ASSYRIA.

The etymology of the name of that country, as well as that of Asshur,

the supreme god of the Assyrians, who never pronounced his name without

adding "Asshur is my lord," is still an undecided matter amongst the

learned philologists of our days. Some contend that the country was

named after the god Asshur; others that the god Asshur received his name

from the place where he was worshiped. None agree, however, as to the

significative meaning of the name Asshur. In Assyrian and Hebrew

languages the name of the country and people is derived from that of the

god. That Asshur was the name of the deity, and that the country was

named after it, I have no doubt, since I find its etymology, so much

sought for by philologists, in the American Maya language. Effectively

the word _asshur_, sometimes written _ashur_, would be AXUL in Maya.

_A_, in that language, placed before a noun, is the possessive pronoun,

as the second person, thy or thine, and _xul_, means end, termination.

It is also the name of the sixth month of the Maya calendar. _Axul_

would therefore be _thy end_. Among all the nations which have

recognized the existence of a SUPREME BEING, Deity has been considered

as the beginning and end of all things, to which all aspire to be

united.

A strange coincidence that may be without significance, but is not out

of place to mention here, is the fact that the early kings of Chaldea

are represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the _Kiprat-arbat_,

or FOUR RACES. While tradition tells us that the great lord of the

universe, king of the giants, whose capital was _Tiahuanaco_, the

magnificent ruins of which are still to be seen on the shores of the

lake of Titicaca, reigned over _Ttahuatyn-suyu_, the FOUR PROVINCES. In

the _Chou-King_ we read that in very remote times _China_ was called by

its inhabitants _Sse-yo_, THE FOUR PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. The

_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, the _Ramayana_, and other sacred books of

Hindostan also inform us that the ancient Hindoos designated their

country as the FOUR MOUNTAINS, and from some of the monumental

inscriptions at Uxmal it would seem that, among other names, that place

was called the land of the _canchi_, or FOUR MOUTHS, that recalls

vividly the name of Chaldea _Arba-Lisun_, the FOUR TONGUES.

That the language of the Mayas was known in Chaldea in remote ages, but

became lost in the course of time, is evident from the Book of Daniel.

It seems that some of the learned men of Judea understood it still at

the beginning of the Christian era, as many to-day understand Greek,

Latin, Sanscrit, &c.; since, we are informed by the writers of the

Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, that the last words of Jesus of

Nazareth expiring on the cross were uttered in it.

In the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel, we read that the fingers of

the hand of a man were seen writing on the wall of the hall, where King

Belshazzar was banqueting, the words "Mene, mene, Tekel, upharsin,"

which could not be read by any of the wise men summoned by order of the

king. Daniel, however, being brought in, is said to have given as their

interpretation: _Numbered_, _numbered_, _weighed_, _dividing_, perhaps

with the help of the angel Gabriel, who is said by learned rabbins to be

the only individual of the angelic hosts who can speak Chaldean and

Syriac, and had once before assisted him in interpreting the dream of

King Nebuchadnezzar. Perhaps also, having been taught the learning of

the Chaldeans, he had studied the ancient Chaldee language, and was thus

enabled to read the fatidical words, which have the very same meaning in

the Maya language as he gave them. Effectively, _mene_ or _mane_,

_numbered_, would seem to correspond to the Maya verbs, MAN, to buy, to

purchase, hence to number, things being sold by the quantity--or MANEL,

to pass, to exceed. _Tekel_, weighed, would correspond to TEC, light.

To-day it is used in the sense of lightness in motion, brevity,

nimbleness: and _Upharsin_, dividing, seem allied to the words PPA, to

divide two things united; or _uppah_, to break, making a sharp sound; or

_paah_, to break edifices; or, again, PAALTAL, to break, to scatter the

inhabitants of a place.

As to the last words of Jesus of Nazareth, when expiring on the cross,

as reported by the Evangelists, _Eli, Eli_, according to St. Matthew,

and _Eloi, Eloi_, according to St. Mark, _lama sabachthani_, they are

pure Maya vocables; but have a very different meaning to that attributed

to them, and more in accordance with His character. By placing in the

mouth of the dying martyr these words: _My God, my God, why hast thou

forsaken me?_ they have done him an injustice, presenting him in his

last moments despairing and cowardly, traits so foreign to his life, to

his teachings, to the resignation shown by him during his trial, and to

the fortitude displayed by him in his last journey to Calvary; more than

all, so unbecoming, not to say absurd, being in glaring contradiction to

his role as God. If God himself, why complain that God has forsaken him?

