resemblances and contrasts between the various styles treated. The
pyramidal structure we have found employed by both Mayas and Nahuas,
with certain modifications and with such resemblances as would seem to
indicate that both peoples had been originally, or at an early day,
near neighbors, and that the younger people, at least the more recent
in their occupancy of Mexico and Central America, the Nahuas, may
have copied the pyramid in its perfected form from the Mayas. We have
noted some difference between the ancient and modern Maya styles. In
the ancient or Chiapan, the irregularities in the face of the pyramid
caused by constructing it of tiers of rectangular stones were filled
with mortar, and an even surface produced. In the modern or Yucatec
style the blocks of stone-facing are bevelled to the angle of the
slope. Furthermore, in some instances the corners of the pyramids were
rounded. At Palenque the superstructures were of only one story, while
Yucatec structures were often formed of three receding stories. Of the
Copan ruins little can be said intelligently, except that the pyramid
combined with the terrace is all-pervading, but still is not unlike the
Palenque style in its main features. The Nahua architecture offers a
great variety of styles, but at the same time the pyramidal structure
is the fundamental feature of all kinds of structures. Mitla offers an
exception to this rule, but there are doubts as to whether Mitla may be
classified as a Nahua ruin at all. The early writers devoted much of
their attention to seeming old world resemblances in ancient American
architecture, but their speculations in most cases were puerile and
trivial. Mr. Stephens, with the experience which the careful study
and observation of old world monuments afforded him, strongly denies
that any such analogies are to be found among the Maya groups.[548] M.
Viollet-le-Duc considers the monuments of Mexico, especially those of
Maya origin, to have been influenced by white and yellow races, the
former of the Aryan from the north-east, the latter the Turanian from
the north-west. He seems to find some analogy between ancient Japanese
temples (and quotes a description from Charlevoix, _Histoire du Japan_,
ed. 1754, tom. i, chap. x, p. 171) and those of ancient America. He
thinks that the style of architecture at Uxmal indicates clearly that
the first structures were of wood and resembled the style prevalent in
Japan. However, the wooden structures more properly originated with
the white races, while the use of stucco is characteristic of the
Turanian or Yellow races of the north-west. He thinks it certain that
Mitla and Palenque were influenced by a white race.[549] Señor Garcia
y Cubas has attempted to prove in a careful argument that the pyramids
of Teotihuacan were built for the same purposes as were the pyramids
of Egypt. He considers the analogy established in eleven particulars,
as follows: the site chosen is the same; the structures are oriented
with slight variation, the line through the centres of the pyramids
is in the astronomical meridian; the construction in grades and steps
is the same; in both cases the larger pyramids are dedicated to the
sun; the Nile has a “valley of the dead,” as in Teotihuacan there is
a “street of the dead;” some monuments of each class have the nature
of fortifications; the smaller mounds are of the same nature and for
the same purpose; both pyramids have a small mound joined to one of
their faces; the openings discovered in the Pyramid of the Moon are
also found in some Egyptian pyramids; the interior arrangement of the
pyramids is analogous.[550] Mr. Delafield by a less systematic argument
advocates the same theory. However, his capability to discern analogies
is not confined to a single structure, since in the pyramid of Cholula
and the teocalli of the city of Mexico he finds a counterpart to the
temple of Belus at Babylon, as described by Herodotus. The walls
around the hill at Xochicalco explain the use of similar embankments
at Circleville and Marietta in Ohio, while the order of the apartments
at Mitla bears a striking analogy to the arrangements of apartments
in the temples of upper Egypt. This and much more Mr. Delafield has
been able to discover, but unfortunately only with certainty to
his own mind.[551] Löwenstern is equally certain that the American
monuments were not constructed by a nation analogous to that which
built the pyramids of Egypt.[552] Ranking, on the other hand, finds
that Teotihuacan was named after the illustrious dead buried beneath
its pyramids, as was the custom in Egypt, but in this instance the
name is analogous to that of Thiautcan or Khan, the name of the grand
Khan of the Monguls and Tartars who occupied the throne of China at
the time of Sir John Mandeville’s visit to Pekin in the fourteenth
century; and as at Teotihuacan and among the Monguls the sun and moon
were worshipped, so, according to Ranking, those American monuments
are attributable to Mongul architects.[553] It would be easy for us to
continue the citation of these fancied analogies, but it is no doubt
already apparent to the reader that they are generally of too trivial a
character to serve the ends of science, and we therefore dismiss their
further consideration.[554]
[Illustration: Stucco Bas-relief in the Palace.
Fig. 1.]
_Sculpture and Hieroglyphics._—The mound sculpture, as has been
observed in the cuts illustrating a previous chapter of this work,
though comparatively rude in most cases, still, in a few instances,
is quite remarkable as affording true representations of animals
and possibly of the human face. Considerable progress in the art of
ornamentation in terra-cotta is displayed on many of the vases and
burial urns exhumed from the mounds. Many of the lines, figures and
borders traced in relief and sometimes in taglio on those vessels
indicate not only that a sense of the beautiful was present, but that
it had been cultivated to a considerable extent. The same remarks apply
to the pottery of the Pueblos and Cliff-dwellers. At Palenque, however,
the student of art meets with no mean attempts at delineating the
human form—in fact, the success obtained in this difficult field alone
characterized the work of the Palenque artists. It is presumed that
nearly all of the piers separating the doorways in the eastern wall of
the palace were ornamented with stucco bas-reliefs. Two out of six of
the best preserved are shown in the following cuts. The most remarkable
feature of the first (Fig. 1, reduced from Waldeck for Bancroft’s
work) is the cranial type, deformed to a shocking degree, probably by
artificial pressure, so generally employed by the ancient American
races. Possibly it is but a caricature.
[Illustration: Stucco Bas-relief in the Palace.
Fig. 2.]
Fig. 2 (a photographic reduction from Waldeck) presents us with a
subject which has called forth no little discussion. The “elephant’s
trunk” which protrudes from the elaborate head-dress of the priest has
been thought to indicate an Asiatic influence.[555] We have already
referred to the frequent occurrence of the “elephant trunk” ornament in
Yucatan. The hieroglyphic signs at the top and on the faces of these
reliefs no doubt hold locked up in their mysterious symbols the history
of the scene.
In all of these reliefs the flattened cranial type is present, and
no doubt represents the ideal of beauty among those ancient people.
The stuccoes appear to have been moulded upon the undercoating of
cement after it had become hard. The brush of the painter was then
employed in its final embellishment.[556] Adjacent to the eastern
stairway leading downward into the main court of the palace are great
stone slabs, forming a surface on each side of the steps fifty feet
long by eleven feet high. Waldeck, Stephens and Bancroft furnish
views of gigantic human figures sculptured in low relief upon these
surfaces. Both the attitudes and expressions portrayed indicate that
the groups represented are either captives or possibly victims for
sacrifice.[557] On the opposite side of the court, and on the stone
face of the balustrade of a stairway, two figures, male and female, are
sculptured, which, according to Waldeck, are of the Caucasian type. The
same artist has shown the beautiful grecques which adorn the panels of
the cornice.[558] Waldeck and Bancroft have figured a remarkable stone
tablet of elliptical form, in which a princely personage is represented
as sitting cross-legged on a chair formed of a double-headed animal,
pronounced by Stephens to resemble a leopard. Catherword’s plate, in
Morelet’s _Travels_, shows an ornament suspended from the neck of
the chief figure resembling an effigy of the sun, while in Waldeck’s
drawing the Egyptian Tau is graven upon the ornament.[559] The
accompanying cut shows Waldeck’s drawing (employed by Mr. Bancroft).
[Illustration: Sculptured Tablet in the Palace.]
Four hundred yards south of the palace stands the ruins of a pyramid
and temple, which, at the time of Dupaix’s and of Waldeck’s visits
were in a good state of preservation, but quite dilapidated when seen
by Charnay. The temple faces the east, and on the western wall of its
inner apartment, itself facing the eastern light, is found (or rather
was, for it has now entirely disappeared) the most beautiful specimen
of stucco relief in America. M. Waldeck, with the critical insight
of an experienced artist, declares it “worthy to be compared to the
most beautiful works of the age of Augustus.” He therefore named the
temple the Beau Relief. The above cut is a reduction from Waldeck’s
drawing used in Mr. Bancroft’s work, and is very accurate. However,
the peculiar beauty of Waldeck’s drawing is such that it must be seen
in order to be fully appreciated.
