n'avoir rien rencontré
d'important dans mes lectures, en ce qui touche les états de Costa
Rica et de Nicaragua.' _Dally_, _Races Indig._, p. 12.
[II-31] 'Nicht ... von abgesonderten Steinen umgeben, sondern fanden
sich, in einer Tiefe von drei Fuss, unregelmässig über die Ebene
zerstreut.' _Friederichsthal_, in _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, p. 128;
'Les îles du lac, notamment Ométépé semblent avoir servi de
sépultures à la population des villes environnantes, ... car on y
rencontre de vastes nécropoles ou villes des morts, ressemblant par
leur caractère à celles des anciens Mexicains.' _Id._ in _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297; in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xi., p. 100; _Woeniger_, in _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp.
509-10; _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 86.
[II-32] Plan showing their relative position, in _Squier's Nicaragua_,
p. 477.
[II-33] 'On y trouve (sur les îles du lac) encore un grand nombre de
débris de constructions antiques.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135.
[II-34] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 42.
[II-35] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 439-41.
[II-36] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., pp. 10-11.
[II-37] _Id._, vol. ii., pp. 161-2; _Squier's Nicaragua_, p. 396.
[II-38] 'Ils montrent avec effroi les débris de la cité maudite,
encore visibles sous la surface des eaux.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in
_Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 149.
[II-39] _Belcher's Voyage_, vol. i., p. 171; _Squier's Nicaragua_, p.
299.
[II-40] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 306-8; _Id._, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii.,
p. 335.
[II-41] _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 100; _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1811, tom. xcii., p. 297; _Squier's Nicaragua_,
(Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.
[II-42] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 159-61, 195-212, 291; _Pim and
Seemann's Dottings_, p. 126; On the buildings of the ancient
Nicaraguans, see vols. ii. and iii. of this work; also _Brasseur de
Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. ii., p. 114; _Peter Martyr_, dec.
vi., lib. v.; _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-6.
[II-43] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 154-5.
[II-44] _Froebel_, _Aus Amer._, tom. i., pp. 379-80; _Id._, _Cent.
Amer._, pp. 119-20.
[II-45] _Livingston_, in _Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii.,
pp. 334-5.
[II-46] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., p. 212.
[II-47] _Heine_, _Wanderbilder_, p. 181.
[II-48] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 435-41; 'Sur les parois du rocher on
voit encore des dessins bizarres gravés et peints en rouge, tels que
les donne M. Squier.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Nouvelles Annales
des Voy._, 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 147.
[II-49] Mr Boyle found the cliff-paintings to have suffered much since
Mr Squier's visit, thirteen years before; so much so that none could
be made out except the winged snake and red hand. He also states that
yellow as well as red pictures are here to be seen. _Boyle's Ride_,
vol. ii., pp. 160-1; _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 391-6. In a letter, a
fragment of which is published in the _Annual of Scientific
Discovery_, 1850, p. 364, Mr Squier declares the paintings precisely
in the style of the Mexican and Guatemalan MSS., closely resembling,
some of the figures indeed identical with, those of the Dresden MS.
Pim and Seemann, _Dottings_, p. 401, also noted the 'coiled-up lizard'
and other pictures, calling the locality Asososca Lake. Scherzer,
_Wanderungen_, p. 72, and _Trav._, vol. i., p. 77, mentions also
sculptured figures on this crater-wall.
[II-50] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., pp. 142-3.
[II-51] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 510-17. There were formerly many
idols resembling those of Zapatero, but they have been buried or
broken up. A group is reported still to be found near the foot of Mt
Madeira, but not seen. _Woeniger_, in _Id._, p. 509. _Froebel_, _Aus
Amer._, tom. i., p. 261.
[II-52] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 180, 470-90, 496; _Id._, (_ed._
1856,) vol. ii., p. 336; _Id._, in _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1851, p.
388. 'L'île de Zapatero a fourni des idoles qui sont comme des
imitations grossières du fameux colosse de Memnon, type connu de cette
impassibilité réfléchie que les Égyptiens donnaient à leurs dieux.'
_Holinski_, _La Californie_, p. 252. 'There still exist on its surface
some large stone idols.' _Scherzer's Trav._, vol. i., p. 31. 'Statues
d'hommes et d'animaux d'un effet grandiose, mais d'un travail qui
annonce une civilisation moins avancée que celle de l'Yucatan ou du
Guatémala.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._,
1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135; _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., p. 122.
[II-53] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. ii., pp. 42-7; _Friederichsthal_, in
_Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 100; _Id._, in _Nouvelles
Annales des Voy._, 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297.
[II-54] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 448-57. The head of fig. 1 is the
Mexican sign tochtli. The animal in fig. 2 may be intended for an
alligator. _Id._, in _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1851, p. 387.
[II-55] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 285-7, 295-301, 402; _Id._, in
_Annual Scien. Discov._, 1850, p. 363; _Wappäus_, _Geog. u. Stat._, p.
341.
[II-56] _Belcher's Voyage_, vol. i., p. 172; _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp.
179, 402.
[II-57] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 264-5, 301-7: 'Some of the statues
have the same elaborate head-dresses with others of Copan; one bears a
shield upon his arm; another has a girdle, to which is suspended a
head.' _Id._, in _Annual Scien. Discov._, 1850, p. 363.
[II-58] If idols, to Mr Boyle they indicate a worship of ancestors, of
which, however, there seems to be no historical evidence. Mr Pim
suggests that the idols of mild expression may be those worshiped
before, and those of more ferocious aspect after, the coming of the
Aztecs.
[II-59] The other Chontal statues more or less fully described are the
following: A huge monolith, of which twelve feet six inches were
unearthed, having a cross on the breast with two triangles, and the
arms and legs doubled back; a head four feet eight inches in
circumference, and one foot ten inches high; an idol four feet eight
inches high, wearing on its head an ornamented coronet, resembling a
circlet of overlapping oyster-shells, with a cross on the left
shoulder and a richly carved belt; a stone woman thirty-seven inches
high, having the left corner of the mouth drawn up so as to leave a
round hole between the lips, and the arms crossed at right angles from
the elbows; a very rude idol with pointed cap, holes for eyes, and a
slit for a mouth, whose modern use is to grind corn; and lastly, a
statue with beard and whiskers. _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 147-9,
158-64, 210-12, 242, 290-5; _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp. 126-8.
[II-60] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 290-1, vol. ii., pp. 97, 144-5;
_Squier's Nicaragua_, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339; _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, pp. 126-7.
[II-61] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 200-2, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45-6;
_Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 515, 521; cut of the leg of a stone vase,
_Id._, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339.
[II-62] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 256-7.
[II-63] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 150-2, 159, vol. ii., pp. 43, 98;
_Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 521-2; _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, pp.
126-7.
[II-64] _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 307-8, 476, 488; _Pim and Seemann's
Dottings_, p. 128.
[II-64] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 150-1, 201, 209, vol. ii., pp.
45, 86, 90-7; _Squier's Nicaragua_, pp. 299, 490, 509-10; _Id._, (Ed.
1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-8, 362; _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, p. 126;
_Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 128-9.
[II-65] _Boyle's Ride_, vol. i., pp. 150-1, vol. ii., p. 87; _Squier's
Nicaragua_, pp. 509-11.