He evidently did not speak Hebrew in dying, since his two mentioned

biographers inform us that the people around him did not understand what

he said, and supposed he was calling Elias to help him: _This man

calleth for Elias._

His bosom friend, who never abandoned him--who stood to the last at the

foot of the cross, with his mother and other friends and relatives, do

not report such unbefitting words as having been uttered by Jesus. He

simply says, that after recommending his mother to his care, he

complained of being thirsty, and that, as the sponge saturated with

vinegar was applied to his mouth, he merely said: IT IS FINISHED! and

_he bowed his head and gave up the ghost_. (St. John, chap. xix., v.

30.)

Well, this is exactly the meaning of the Maya words, HELO, HELO, LAMAH

ZABAC TA NI, literally: HELO, HELO, now, now; LAMAH, sinking; ZABAC,

black ink; TA, over; NI, nose; in our language: _Now, now I am sinking;

darkness covers my face!_ No weakness, no despair--He merely tells his

friends all is over. _It is finished!_ and expires.

Before leaving Asia Minor, in order to seek in Egypt the vestiges of the

Mayas, I will mention the fact that the names of some of the natives who

inhabited of old that part of the Asiatic continent, and many of those

of places and cities seem to be of American Maya origin. The Promised

Land, for example--that part of the coast of Phoenicia so famous for

the fertility of its soil, where the Hebrews, after journeying during

forty years in the desert, arrived at last, tired and exhausted from so

many hard-fought battles--was known as _Canaan_. This is a Maya word

that means to be tired, to be fatigued; and, if it is spelled _Kanaan_,

it then signifies abundance; both significations applying well to the

country.

TYRE, the great emporium of the Phoenicians, called _Tzur_, probably

on account of being built on a rock, may also derive its name from the

Maya TZUC, a promontory, or a number of villages, _Tzucub_ being a

province.

Again, we have the people called _Khati_ by the Egyptians. They formed a

great nation that inhabited the _Cæle-Syria_ and the valley of the

Orontes, where they have left very interesting proofs of their passage

on earth, in large and populous cities whose ruins have been lately

discovered. Their origin is unknown, and is yet a problem to be solved.

They are celebrated on account of their wars against the Assyrians and

Egyptians, who call them the plague of Khati. Their name is frequently

mentioned in the Scriptures as Hittites. Placed on the road, between the

Assyrians and the Egyptians, by whom they were at last vanquished, they

placed well nigh insuperable _obstacles in the way_ of the conquests of

these two powerful nations, which found in them tenacious and fearful

adversaries. The Khati had not only made considerable improvements in

all military arts, but were also great and famed merchants; their

emporium _Carchemish_ had no less importance than Tyre or Carthage.

There, met merchants from all parts of the world; who brought thither

the products and manufactures of their respective countries, and were

wont to worship at the Sacred City, _Katish_ of the Khati. The etymology

of their name is also unknown. Some historians having pretended that

they were a Scythian tribe, derived it from Scythia; but I think that we

may find it very natural, as that of their principal cities, in the Maya

language.

All admit that the Khati, until the time when they were vanquished by

Rameses the Great, as recorded on the walls of his palace at Thebes, the

_Memnonium_, always placed obstacles on the way of the Egyptians and

opposed them. According to the Maya, their name is significative of

these facts, since KAT or KATAH is a verb that means to place

impediments on the road, to come forth and obstruct the passage.

_Carchemish_ was their great emporium, where merchants from afar

congregated; it was consequently a city of merchants. CAH means a city,

and _Chemul_ is navigator. _Carchemish_ would then be _cah-chemul_, the

city of navigators, of merchants.

KATISH, their sacred city, would be the city where sacrifices are

offered. CAH, city, and TICH, a ceremony practiced by the ancient Mayas,

and still performed by their descendants all through Central America.

This sacrifice or ceremony consists in presenting to BALAM, the

_Yumil-Kaax_, the "Lord of the fields," the _primitiæ_ of all their

fruits before beginning the harvest. Katish, or _cah-tich_ would then be

the city of the sacrifices--the holy city.