[Illustration: Beau Relief in Stucco.]
It is scarcely necessary for us to call the reader’s attention to the
details of this picture, in which correctness of design and graceful
outlines predominate to such an extent that we may safely pronounce
the beautiful youth who sits enthroned on his elaborate and artistic
throne, the American Apollo. In the original drawing the grace of the
arms and wrists is truly matchless, and the chest muscles are displayed
in the most perfect manner. The embroidered girdle and folded drapery
of the figure, as well as the drapery around the leopards’ necks, are
arranged with taste. The head-dress is not unlike a Roman helmet in
form, with the addition of numerous plumes. The sandals of the feet are
secured by a cord and rosette, while ornaments on the animals’ ankles
seem secured by leather straps. The engraving does not do justice to
the face-like ornament suspended by the string of pearls upon the
youth’s breast. In the original drawing it is quite beautiful, and of a
female cast.[560]
The next subject of interest to the student of sculpture is found in
the Temple of the Cross, in the inmost sanctuary of all, and is known
as the Tablet of the Cross. Three stones cover most of the surface of
the rear wall of the sanctum sanctorum, and present an area six feet
four inches high by ten feet eight inches wide. The central of the
three stones bears the celebrated sculpture of the cross which has
excited so much interest and comment, to say nothing of speculation
as to its origin. The cut is a photographic reduction from Waldeck’s
drawing. A priest and priestess appear to be offering an infant to an
ugly bird which stands perched upon the cross. The infant’s face is
completely hid by a fantastic mask or cap. The expression of pain on
the faces of the officiating personages is very marked. The symmetry
of proportion employed in the sculpture is conceded by all observers.
The two lateral stones (the left-hand one being shown in our cut) are
covered with hieroglyphics, which begin at the left-hand upper corner
with a large capital letter. Some one had removed the central stone
from its position prior to Waldeck’s visit, and conveyed it to a point
in the forest not far distant. Stephens also found it in the same
locality. By referring to the hieroglyphic tablet at the left of the
cross it will be observed that just below the large initial letter or
word is a threefold hieroglyphic, while seven others in the same column
are double. This would indicate, we should think, that the characters
were read from the top downwards, though it is possible that the lines
were read horizontally, each line beginning with a capital as in
poetry.[561]
[Illustration: Tablet of the Cross.]
[Illustration: Palenque Statue.]
On either side of the doorway opening to the inner sanctuary of the
Cross, were originally two male figures sculptured in low-relief on
stone; one of them, which appears to represent an aged royal person,
is beautifully clad in a leopard’s skin, while the opposite figure,
designed probably to represent youthful manhood, is arrayed in what
may be an elaborate military dress and plumed crest of magnificent
character. He wears what appears to be a cuirass about his shoulders
and chest. These tablets were removed to the village of Santo Domingo
years ago and set up in a modern house, where they were offered to
M. Waldeck on the sole condition that he should marry one of the
proprietresses, though he at the time was more than sixty-four years of
age. Stephens could have obtained them by purchasing the house in which
they had been placed, but did not.[562] On the slope of the pyramid of
the Cross, M. Waldeck found two statues just alike, one of which was
unfortunately broken; the other, subsequently sketched by Catherwood,
is shown in the cut, a photographic reduction from Waldeck. These
statues were ten and a half feet high, though two and a half feet of
their length, not shown in the cut, formed a tenon by which they were
embedded in the floor of the pyramidal surface, where Waldeck supposes
they stood supporting a platform about twenty feet square, in front of
the central doorway. These are the only statues ever found at Palenque;
but it is doubted whether they can be technically called statues, since
the back is of rough stone, and unsculptured. They probably rested
against a wall and served as supports for an upper roof or floor, as
indicated by Waldeck. The head-dress has been pronounced Egyptian by
all who have seen it.[563]
In the temple of the Sun, in a position precisely corresponding to
that occupied by the tablet of the cross, stands a somewhat similar
tablet cut in low-relief on three slabs covering an area of eight by
nine feet. The figure of the cross in this instance is displaced by
a hideous face or mask supposed to represent the sun, supported by a
framework resting on the shoulders of crouching men. The priest and
priestess occupy the same positions as occupied by them in the tablet
of the cross. Each is in the act of presenting a child with masked face
to the sun, and each is standing upon the back of a kneeling slave.
The lateral tablets are covered with columns or rows of hieroglyphics,
as in the tablet of the cross.[564] The stuccoed roofs and piers of
both the temples—Cross and Sun—may be truly pronounced works of art
of a high order. On the former, Stephens observed busts and heads
approaching the Greek models in symmetry of contour and perfectness
of proportion. M. Waldeck has preserved in his magnificent drawings
some of these figures, which are certainly sufficient to prove
beyond controversy, that the ancient Palenqueans were a cultivated
and artistic people. In passing to Uxmal the transition is from
delineations of the human figure to the elegant and superabundant
exterior ornamentation of edifices, and from stucco to stone as the
material employed. The human figure, however, when it is represented,
is in statuary of a high order. The artists of Uxmal did not improve
upon the Palenque models so much in the design as in the execution
of their subjects. Uxmal statuary approximates more closely to what
properly may be called statuary, being cut more nearly “in the round”
and having less unfinished back surface than the Palenque statue. The
elegant square panels of grecques and frets which compose the cornice
of the Casa del Gobernador, delineated in the works of Stephens,
Baldwin and Bancroft, are a marvel of beauty, which must excite the
admiration of the most indifferent student of this subject. The
ornamentation of this great cornice, equal to one-third the height of
the building, is cut on blocks of stone and inserted in the wall with
the utmost precision, so that every line matches, and the graceful
arabesques and bas-reliefs, which sometimes cover several blocks with a
single figure, are unbroken by apparent joints. The grandest specimens
of American ornamental sculpture are, however, to be seen on the inner
fronts of the four buildings of the Casa de Monjas, a plan of which is
given on page 351 of this work. It will be remembered that these fronts
face the court around which the buildings were constructed. The court
front of the eastern building is probably one of the most tasteful and
interesting specimens of sculpture to be met with in America.[565] M.
Waldeck considers that it presents an appearance of grandeur of which
it would be difficult to give an idea, while Stephens considers its
chasteness of design a great relief from the gorgeous masses of other
façades. The cornice over the central doorway and the corners of the
eastern court façade are ornamented with ugly masks and “elephant
trunks” protruding from them, as in the Governor’s home.[566] If the
preceding façade is the most generally admired of those at Uxmal, “the
most magnificent and beautiful front in America” is that of the Serpent
Temple, or western court façade of the Nunnery, as is shown in the
accompanying engraving, which is a photographic reduction of Waldeck’s
drawing employed in Mr. Bancroft’s work.
[Illustration: Western Court Façade—Casa de Monjas.]
[Illustration: Sun Symbol.]
The marked feature of the sculpture is the formation of square panels
by the intertwined bodies of two huge stone serpents with monster
heads, surmounted by plumes and enclosing between the jaws of each a
human face. A head and tail as shown above occupy opposite extremes of
the front. This may be a representation of the plumed serpent of the
Central American mythology. The stone lattice-work (a feature of Uxmal
sculpture) underlying the serpents and covering the panels formed
by their folds, is more complicated and beautiful than any other in
America. At regular intervals large grecques or arabesques, with their
connecting bars lengthened to the width of the entire sculptured
portion of the façade, are distributed. Several panels are ornamented
with life-sized human figures, while each panel contains a human
face, some of which are as beautiful as the Greek models. The upper
cornice is ornamented, as are all the other cornices of the Nunnery,
with what are supposed to be Sun symbols, one of which is shown in the
cut, reduced photographically from Waldeck’s drawing. The appended
“feathers” are almost Assyrian in their type, while the double triangle
within the circle is certainly an ancient symbol in the old world.
[Illustration: “Elephant Trunk.”]