EGYPT is the country that in historical times has called, more than any

other, the attention of the students, of all nations and in all ages, on

account of the grandeur and beauty of its monuments; the peculiarity of

its inhabitants; their advanced civilization, their great attainments in

all branches of human knowledge and industry; and its important position

at the head of all other nations of antiquity. Egypt has been said to be

the source from which human knowledge began to flow over the old world:

yet no one knows for a certainty whence came the people that laid the

first foundations of that interesting nation. That they were not

autochthones is certain. Their learned priests pointed towards the

regions of the West as the birth-place of their ancestors, and

designated the country in which they lived, the East, as the _pure

land_, the _land of the sun_, of _light_, in contradistinction of the

country of the dead, of darkness--the Amenti, the West--where Osiris sat

as King, reigning judge, over the souls.

If in Hindostan, Afghanistan, Chaldea, Asia Minor, we have met with

vestiges of the Mayas, in Egypt we will find their traces everywhere.

Whatever may have been the name given to the valley watered by the Nile

by its primitive inhabitants, no one at present knows. The invaders that

came from the West called it CHEM: not on account of the black color of

the soil, as Plutarch pretends in his work, "_De Iside et Osiride_," but

more likely because either they came to it in boats; or, quite probably,

because when they arrived the country was inundated, and the inhabitants

communicated by means of boats, causing the new comers to call it the

country of boats--CHEM (maya).[TN-20] The hieroglyph representing the

name of Egypt is composed of the character used for land, a cross

circumscribed by a circle, and of another, read K, which represent a

sieve, it is said, but that may likewise be the picture of a small boat.

The Assyrians designated Egypt under the names of MISIR or MISUR,

probably because the country is generally destitute of trees. These are

uprooted during the inundations, and then carried by the currents all

over the country; so that the farmers, in order to be able to plow the

soil, are obliged to clear it first from the dead trees. Now we have the

Maya verb MIZ--to _clean_, to _remove rubbish formed by the body of dead

trees_; whilst the verb MUSUR means to _cut the trees by the roots_. It

would seem that the name _Mizraim_ given to Egypt in the Scriptures also

might come from these words.

When the Western invaders reached the country it was probably covered by

the waters of the river, to which, we are told, they gave the name of

_Hapimú_. Its etymology seems to be yet undecided by the Egyptologists,

who agree, however, that its meaning is the _abyss of water_. The Maya

tells us that this name is composed of two words--HÁ, water, and PIMIL,

the thickness of flat things. _Hapimu_, or HAPIMIL, would then be the

thickness, the _abyss of water_.

We find that the prophets _Jeremiah_ (xlvi., 25,) and _Nahum_ (iii., 8,

10,) call THEBES, the capital of upper Egypt during the XVIII. dynasty:

NÓ or NÁ-AMUN, the mansion of Amun. _Ná_ signifies in Maya, house,

mansion, residence. But _Thebes_ is written in Egyptian hieroglyphs AP,

or APÉ, the meaning of which is the head, the capital; with the feminine

article T, that is always used as its prefix in hieroglyphic writings,

it becomes TAPÉ; which, according to Sir Gardner Wilkinson ("Manners and

Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," _tom._ III., page 210, N. Y. Edition,

1878), was pronounced by the Egyptians _Taba_; and in the Menphitic

dialect Thaba, that the Greeks converted into Thebai, whence Thebes. The

Maya verb _Teppal_, signifies to reign, to govern, to order. On each

side of the mastodons' heads, which form so prominent a feature in the

ornaments of the oldest edifices at Uxmal, Chichen-Itza and other parts,

the word _Dapas_; hence TABAS is written in ancient Egyptian characters,

and read, I presume, in old Maya, _head_. To-day the word is pronounced

THAB, and means _baldness_.

The identity of the names of deities worshiped by individuals, of their

religious rites and belief; that of the names of the places which they

inhabit; the similarity of their customs, of their dresses and manners;

the sameness of their scientific attainments and of the characters used

by them in expressing their language in writing, lead us naturally to

infer that they have had a common origin, or, at least, that their

forefathers were intimately connected. If we may apply this inference to

nations likewise, regardless of the distance that to-day separates the

countries where they live, I can then affirm that the Mayas and the

Egyptians are either of a common descent, or that very intimate

communication must have existed in remote ages between their ancestors.

Without entering here into a full detail of the customs and manners of

these people, I will make a rapid comparison between their religious

belief, their customs, manners, scientific attainments, and the

characters used by them in writing etc., sufficient to satisfy any

reasonable body that the strange coincidences that follow, cannot be

altogether accidental.

The SUN, RA, was the supreme god worshiped throughout the land of Egypt;

and its emblem was a disk or circle, at times surmounted by the serpent

Uræus. Egypt was frequently called the Land of the Sun. RA or LA

signifies in Maya that which exists, emphatically that which is--the

truth.

The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas; and the Indians to-day

preserve the dance used by their forefathers among the rites of the

adoration of that luminary, and perform it yet in certain epoch[TN-21]

of the year. The coat-of-arms of the city of Uxmal, sculptured on the

west façade of the sanctuary, attached to the masonic temple in that

city, teaches us that the place was called U LUUMIL KIN, _the land of

the sun_. This name forming the center of the escutcheon, is written

with a cross, circumscribed by a circle, that among the Egyptians is

the sign for land, region, surrounded by the rays of the sun.

Colors in Egypt, as in Mayab, seem to have had the same symbolical

meaning. The figure of _Amun_ was that of a man whose body was light

blue, like the Indian god Wishnu,[TN-22] and that of the god Nilus; as if

to indicate their peculiar exalted and heavenly nature; this color being

that of the pure, bright skies above. The blue color had exactly the

same significance in Mayab, according to Landa and Cogolludo, who tell

us that, even at the time of the Spanish conquest, the bodies of those

who were to be sacrificed to the gods were painted blue. The mural

paintings in the funeral chamber of Chaacmol, at Chichen, confirm this

assertion. There we see figures of men and women painted blue, some

marching to the sacrifice with their hands tied behind their backs.

After being thus painted they were venerated by the people, who regarded

them as sanctified. Blue in Egypt was always the color used at the

funerals.

The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul; and that rewards

and punishments were adjudged by Osiris, the king of the Amenti, to the

souls according to their deeds during their mundane life. That the souls

after a period of three thousand years were to return to earth and

inhabit again their former earthly tenements. This was the reason why

they took so much pains to embalm the body.

The Mayas also believed in the immortality of the soul, as I have

already said. Their belief was that after the spirit had suffered during

a time proportioned to their misdeeds whilst on earth, and after having

enjoyed an amount of bliss corresponding to their good actions, they

were to return to earth and live again a material life. Accordingly, as

the body was corruptible, they made statues of stones, terra-cotta, or

wood, in the semblance of the deceased, whose ashes they deposited in a

hollow made for that purpose in the back of the head. Sometimes also in

stone urns, as in the case of Chaacmol. The spirits, on their return to

earth, were to find these statues, impart life to them, and use them as

body during their new existence.

I am not certain but that, as the Egyptians also, they were believers in

transmigration; and that this belief exists yet among the aborigines. I

have noticed that my Indians were unwilling to kill any animal whatever,

even the most noxious and dangerous, that inhabits the ruined monuments.

I have often told them to kill some venomous insect or serpent that may

have happened to be in our way. They invariably refused to do so, but

softly and carefully caused them to go. And when asked why they did not

kill them, declined to answer except by a knowing and mysterious smile,

as if afraid to let a stranger into their intimate beliefs inherited

from their ancestors: remembering, perhaps, the fearful treatment

inflicted by fanatical friars on their fathers to oblige them to forego

what they called the superstitions of their race--the idolatrous creed

of their forefathers.

I have had opportunity to discover that their faith in reincarnation, as

many other time-honored credences, still exists among them, unshaken,

notwithstanding the persecutions and tortures suffered by them at the

hands of ignorant and barbaric _Christians_ (?)

I will give two instances when that belief in reincarnation was plainly

manifested.

The day that, after surmounting many difficulties, when my ropes and

cables, made of withes and the bark of the _habin_ tree, were finished

and adjusted to the capstan manufactured of hollow stones and trunks of

trees; and I had placed the ponderous statue of Chaacmol on rollers,

already in position to drag it up the inclined plane made from the

surface of the ground to a few feet above the bottom of the excavation;