The “elephant trunks” and rude masks employed as ornaments above
the doorways of the other fronts, are also numerous here. Since
M. Waldeck’s visit portions of this wonderful example of ancient
decorative art have fallen.[567] The northern building of the court
offers no sculptured contrasts with the other buildings, except that
above the upper cornice, thirteen turrets, each seventeen feet high
and ten feet wide, are distributed at regular intervals, and are
also covered with sculpture resembling the grecques of the Serpent
temple. Most of the sculptures at Uxmal were probably painted, as
traces of various colors were observed in sheltered localities. The
rich sculptures of the prophet’s house were painted blue, red, yellow
and white, according to M. Waldeck. The Mayas no doubt employed the
brush freely, and in some instances with skill. In the gymnasium at
Chichen-Itza, Stephens grew enthusiastic over the exceedingly fine
series of paintings in bright colors, which cover the walls of one
of the chambers. Many of the pictures have been destroyed by the
falling of the plaster upon which they were painted. In this series of
pictures, battles, processions, houses, trees and a variety of objects
are represented—blue, red, yellow and green are the colors employed,
though the human figures are painted reddish brown.[568] At Chichen, as
elsewhere, the favorite subject for the Maya sculpture was the serpent.
A colossal serpent balustrade is one of the wonders of this interesting
place.
Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, during the last quarter of the year 1875,
made an extensive exploration of Chichen-Itza. The reports of his
discoveries seem at first well-nigh fabulous, though their authenticity
is so well attested as to leave no room for doubt. Mr. Stephen
Salisbury, Jr., of Worcester, Massachusetts, has in several memoirs
of intense interest and unusual scientific value, communicated the
progress and results of Dr. Le Plongeon’s exploration in Yucatan to
the American Antiquarian Society. Mr. Salisbury has also presented
the explorer’s original memoirs, accompanied by photographs made at
Chichen-Itza and on the Islands of Cozumel and Mugeres. These valuable
documents have reached the public in Mr. Salisbury’s publications
entitled, (1.) _The Mayas, the Sources of their History_ (Worcester,
1877, with heliotype reproductions of the photos); (2.) _Maya
Archæology_ (Worcester, 1879, with heliotype reproductions of photos
and drawings).[569] In these pages we are impressed with the fact that
the darkness which has so long enveloped the antiquity of Yucatan is
soon to be displaced by the noon-day of scientific investigation. Still
we cannot refrain from expressing the regret that Dr. Le Plongeon’s
enthusiasm is so apparent in his reports. A judicial frame of mind,
as well as the calmness which accompanies it, are requisites both for
scientific work and the inspiration of confidence in the reader.
Notwithstanding this, our views have been most happily expressed by the
committee of the American Antiquarian Society, to whom was entrusted
the publication of Dr. Le Plongeon’s memoirs. Their statement is as
follows: “The successes of Du Chaillu, Schliemann, and of Stanley, are
remarkable instances of triumphant results in cases where enthusiasm
had been supposed to lack the guidance of wisdom. If earnest men are
willing to take the risks of personal research in hazardous regions,
or exercise their ingenuity and their scholarship in attempting to
solve historical or archæological problems, we may accept thankfully
the information they give, without first demanding in all cases
unquestionable evidence or absolute demonstration.”
Dr. Le Plongeon says of the columns at Chichen, “the base is formed by
the head of Cukulcan, the shaft by the body of the serpent, with its
feathers beautifully carved to the very chapter. On the chapters of
the columns that support the portico, at the entrance of the castle
in Chichen-Itza, may be seen the carved figures of long bearded men,
with upraised hands, in the act of worshipping sacred trees. They
forcibly recall to mind the same worship in Assyria.” In consequence
of the successful interpretation of certain hieroglyphic inscriptions
at Chichen, the explorer and his wife (who accompanied him in his
perilous enterprise), learned that the statue of Chaac Mol, or Balam,
(the tiger king), the greatest of the Itza monarchs, had been buried
below the surface of the ground at a certain point, distant four
hundred yards from the palace. The first result of excavation in
the locality indicated was the discovery of a sculptured tiger of
colossal size, having a human head, which, unfortunately, was broken
off. Several slabs bearing sculptures of tigers and birds of prey in
relief were unearthed. A pedestal supporting the sculptured tiger
apparently had once occupied the spot, and its destruction had left a
mound of débris. Seven metres below the surface of this mound a rough
stone urn containing a little dust was secured, and upon it an earthen
cover. This was near the head of the statue of Chaac Mol, which was
next disclosed. The statue is of a white calcareous stone, one metre
fifty-five centimetres long, one metre fifteen centimetres in height,
and eighty centimetres wide, and weighed fifty kilos. The statue
represents the reclining figure of a man, who is naked except that he
is adorned with a head-dress, with bracelets, garters of feathers,
and sandals similar to those found upon the mummies of the ancient
Guanchies of the Canary Islands.
[Illustration: Sculptured Slab found at Chichen-Itza.]
The statue of Chaac Mol was seized by Mexican officials and sent to the
capital. Our friend, the Rev. John W. Butler, of the city of Mexico,
writes to us (letter received October 10, 1878) concerning the statue:
“It is just as represented. It may be seen in the National Museum, just
opposite its exact duplicate, which was found under the Plaza of the
city of Mexico, some years ago. What is the meaning of this? The tribe
whose king (or god) it was, must have _migrated southward_, for the one
excavated in Mexico shows _greater age_ than the one from Yucatan.” In
reply we would say that the evidences are sufficient that the Maya
civilization once extended farther north than the city of Mexico, but
the conquests of the Nahuas drove that ancient people no doubt to
abandon their northern territory and to confine themselves to their
lands farther south.
[Illustration: Sculptured Slab found at Chichen-Itza.]
[Illustration: Statue of Chaac Mol.]
Dr. Le Plongeon, in speaking of the historical value of the statue,
says Chaac Mol was one of the three brothers whom tradition declares
were the co-rulers of Yucatan at a very ancient period. Chaac Mol and
his beautiful queen Kinich-Kakmó were the powerful sovereigns of the
kingdom of Chichen-Itza. Aac, one of the brothers, becoming enamored of
his sister-in-law Kinich-Kakmó, slew Chaac Mol that he might make her
his wife. The funeral-chamber, the mural paintings, the statues, and
the monument of the murdered king found by the explorer, were memorials
of the sad event which the faithful queen caused to be executed by the
artisans and artists of the royal city. Dr. Le Plongeon remarks: “In
the funeral-chamber, the terrible altercation between Aac and Chaac
Mol, which had its termination in the murder of the latter by his
brother, is represented by large figures, three-fourths life size.
There Aac is painted holding three spears in his hands, typical of the
three wounds he inflicted on the back of his brother. These wounds are
indicated on the statue of the dying tiger (symbol of Chaac Mol) by two
holes near the lumbar region, and one under the left scapula, proving
that the blow was aimed at the heart from behind. The two wounds are
also marked by two holes near each other in the lumbar region, on the
_bas-relief_ of the tiger eating a human heart that adorned the Chaac
Mol mausoleum (see sculptured slab on page 398).”[570]
Mr. Stephen Salisbury, Jr., in his _Maya Archæology_, has reproduced
one of Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongeon’s tracings of a mural painting in the
funeral-chamber of the Chaac Mol monument at Chichen-Itza. Through the
courtesy of Mr. Salisbury we have been permitted to copy it for this
work. The Doctor interprets it as representing the queen Kinich-Kakmó
when a child consulting an _H-Men_, one of the Maya wise men or
astrologers, in order to know her destiny. The prediction is based upon
the lines produced by fire on the shell of an armadillo or turtle, and
is expressed in the colors of the elaborate scroll proceeding from the
throat of the _H-Men_. Referring to his tracings of mural paintings
at Chichen-Itza, Dr. Le Plongeon says “they represent war scenes
with javelins flying in all directions, warriors fighting, shouting,
assuming all sorts of athletic positions, scenes from domestic life,
marriage ceremonies, temples with complete domes, proving that the Itza
architects were acquainted with the circular arch, but made use of the
triangular probably because it was the custom and style of architecture
of the time and country.”[571] Besides the sculptures of long-bearded
men seen by the explorer at Chichen-Itza mentioned on a preceding
page, were tall figures of people with small heads, thick lips, and
curly short hair or wool, regarded as negroes. “We always see them as
standard or parasol bearers, but never engaged in actual warfare.”[572]
He pronounces the features of the long-bearded men pictured on the
walls of the queen’s chambers to be Assyrian in their type. On the Isla
Mugeres (in the latter part of the year 1876), Dr. Le Plongeon exhumed
portions of a female figure in terra-cotta, which indicate an advanced
state of art among the ancient Mayas. The fragments of the statue,
consisting of the head and feet, were probably attached to the front
of a brasero or incense-burner used at the shrine of the Maya Venus,
located on the southern extremity of the island. It was immediately
in front of this shrine, visited by Cordova in 1516,[573] that the
remains of the statue were found buried in the sand. The expression of
the face is cruel and savage, the nostrils are perforated and also the
pupils of the eyes. The teeth are filed as those of the statue Chaac
Mol are said to be. The head is surmounted by a head-dress eight inches
high. The fragments of this statue are now in the possession of Mr.