my men, actuated by their superstitious fears on the one hand, and

their profound reverence for the memory of their ancestors on the other,

unwilling to see the effigy of one of the great men removed from where

their ancestors had placed it in ages gone by resolved to bury it, by

letting loose the hill of dry stones that formed the body of the

mausoleum, and were kept from falling in the hole by a framework of thin

trunks of trees tied with withes, and in order that it should not be

injured, to capsize it, placing the face downward. They had already

overturned it, when I interfered in time to prevent more mischief, and

even save some of them from certain death; since by cutting loose the

withes that keep the framework together, the sides of the excavation

were bound to fall in, and crush those at the bottom. I honestly think,

knowing their superstitious feelings and propensities, that they had

made up their mind to sacrifice their lives, in order to avoid what they

considered a desecration of the future tenement that the great warrior

and king was yet to inhabit, when time had arrived. In order to overcome

their scruples, and also to prove if my suspicions were correct, that,

as their forefathers and the Egyptians of old, they still believed in

reincarnation, I caused them to accompany me to the summit of the great

pyramid. There is a monument, that served as a castle when the city of

the holy men, the Itzaes, was at the height of its splendor. Every anta,

every pillar and column of this edifice is sculptured with portraits of

warriors and noblemen. Among these many with long beards, whose types

recall vividly to the mind the features of the Afghans.

On one of the antæ, at the entrance on the north side, is the portrait

of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard. The face, like

that of all the personages represented in the bas-reliefs, is in

profile. I placed my head against the stone so as to present the same

position of my face as that of UXAN, and called the attention of my

Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed

every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the

beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: "_Thou!_

_here!_" and slowly scanned again the features sculptured on the stone

and my own.

"_So, so,_" they said, "_thou too art one of our great men, who has been

disenchanted. Thou, too, wert a companion of the great Lord Chaacmol.

That is why thou didst know where he was hidden; and thou hast come to

disenchant him also. His time to live again on earth has then arrived._"

From that moment every word of mine was implicitly obeyed. They returned

to the excavation, and worked with such a good will, that they soon

brought up the ponderous statue to the surface.

A few days later some strange people made their appearance suddenly and

noiselessly in our midst. They emerged from the thicket one by one.

Colonel _Don_ Felipe Diaz, then commander of the troops covering the

eastern frontier, had sent me, a couple of days previous, a written

notice, that I still preserve in my power, that tracks of hostile

Indians had been discovered by his scouts, advising me to keep a sharp

look out, lest they should surprise us. Now, to be on the look out in

the midst of a thick, well-nigh impenetrable forest, is a rather

difficult thing to do, particularly with only a few men, and where there

is no road; yet all being a road for the enemy. Warning my men that

danger was near, and to keep their loaded rifles at hand, we continued

our work as usual, leaving the rest to destiny.

On seeing the strangers, my men rushed on their weapons, but noticing

that the visitors had no guns, but only their _machetes_, I gave orders

not to hurt them. At their head was a very old man: his hair was gray,

his eyes blue with age. He would not come near the statue, but stood at

a distance as if awe-struck, hat in hand, looking at it. After a long

time he broke out, speaking to his own people: "This, boys, is one of

the great men we speak to you about." Then the young men came forward,

with great respect kneeled at the feet of the statue, and pressed their

lips against them.

Putting aside my own weapons, being consequently unarmed, I went to the

old man, and asked him to accompany me up to the castle, offering my arm

to ascend the 100 steep and crumbling stairs. I again placed my face

near that of my stone _Sosis_, and again the same scene was enacted as

with my own men, with this difference, that the strangers fell on their

knees before me, and, in turn, kissed my hand. The old man after a

while, eyeing me respectfully, but steadily, asked me: "Rememberest thou

what happened to thee whilst thou wert enchanted?" It was quite a

difficult question to answer, and yet retain my superior position, for I

did not know how many people might be hidden in the thicket. "Well,

father," I asked him, "dreamest thou sometimes?" He nodded his head in

an affirmative manner. "And when thou awakest, dost thou remember

distinctly thy dreams?" "_Má_," no! was the answer. "Well, father," I

continued, "so it happened with me. I do not remember what took place

during the time I was enchanted." This answer seemed to satisfy him. I

again gave him my hand to help him down the precipitous stairs, at the

foot of which we separated, wishing them God-speed, and warning them not

to go too near the villages on their way back to their homes, as people

were aware of their presence in the country. Whence they came, I ignore;

where they went, I don't know.

Circumcision was a rite in usage among the Egyptians since very remote

times. The Mayas also practiced it, if we are to credit Fray Luis de

Urreta; yet Cogolludo affirms that in his days the Indians denied

observing such custom. The outward sign of utmost reverence seems to

have been identical amongst both the Mayas and the Egyptians. It

consisted in throwing the left arm across the chest, resting the left

hand on the right shoulder; or the right arm across the chest, the

right hand resting on the left shoulder. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his

work above quoted, reproduces various figures in that attitude; and Mr.