Salisbury.[574]
[Illustration: Mural Painting from Chaac Mol Monument
Chichen-Itza.—(From a copy by Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongeon.)]
[Illustration: Terra-cotta Figure from Isla Mugeres.]
Through the courtesy of the owner we are enabled to present a
photographic reduction of the relics in the preceding cut.
[Illustration: The Cara Gigantesca.]
At Izamel, the burial-place of the culture-hero Zamna, a remarkable
example of aboriginal sculpture is found upon the side of a mound now
enclosed in a private court-yard. This specimen of art, known as the
Cara gigantesca, or gigantic face, measures seven feet in width and
seven feet eight inches in height. “The features were first rudely
formed by small rough stones, fixed in the side of the mound by means
of mortar, and afterwards perfected with a stucco so hard that it has
successfully resisted for centuries the action of air and water.”
The accompanying cut from Mr. Bancroft’s work will show the type of
features.
The subject of Maya sculpture is almost a limitless one, but we trust
that the above-cited examples may give the reader a comprehensive
acquaintance with the existing types. The sculpture of Copan is no
less remarkable than its architecture. In fact, every object bore the
skillful marks of the graver’s chisel. The great number of sculptured
obelisks, pillars and idols have been the wonder of every reader of Mr.
Stephens’ description. Since his work is so generally known, we refrain
from presenting more than one example of Copan art. In the accompanying
cut employed in Mr. Bancroft’s work the elaborateness of the sculpture
will be observed, and may well be pronounced a marvel of aboriginal art.
[Illustration: Copan Statue.]
But for the perfectly horizontal position of the eyes, the aspect of
some of the faces represented by Stephens would strike us as having
a Mongolian cast. The magnificently sculptured hieroglyphics which
cover the sides and backs of these huge idols, no doubt could tell
the sealed story of Copan’s greatness and the attributes of its many
gods, were the key once discovered. Everything is covered with these
significant symbols, differing slightly from those at Palenque; but who
will read them? In the court of the temple, a solid block of stone six
feet square and four feet high, resting on four globular stones was
sketched by Catherwood, and pronounced an altar by Stephens. Sixteen
figures in profile, with turbaned heads, breast-plates, and each
seated cross-legged on hieroglyphic-like cushions, are sculptured in
low-relief, four figures being on each side of the block. The top of
the altar is covered with thirty-six squares of hieroglyphics, shown
in a cut on a future page. Besides numbers of masks, effigies and rows
of death’s heads at Copan, there are sculptures of the face which we
may believe to have been portraits. The Copan sculpture is generally
admitted to be of a high order, and Stephens thinks it unsurpassed in
Egypt. The receding forehead of most of the portraits have excited
general interest, and are believed to be delineations of the priestly
or aristocratic type. No weapons are sculptured at Copan, but on the
contrary altars abound in considerable numbers, especially in front
of the sculptured obelisks or idols. The presumption is therefore
strong that this was a religious centre, unmolested by any enemy, and
undisturbed by the alarm of war.[575]
[Illustration: Figure from Monte Alban.]
_Nahua Sculpture._—The Nahua sculpture is not of as high an order nor
of as frequent occurrence as that of the Mayas. At Monte Alban in
Oajaca, in a gallery within a mound, Castañeda sketched the sculptured
profile shown in the accompanying cut, employed in Mr. Bancroft’s work.
It is cut upon the face of a granite block about three feet square, and
is interesting because of the Chinese-like queue which hangs from the
figure’s head. At Mitla the grecques and arabesques which cover the
façades of the several edifices are not sculptured, except in cases
where large stones serve as lintels over doorways. On them the running
borders are sculptured in low-relief, while the remainder of the
profuse ornamentation is of the nature of mosaic work, being built into
the wall.
Several minor objects of sculpture found in the States of Oajaca and
Vera Cruz might be cited, but their interest for the reader would be
too insignificant to justify a description.[576] One of the principal
objects of this class and much superior to any of the others is a
grotesque fountain cut in the living rock at Tusapan. The statue is
that of a woman in a kneeling posture, and measures nineteen feet in
height. The waters of a neighboring spring formerly ran into a basin
formed among the plumes of the female’s head-dress, from which it found
its way through the entire length of the figure, and flowed forth from
beneath her skirts.[577] At Panuco the traditional point of the arrival
of the Nahuas, several rude limestone statues were found, some of which
have been figured in the _Journal of the London Geographical Society_,
by Mr. Vetch, one of which is copied by Mr. Bancroft.[578] The marked
features of these statues is the elaborateness of the style of
head-dress worn. We cannot see that they are far removed in their style
from similar statues dug from mounds in the Mississippi Valley. In the
State of Puebla, at various points, especially at Tepexe el Viejo, at
Tepeaca, and at Quanhquelchula, minor sculptures of animals, birds,
reptiles, monsters, etc., were observed by Dupaix.[579] Rattlesnakes
were found plentiful both in sculptures and in a state of nature.
At Cuernavaca, in the State of Mexico, numerous boulder-sculptures,
finely executed in low-relief, exist. Dupaix has figured and Bancroft
copied one in particular, showing a beautiful coat-of-arms, sculptured
on the smooth face of a huge boulder. A circle of arrows and Maltese
cross which compose them, are all symbolical of power.[580] Similar
coats-of-arms were observed in the State of Puebla. Probably the most
remarkable sculpture found in the country occupied by the Nahuas, is
that upon the walls of the pyramid of Xochicalco, illustrated on a
preceding page.[581] Most of the sculptures are of colossal dragons’
heads, which occur at each of the corners. Human figures, seated
cross-legged and holding something like the Assyrian sun symbol in the
left are found on the frieze, though some observers have considered
this figure to be that of a curved cross-hilted sword, a weapon never
employed by the Nahuas. The elaborate head-dresses and strings of
enormous pearls worn by the seated figures bear a striking resemblance
to the stuccoes of Palenque. At Xochimilco on the western shore of
Lake Chalco, Dupaix found several interesting specimens of ancient
sculpture.[582] The most celebrated article of Aztec sculpture,
unquestionably, is the calendar-stone, which, together with the
so-called sacrificial stone and the idol Teoyaomiqui, was in December,
1790, dug up in the Plaza Mayor, in the city of Mexico, on the
supposed site of the great teocalli, destroyed by the conquerors. The
calendar-stone, now built into the wall of the cathedral, where it can
be seen by all passers-by, is a rectangular block of porphyry, thirteen
feet one inch square and three feet three inches thick, and of the
enormous estimated weight of twenty-four tons. The sculptured portion
of the block, on the exposed face, is contained in a circle, eleven
feet one inch and four-fifths of an inch in diameter. The regularity
and geometrical precision with which the figures are executed called
forth enthusiastic admiration from Humboldt, and has been the source
of equal wonderment to many later observers. Our cut is a reproduction
of Charnay’s photograph, by means of the photo-engraving process, and
may be relied upon as absolutely correct. Prescott considers that the
original weight of the block before it was mutilated must have been
nearly fifty tons; and as no similar stone is found within a radius
of twenty-five miles of Mexico, that it must have been brought from
the mountains beyond Lake Chalco.[583] Some remarks upon the Aztec
calendar will be found in the following chapter. The sacrificial stone
is a cylindrical block of porphyry, nine feet ten inches in diameter
and three feet seven inches thick, and is now lying in the courtyard
of the University of Mexico. If the reader will imagine the border
of the calendar-stone outside of the eight triangular points removed
entirely, will substitute a concave basin in the place of the central
face or sun, also instead of all the calendar signs intervening between
the face and the circle, upon which the base of the four principal
triangular figures rest, will imagine the existence of several
concentric circles not unlike strings of beads, he will have a general
idea of the top of the stone. We should not omit to state that a groove
or channel leads from the central basin to the outer circumference. The
use of the stone is a matter of controversy, Humboldt considering it
the gladiatorial stone, Gama a calendar-stone, and Tylor that it was
an altar on which animals were sacrificed. Fifteen groups of two human
figures, each dressed in the insignia of royalty, are sculptured around
its circumference. Bancroft, as well as several others, give cuts of
the stone and sculptures. The horrid monster Teoyaomiqui—goddess of
death—is sculptured in high-relief on a block of porphyry ten feet
high and six feet wide and thick. Probably no mythology nor all the
mythologies of the world besides could produce so hideous and unsightly
a combination of reptile, human and infernal forms, as make up the
three sides of this idol.[584] Mr. Bancroft first figured the beautiful
earthen burial vase dug up in the Plaza Tlatelulco and sketched by Col.
Mayer. It is twenty-two inches high and fifteen and a half inches in
diameter; a closely fitting lid most chastely sculptured covered it, as
will be seen in the accompanying cut.
[Illustration: Aztec Calendar Stone in its Present Condition.]
[Illustration: Burial Urn from Mexico.]
Among the elegant sculptures upon one of its sides is a comely face
surmounted by a crown, from each side of which project wings of
the same character as were employed to symbolize the sun among the
Assyrians.[585] The original is pronounced one of the finest relics
preserved in the Mexican Museum. M. Waldeck has figured many beautiful
examples of Mexican ceramic art preserved in the above collection as
well as in others. The finest specimens of ancient terra-cotta work of
which we have any knowledge are shown in the cut, photographically
reduced from Waldeck’s plate.[586]
[Illustration: Vases from Waldeck.]
No description can convey any idea of their beauty. The upper left-hand
vase, it will be observed, is supported on three feet, each perforated
by a perfect Maltese Cross. The central lower vase, of remarkable
symmetry, is distinguished by the perfect _crux ansata_ which adorns
its side. The lower right and left hand figures are different views of
a swinging lamp. These vases cannot but command the admiration of all
who see them. M. Waldeck has delineated with remarkable artistic skill
three specimens of Mexican mosaic work now in the Christy collection in
London. One of these beautiful relics is shown in the cut, reduced from
Waldeck’s colored plate for Mr. Bancroft’s work.
[Illustration: Mosaic Knife—Christy Collection.]
However, the cut conveys but a faint idea of its beauty, especially
of the handle. The blade is of semi-translucent chalcedony from the
volcanic regions of Mexico, while the handle is a most artistic mosaic
of bright green turquoise, malachite, and white and red shells. The
blade is of a light straw-colored tint, and is mortised in the handle,
which is wrapped nearest to the blade with what appears to be a golden
braid. Mr. Bancroft remarks “it is certainly most extraordinary to
find a people still in the stone age, as is proved by the blade, able
to execute so perfect a piece of work as the handle exhibits.”[587]
Among the few relics recovered at Tula, the ancient Toltec capital
Tollan, the column shown in the cut (from Mr. Bancroft’s work) is very
interesting, both for its sculpture and for the exhibition it affords
of the manner in which the Toltecs formed their columns, namely, by
fastening the sections together by means of circular tenons. The
largest block measures four feet long by two and a half in diameter.
[Illustration: A Column from Tula.]
Our National Museum at Washington contains numerous fine specimens of
Mexican terra-cotta ware, some of which have been figured recently
in Dr. Charles Rau’s “Archæological Collection of the U. S. National
Museum.”[588] Two large vases in particular demand attention. These
were brought to the United States by General Alfred Gibbs at the close
of the Mexican war, and are shown in the cut.
The upper vase, which is thirteen and a half inches high, is very
elaborately wrought, being surrounded with ten female figures in
relief, each alternate figure bearing a child on the left arm. It is
noticeable that the head-dresses of the figures holding the children
are more elaborate than those of the remaining figures. The second or
lower vase, Dr. Rau considers equal to many Etruscan or Greek vases
in gracefulness of outline. “The vessel may be compared to a pitcher
with two handles, standing opposite each other, and with two mouths
projecting between them.” Among the terra-cotta images of Mexican
origin in the National Museum the two shown in the cut are of interest.
The left-hand figure is that of a woman pressing her hands upon her
ears. The face represents an aged individual. The Museum possesses
almost an exact duplicate of this image. The right-hand figure is
much smaller and is hollow, enclosing a clay ball, and was probably
used as a rattle. It is scarcely necessary for us to remark that the
seeming analogies between the Maya (Central American) sculpture and
that of Egypt have often been noted. Juarros, in speaking of Palenque
art, says: “The hieroglyphics, symbols and emblems which have been
discovered in the temples, bear so strong a resemblance to those of
the Egyptians, as to encourage the supposition that a colony of that
nation may have founded the city of Palenque or Culhuacan.”[589]
Giordan found, as he thought, the most striking analogies between the
Central American remains, as well as those of Mexico, and those of
the Egyptians. The idols and monuments he considers of the same form
in both countries, while the hieroglyphics of Palenque do not differ
from those of ancient Thebes.[590] Señor Melgar, in a communication
to the Mexican Geographical Society, has called attention to the
frequent occurrence of the (Τ) _tau_ at Palenque, and has more
studiously advocated the early relationship of the Palenqueans to
Egypt than any other reliable writer.[591] He cites Dupaix’s _Third
Expedition_, page 77 and plates 26 and 27, where in the first figure
is a goddess with a necklace supporting a _tau_ like medallion to
which the explorer adds the remark that such is “the symbol in Egypt
of reproduction or abundance.” In the second plate he finds an altar
dedicated expressly to the _tau_. He considers that the cultus of this,
the symbol of the active principle in nature, prevailed in Mexico in
many places. Señor Melgar also refers to two idols found south of the
city of Mexico, “in one of which two symbols were united, namely, the
Cosmogonic egg, symbolical of creation, and two faces, symbols of the
generative principle. The other symbolized creation in the bursting
forth of an egg. These symbols are not found in the Aztec mythology,
but belong to the Indian, Egyptian, Greek, Persian, Japanese and other
cosmogonies.” This, the Señor considers proof that these peoples were
the primitive colonists of that region, and seeks to sustain his views
by references to the Dharma Sastra of Manou and the Zend Avesta. The
reader has no doubt been surprised at the frequent occurrence of the
[Τ]-shaped niches in the Palenque palace, and has observed the same
symbol employed on some of the hieroglyphics of the Tablet of the
Cross. The Egyptian tau, one of the members of the _Crux ansata_, is
certainly present at Palenque, but whether it was derived from any one
of the Mediterranean peoples who employed it, cannot be ascertained.
Among the Egyptians it signified “life,” as is shown by the best
Egyptologists.[592] The tau was usually surmounted by a roundlet,
though such was not always the case. On a stele from Korasabad, an
eagle-headed man is depicted as holding the oval in one hand and the
cross in the other.[593] M. Mariette recently, while exploring the
ancient temple of Denderah, discovered the sacred symbol in a niche of
the holy of holies. It is probable that this emblem was the central
object of interest in these inner precincts of the temple, as it was
preserved with scrupulous care as the hidden wisdom.[594] Macrobius
tells us that the _crux ansata_ was the hieroglyphic sign of Osiris
or the Sun,[595] but other writers inform us that it was an ancient
symbol of majesty and divinity, and so employed in a modified form in
the hands of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.[596] The associations of the
tau in Central America are such as to lead us to believe that it may
have had a significance analogous to that which it possessed on the
shores of the Mediterranean, the Nile, and the Ganges. The Palenque
Cross tablet is a most singular work of American antiquity, and though
Mr. Stephens attempted to prove that no analogy exists between it and
Egyptian sculptures, still Mr. Bancroft has shown that the former was
unfortunate in his selection of Egyptian specimens for the purpose of
comparison, since marked analogies between the sculpture of the Vocal
Memnon of Thebes and the top of the fallen obelisk at Carnac and the
Palenque Tablets exist.[597]
[Illustration: Mexican Vases in the National Museum.]
[Illustration: Statuettes in the National Museum.]
It has been argued that the Egyptian and Palenque sculpture resemble
each other in that both are generally in profile; but the trivialness
of the reasoning will be at once apparent. On the contrary, Mr.
Bancroft remarks, “Sculpture in Egypt is for the most part in intaglio,
in America it is usually in relief.” Notwithstanding the oft-repeated
assertion that a resemblance between Egyptian and Maya hieroglyphics
exist, no one of the Egyptologists so successful in their chosen field
have been able to decipher the Maya writing. It is not improbable
that the Palenque and Copan civilization received its first impulse
from some of the peoples of the southern or eastern shores of the
Mediterranean, but from which it would be impossible to say even if we
were certain that such was the case. Whatever of a foreign character
it may have had at first has been mostly lost in the independent
development of new and original characteristics, the natural outgrowth
of new wants and new conditions, arising through the lapse of many
centuries. The latter remark we think may be applied with even more
certainty to the Nahua civilization as displayed in its sculpture. All
through Mexico the favorite subject for the Toltec or Aztec sculptor
was the serpent, generally the rattlesnake. Mr. Bancroft in his fourth
volume has given numerous examples of this fact. Serpent sculpture
was also common among the Mayas, but to a less extent, and it is not
improbable that the symbol entered into their art through the Quichés—a
mixed people composed of Mayas and Nahuas. We have already observed the
same disposition to sculpture the rattlesnake among the Mound-builders.
In the great serpent upwards of a thousand feet in length on Brush
Creek, Adams County, Ohio, we find a striking analogy to the tendency
of Mexican art. Furthermore, the great serpent grasps in its jaws
(if they may be so called) an immense oval figure of precisely the
shape of an egg, and “the combined figure is regarded as a symbolical
illustration of the Oriental cosmological idea of the serpent and the
egg.” We have seen in the remarks of Señor Melgar that two examples of
the egg possessing precisely the same significance which is attached to
it in Eastern Asia were found near the City of Mexico. The part which
the serpent symbol plays in the south and east Asiatic sculpture and
mythology is probably well known to the reader; and if not, a perusal
of Maurace’s _Indian Antiquities_ or Moor’s _Hindu Pantheon_ will
satisfy him that it occupied a place equally important among Nahuas and
Hindoos. The great serpent in Ohio may be a connecting link between
the art of both Mexicans and Asiatics. In the course of independent
development which the Nahuas underwent during thousands of years, the
cosmological symbol of the egg may have been lost and supplanted by
that of the serpent alone, the emblem of the life principle in both
America and Asia. However, we may safely close these speculations
with the conclusion that though the Mayas and Nahuas were probably
descendants of foreign stock, their civilization, so far as we are able
to judge from their arts, was indigenous—developed upon our soil, and
offering but few analogies to any other.
_Hieroglyphics._—No well authenticated Mound-builder hieroglyphics
have as yet come to light. The Grave Creek Mound tablet we believe is
now shown unquestionably to be an archæological fraud. The Cincinnati
tablet figured in our first chapter seems to bear some symbolic signs
upon its face, but no resemblance can be traced between them and any
other known hieroglyphic signs. The Davenport tablet if genuine is
of great interest in that it abounds in hieroglyphics, some of which
are not unlike some of the signs employed by the Aztecs; besides, the
element of picture-writing so common to that people plays a prominent
part on both sides of that mysterious stone. Col. Charles Whittlesey,
in the second chapter of his _Report to the Centennial Commission of
Ohio_ (already cited), has figured and described rock sculpture near
Barnesville, Newark, Independence, Amherst and Wellsville, most of
which are of the lowest grade of savage art, and we think can only be
attributed to the red Indian.
Mr. W. H. Holmes has furnished specimens of picture-writing of a
rude character found engraven in the rocks of the cañon of the Rio
Mancos and San Juan, but there is no evidence that they are or are not
the work of the Cliff-dwellers whose works abound upon neighboring
rocks.[598] We have already called attention to the tablets of
hieroglyphics at Palenque, Copan and in Yucatan, a specimen of which is
shown in a cut on page 390. The accompanying cut, employed by Stevens,
Baldwin and Bancroft, show the thirty-six squares of hieroglyphics
engraven upon the top of a Copan altar.
In addition to these stone and stucco records, the Mayas had books,
which Bishop Landa describes as written on a large leaf doubled in
folds and enclosed between two boards which they ornamented; they
wrote on both sides of the paper, in columns accommodated to the
folds; the paper they made from the roots of trees, and coated it
with a white varnish on which one could write well. These books were
called _Analtees_, a word which, according to Villagutierre, signifies
the same as history.[599] Bishop Landa confesses to having burned
a great number of the Maya books because they contained nothing in
which were not superstitions and falsities of the devil.[600] Bancroft
has quoted from Peter Martyr a description of these books, which
conveys the additional information that they were written on many
leaves joined together but folded so that when opened two pages are
presented to view.[601] Three of the Maya manuscripts are known to
have escaped the vandalism of the early Fathers. These are, first, the
Mexican MS. No. 2 of the Imperial Library at Paris, called by Rosny
the _Codex Peresianus_, which has been photographed by order of the
French government, but we believe is still unedited. The second, the
_Dresden Codex_, in the Royal Library at Dresden, a complete copy of
which was published by Lord Kingsborough. It is a Maya, and not an
Aztec MS., as is proven by its marked resemblance to the tablets of
Palenque and Copan, a fact pointed out by Mr. Stephens, though at
the date of his exploration everything was pronounced Aztec.[602] The
third, the _Manuscript Troano_, found by Brasseur de Bourbourg at
Madrid in 1865 in the possession of Señor Tro y Ortolano, from whom
it derives its name, is a Maya MS. of unknown origin and history. The
French government and the Commission Scientifique du Mexique reproduced
it in fac-simile by means of chromo-lithography, and Brasseur, with
the expenditure of great labor, attempted to translate part of it,
which he has published; but in a subsequent work he confesses that
he began his reading at the wrong end of the manuscript, which, as
Mr. Bancroft humorously remarks, was a “trifling error perhaps in the
opinion of the enthusiastic Abbé, but a somewhat serious one as it
appears to scientific men.”[603] Mr. Bancroft has reproduced a page
of the MS. Troano in his work, and accompanied it with a condensed
account from the Abbé’s description as follows: “The original is
written on a strip of maguey paper about fourteen feet long and nine
inches wide, the surface of which is covered with a whitish varnish,
on which the figures are painted in black, red, blue and brown. It is
folded fan-like in thirty-five folds, presenting when shut much the
appearance of a modern large octavo volume. The hieroglyphics cover
both sides of the paper, and the writing is consequently divided into
seventy pages, each about five by nine inches, having been apparently
executed after the paper was folded, so that the folding does not
interfere with the written matter. * * * The regular lines of written
characters are uniformly in black, while the pictorial portions, of
what may perhaps be considered representative signs, are in red and
brown, chiefly the former, and the blue appears for the most part as
a background in some of the pages.”[604] Notwithstanding the bigoted
spirit exhibited by Bishop Landa in his destruction of the native Maya
books in the presence of their sorrowful and helpless owners, he did
one act of service for the antiquarian, which will ever entitle him to
the gratitude of every student of ancient American civilization. That
act was the record which he made of the Maya hieroglyphic alphabet. The
Bishop has left us scarcely two and a half octavo pages (of his work as
edited by Brasseur de Bourbourg) upon this important subject, yet it is
the only known key to the mysteries of Palenque, Copan and the numerous
inscriptions found in Yucatan. His explanation of the manner in which
letters are combined into words is not clear, and though Mr. Bancroft
has translated it literally and introduced parenthetic explanations,
still the sense is not very apparent. Brasseur de Bourbourg in his
French translation has not succeeded much better, and complains of
Landa’s style as being untranslatable. One important fact, however,
is deducible from the Bishop’s remarks and example, namely, that the
Maya letters were formed into words in much the same order as in the
English and other languages which read from the left to the right.[605]
Landa’s alphabet is given in the accompanying cut which is an exact
photographic reproduction of the original.
[Illustration: Hieroglyphics on the Copan Altar.]
Landa adds nothing after this table except the remark: “Of the letters
which here fail, this language is wanting and has others added of
ours, for other things of which they have need, and already they do
not use these characters of theirs, especially the young people who
have learned ours.”[606] Landa has left us other hieroglyphic signs,
relating to the Maya months and days, which will be given in the
next chapter. Many of the hieroglyphics in his alphabet are plainly
recognizable in the three Maya MSS. which we have named, though it is
quite certain that other signs, which are wanting in his list, are
found not only in the MSS. but also among the inscriptions of the
several localities we have already described. Besides the attempts
made by Brasseur de Bourbourg to decipher the Maya writing, three
Américanistes in particular have bestowed labor upon the subject. These
are Mr. Wm. Bollaert,[607] M. Hyacinthe de Charencey,[608] and M. Leon
de Rosny,[609] the latter of whom is the honorable president of the
Société Américaine de France.
[Illustration: Landa’s Alphabet.]
By means of Landa’s key, Mr. Bollaert obtained encouraging results
from hieroglyphics figured in Stephens’ works. In that author’s
_Yucatan_, vol. ii, page 292, is seen a sculptured figure with
hieroglyphics represented on the upper part of the door called Akatzeeb
at Chichen-Itza. This tablet is examined by Mr. Bollaert with the
following result: “The figure (male) is nude; the cap is like those on
the figures at Kabab, and has an ornament round the neck; the large
crucible-form before him contains fire, in which some small animal is
being burnt or sacrificed. Comparing the hieroglyphs on either side
of the figure with the Maya key, I get the following words: _Ahau_,
‘king’; _oc_, ‘leg’; _Muluc_, ‘to unite’; _ik_, ‘courage’; _cib_,
‘copal’; _eznab_, ‘magician’; _no_, ‘frog’; which may mean that the
magician has in the crucible a frog to be sacrificed, in which copal
as incense is used. The two lines of hieroglyphs give something like
the following: Kings must die—they have courage, and after death are
united to those who went before them. The king is with his fathers;
the chief and his family burn copal and mourn for his death.”[610]
On the tablet of the cross at Palenque, Mr. Bollaert found in squares
_eznab_, “magician”; _dz_, “a hand”; the “aspiration sign” ⋃; and a
part of _zip_, “tree.” Among the hieroglyphs he traced _ahau_, “king”;
_zip_, “tree”; _akbal_, “a plant”; _pax_, “a musical instrument.” Mr.
Bollaert has attempted to read several other inscriptions with no more
satisfactory results.[611] One or two of the same scholar’s attempts
with the _Dresden Codex_ yield the following: _We come to thy presence
to implore. The young female implores before the deity, she weeps
but has courage._ In a group representing a king and a young female,
he reads: _She has made a vow about the king to the magician, the
king is happy._ Again: _The sacred bird chel is sacrificed, there is
weeping; the bride weeps for the bird, she makes a vow or prays for
the king, she offers a tortoise, a great feast is given._[612] M. de
Charencey translates the hieroglyph found just above the child which
is being offered to the bird on the tablet of the cross at Palenque,
by the word _Hunabku_, “the only holy one.” He also finds the name of
_Kukulcan_ and _eznab_, “magician,” the name of a month.[613] M. de
Rosny in his able essay on the decipherment of the hieratic writings
of Central America has undertaken the solution of this interesting and
perplexing problem in a scientific manner, and we have the fullest
confidence that his system constructed on Landa’s key will open to
us the books and inscriptions of the Mayas. But two of the four
parts which constitute the work have been published, still we think
sufficient data has been placed at the hands of scholars by M. de Rosny
to justify the opinion that if the remainder of his essay should never
appear, the work of interpreting some of the Maya writings might be
carried on with reasonable certainty. Landa’s key contains seventy-one
signs (twenty for the days, eighteen for the months, and thirty-three
in the alphabet.) M. de Rosny, by a careful examination of all the
hieratic texts of the Mayas which are known, has discovered more than
seven hundred different signs. Of this number he has deciphered and
classified four hundred and thirty-nine as follows: Alphabetic signs,
including Landa’s (of which all the others are but varieties), two
hundred and sixty-two; signs of the days, one hundred and fifty-nine;
and the eighteen signs of the months given by Landa. All these signs
are classified in a double folio plate (Pl. XIII) which we believe
deserves to be regarded as the larger portion of the much-sought-for
Maya Rosetta stone. Considerable difference of opinion has existed as
to the direction in which the hieroglyphics should be read. Brasseur
held the view that the proper order was from right to left, and that
the beginning of a book was where our books end. This mistake brought
down the ridicule of scholars upon the Abbé’s head, when it was
discovered that he had begun at the wrong end to translate the _Troano
MS._ Mr. Bollaert says, “I have read from the bottom upwards and from
right to left.”[614] Dr. Brinton[615] has suggested some such order as
the following arrangement of the word _marvellous_:
o ll m
u e a
s v r
M. de Rosny has shown that the statement of Landa and the fact that the
human faces shown in the hieroglyphs look toward the left, indicate
that the signs should be read from left to right.[616] In rare cases
this order is reversed, as is seen on a couple of leaves of the _Codex
Peresianus_. There are, no doubt, numerous instances in which the
signs are arranged in perpendicular columns, and the order in which
such columns are to be read is not the same in all manuscripts. In the
Maya inscriptions and manuscripts, the “illustrations” or pictorial
figures are interwoven with the alphabetic signs forming an important
part of the writing. In many cases a page of MS. (as shown in Rosny’s
plates) is divided into sections or squares, in which the hieroglyphics
are inseparably connected with grotesque figures which accompany
them and form a part of the writing. M. de Rosny has undertaken the
classification and interpretation of all these figures which are found
in the existing Maya MSS. This doubtless will prove an important
auxiliary to the table of signs already alluded to. We may reasonably
expect that since M. de Rosny has shown the extensive character of the
Maya phonetic and symbolic alphabet, he will furnish us examples of its
application in the practical interpretation of the hieroglyphics, in
the latter part of his work. Recently Dr. Ph. Valentini has pronounced
the Landa alphabet a Spanish fabrication, of later date than the
conquest. See _Proceedings of Amer. Antiquarian Soc._ for April, 1880.
We do not deem it necessary to assure the reader that while the Aztec
picture-writing was not as far advanced in the scale of graphic
development as the system employed by the Mayas, still it was an
accurate means of communication and of recording events. The “scribes”
of the Mexicans were an educated class of men, who with strictest
accuracy painted in hieroglyphic symbols the record of national,
historic and traditional affairs, as well as the tribute rolls, the
calendar with its feast days, the stated services of the gods, the
genealogical tables of noble and royal personages, and even the
customs of the humble classes. No doubt many educated persons who did
not belong to the priestly and lettered class, were acquainted with
the system employed, and many others understood it sufficiently to
recognize calendar and feast signs. The Aztec books were painted mostly
on cotton cloth, prepared skins and maguey paper, and when not rolled
were folded fan-like and bound with thin wooden covers, like the Maya
books. The priests who accompanied the conquerors and immediately
followed them, mistook the pictured figures painted in these books to
be representations of heathen deities, and consequently inaugurated a
system of wholesale destruction of all the picture-writing. Las Casas
informs us that they were actuated by the fear that in matters of
religion the existence of these books would be injurious. The infamous
crime committed against the cause of knowledge and the irreparable
injury done to the natives, their successors, and to students of
history for all time, by the destruction of those valuable MSS., must
ever remain an unerasable blot upon the name of the early church in
Mexico, and must be ranked with the worst deeds of Goths and Vandals.
Juan de Zumárraga, the chief of these sacrilegious destroyers who
committed the annals of the Mexican States publicly to the flames
in his tour of the principal cities of the country, will ever be
remembered with proper contempt. Fortunately, many of the MSS. were
hidden by their owners and have since come to light; the greater
number of these, however, were tribute rolls, which, down to the last
century, played an important part in the Mexican courts of justice.
Prescott informs us that “until late in the last century, there was
a professor in the University of Mexico especially devoted to the
study of the national picture-writing. But as this was with a view to
legal proceedings, his information probably was limited to deciphering
titles.” In the course of time the priests became acquainted with the
harmless nature of the hieroglyphics, through their use by the natives
in their making confessions and in recording the Lord’s prayer. Many
documents written since the conquest were provided by their authors
with a Spanish translation or with an explanation in Aztec written
with Spanish letters. Many of these are in existence, and with a few
authentic documents, written previous to the conquest, are preserved
in public and private libraries of Europe and this country, the finest
collection of which is that of the National Museum of the University
of Mexico. The reader is no doubt already familiar with the splendid
fac-similes of several Mexican MSS. published in Lord Kingsborough’s
work. Mr. Bancroft has concisely narrated the events and vicissitudes
which have attended the transmission of some of these documents through
the hands of successive owners to their present depositories.[617]
Several writers on hieroglyphic systems, and the above author among
them, have classified the progressive steps of picture-writing into
_representative_, _symbolic_, and _phonetic_. Of these, the first
is by far the simplest, and has invariably preceded the others in
the development of the graphic art. It was natural for the savage to
represent an object by a picture, in which that object was surrounded
with certain conditions; at first the entire object was pictured, but
subsequently only a portion of the object, as in the case of a bird,
the head or foot or wing in the more advanced stages of art, would be
substituted for the object itself. In symbolic picture-writing, we find
an attempt at representing abstract ideas and actions. Some quality
or attribute of a person is portrayed by means of the representative
process, by symbols which would naturally seem to suggest the
distinguishing characteristic of the person or occasion. A certain
Aztec festival might be symbolized by the conventional calendar sign,
an altar, a flint knife held by a human hand, and a smoking human
heart. Phonetic picture-writing is, of course, dependent upon the
sounds of the language for which it is designed. Its province is to
represent those sounds by pictures of objects in whose names the sounds
occur. Words, syllables and elementary sounds which are represented by
alphabets, are thus gradually evolved in the progression which follows.
Mr. Bancroft, by a most ingenious example, has illustrated this
principle as applied to our own language. “According to this system,”
he says, “the [left hand pointing up] signifies successively the word
‘hand,’ the syllable ‘hand’ in handsome, the sound ‘ha’ in happy, the
aspiration ‘h’ in head, and finally, by simplifying its form or writing
it rapidly, the [left hand pointing up] becomes [left hand pointing
up outline] and then the ‘h’ of the alphabet.”[618] The Aztecs never
reached the last stage of phonetic development, namely, the alphabet.
They, however, employed the system in the syllabic formation of words
to a very considerable extent. The priests soon found the natives
applying their art of writing to the record of the standard expressions
employed in teaching the new faith. Amen was expressed by the sign
of water, _atl_ associated with a maguey plant, _metl_ which united
gave the word _atl-metl_, or after the ever present Aztec termination
_tl_ is stricken off, we have _a-me_, an approximation to our word
Amen. Mr. Bancroft gives also the following example of the manner in
which the name Teocaltitlan was expressed by this syllabic-phonetic
writing: “It is written in one of the manuscripts of the Boturini
collection by a pictured pair of lips, _tentli_, for the syllable _te_;
footsteps, symbolic of a road, _otli_ for _o_; a house, _calli_ for
_cal_; and teeth, _tlantli_ for _tlanti_, being a common connective
syllable.” We think the reader will find a clearer illustration in the
word Chapultepec, which literally means “hill of the grasshopper.”
By reference to the Aztec migration map which has been published by
several authors[619] (the most correct copy accessible to the general
reader is that by Bancroft).[620] A hill surmounted by a grasshopper
will be observed among the figures. The same representation in
different form will be seen in Boturini’s picture-map of the migration.
Chapultepec is well known as the royal hill, a short distance west of
the city of Mexico, celebrated as the country residence of Montezuma.
Numerous similar examples might be selected from the migration maps
of this combination of the three methods employed. Proper names were
always expressed in a similar manner. An example of the representative
and symbolic stages of the picture-writing of the Aztecs has been
given by Mr. Bancroft from the _Codex Mendoza_ in Kingsborough.[621]
We here reproduce the plate used in the _Native Races_. It describes
four steps or periods in the education of children; each period is
supposed to refer to a particular year. In the upper left-hand group
we see a father (fig. 3) punishing his son by holding him over the
fumes of burning chile (fig. 5); in the right-hand group the mother
threatens her daughter with similar punishment. In the second group
(figs. 12–13), a father punishes his son by exposing him bound hand
and foot on the damp ground. A bad boy twelve years of age, according
to Aztec custom was always punished in this way, and his punishment
lasted during an entire day. A disobedient girl of the same age was
obliged to rise in the night and sweep the whole house, as is shown
in the right-hand group, or, as no tear is seen in her eye, she may
be learning. At the age of eight years children were only shown the
instrument of punishment; at ten they were pricked with maguey thorns,
or if still unruly, were whipped. The above groups show the methods
employed during the eleventh and twelfth years, after which age a child
was supposed to be pretty well disciplined. In the third group a father
directs his boys (fig. 21) how to transport wood, both upon the back
and in the canoe, while the mother teaches the daughter (fig. 23) to
make tortillas and use the mealing stone and other utensils (figs. 25,
26, 28); the tortillas are also represented (fig. 27). In the fourth
group the son learns the use of the fish-net and the daughter that of
the loom. The allowance of tortillas apportioned to the children at the
ages represented are shown in figs. 2, 8, 11, 16, 20, 24, 30 and 34.
The remaining figures are not representative, but symbolic. The small
circles (figs. 1, 10, 19, 29) are numerals indicating that the child
was successively eleven, twelve, thirteen and fourteen years of age. A
circle or dot was always used for a unit. The comma-like figure issuing
from the mouth of the parent is the symbol of speech. The tears in the
children’s eyes need no explanation. The singular figure (17) above
the girl in the second group is said to be symbolical of night, and to
indicate that the sweeping was required in the night.
[Illustration: Education of Children according to the Codex Mendoza.]
For most interesting specimens of Aztec picture-writing as well as
their supposed explanation, we refer the reader to the Gemelli Carreri
and Boturini Migration maps in the Atlas of Garcia y Cubas, or in the
second volume of Mr. Bancroft’s work, which are the only places where
they are to be found correctly reproduced. Mr. Delafield sought to
find an analogy between the Aztec and Egyptian hieroglyphic systems
on no other ground than that both were representative, symbolic and
phonetic, a most wonderful discovery indeed.[622] Notwithstanding this
fact, and many similar efforts, no marked analogy between the Aztec
picture-writing and the hieroglyphic systems of any other peoples has
yet been pointed out.[623]
• • • • •
MAP OF YUCATAN.—We have found it impossible in this chapter to
convey any adequate idea of the number and extent of the ruins
scattered over Central America and Mexico. Only by reference to
an accurately prepared map, having distinctness and detail, can a
proper understanding of this interesting field be reached. Maps of
Northern and Central Mexico alone, meeting the requirements, have
for some time been accessible, but a reliable map of Yucatan and
of neighboring States has long been a desideratum. This great want
has recently been supplied by the publication in New York of a rare
specimen of cartography, bearing the title, _Mapa de la Peninsula
de Yucatan, compilado por Joaquin Hübbe y Andres Azuar Perez y
revisado y aumentado con datos importantes por C. Hermann Berendt_,
1878—size, 28 × 36 inches. Stephens, in his work on _Yucatan_,
indicated the sites of many remains discovered by him; but Señor
Perez has for the first time brought before us a view of the whole
field, including Yucatan and Campeachy, together with the greater
part of Tabasco and Belize, and portions of Guatemala and Chiapas,
showing, by means of appropriate symbols, the great number of known
ruins. The map has met with merited approval from the American
Antiquarian Society, and has been reproduced in _Dr. A. Petermann’s
Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes Geographische Anstalt, Gotha, Band
25_, No. VI, 1879.