Champollion Figeac, in his book on Egypt, tells us that in some cases

even the mummies of certain eminent men were placed in their coffins

with the arms in that position. That this same mark of respect was in

use amongst the Mayas there can be no possible doubt. We see it in the

figures represented in the act of worshiping the mastodon's head, on the

west façade of the monument that forms the north wing of the palace and

museum at Chichen-Itza. We see it repeatedly in the mural paintings in

Chaacmol's funeral chamber; on the slabs sculptured with the

representation of a dying warrior, that adorned the mausoleum of that

chieftain. Cogolludo mentions it in his history of Yucatan, as being

common among the aborigines: and my own men have used it to show their

utmost respect to persons or objects they consider worthy of their

veneration. Among my collection of photographs are several plates in

which some of the men have assumed that position of the arms

spontaneously.

_The sistrum_ was an instrument used by Egyptians and Mayas alike during

the performance of their religious rites and acts of worship. I have

seen it used lately by natives in Yucatan in the dance forming part of

the worship of the sun. The Egyptians enclosed the brains, entrails and

viscera of the deceased in funeral vases, called _canopas_, that were

placed in the tombs with the coffin. When I opened Chaacmol's mausoleum

I found, as I have already said, two stone urns, the one near the head

containing the remains of brains, that near the chest those of the heart

and other viscera. This fact would tend to show again a similar custom

among the Mayas and Egyptians, who, besides, placed with the body an

empty vase--symbol that the deceased had been judged and found

righteous. This vase, held between the hands of the statue of Chaacmol,

is also found held in the same manner by many other statues of

different individuals. It was customary with the Egyptians to deposit in

the tombs the implements of the trade or profession of the deceased. So

also with the Mayas--if a priest, they placed books; if a warrior, his

weapons; if a mechanic, the tools of his art,[TN-23]

The Egyptians adorned the tombs of the rich--which generally consisted

of one or two chambers--with sculptures and paintings reciting the names

and the history of the life of the personage to whom the tomb belonged.

The mausoleum of Chaacmol, interiorly, was composed of three different

superposed apartments, with their floors of concrete well leveled,

polished and painted with yellow ochre; and exteriorly was adorned with

magnificent bas-reliefs, representing his totem and that of his

wife--dying warriors--the whole being surrounded by the image of a

feathered serpent--_Can_, his family name, whilst the walls of the two

apartments, or funeral chambers, in the monument raised to his memory,

were decorated with fresco paintings, representing not only Chaacmol's

own life, but the manners, customs, mode of dressing of his

contemporaries; as those of the different nations with which they were

in communication: distinctly recognizable by their type, stature and

other peculiarities. The portraits of the great and eminent men of his

time are sculptured on the jambs and lintels of the doors, represented

life-size.

In Egypt it was customary to paint the sculptures, either on stone or

wood, with bright colors--yellow, blue, red, green predominating. In

Mayab the same custom prevailed, and traces of these colors are still

easily discernible on the sculptures; whilst they are still very

brilliant on the beautiful and highly polished stucco of the walls in

the rooms of certain monuments at Chichen-Itza. The Maya artists seem to

have used mostly vegetable colors; yet they also employed ochres as

pigments, and cinnabar--we having found such metallic colors in

Chaacmol's mausoleum. Mrs. Le Plongeon still preserves some in her

possession. From where they procured it is more than we can tell at

present.

The wives and daughters of the Egyptian kings and noblemen considered it

an honor to assist in the temples and religious ceremonies: one of their

principal duties being to play the sistrum.

We find that in Yucatan, _Nicté_ (flower) the sister of _Chaacmol_,

assisted her elder brother, _Cay_, the pontiff, in the sanctuary, her

name being always associated with his in the inscriptions which adorn

the western façade of that edifice at Uxmal, as that of her sister,

_Mó_,[TN-24] is with Chaacmol's in some of the monuments at Chichen.

Cogolludo, when speaking of the priestesses, _virgins of the sun_,

mentions a tradition that seems to refer to _Nicté_, stating that the

daughter of a king, who remained during all her life in the temple,

obtained after her death the honor of apotheosis, and was worshiped

under the name of _Zuhuy-Kak_ (the fire-virgin), and became the goddess

of the maidens, who were recommended to her care.

As in Egypt, the kings and heroes were worshiped in Mayab after their

death; temples and pyramids being raised to their memory. Cogolludo

pretends that the lower classes adored fishes, snakes, tigers and other

abject animals, "even the devil himself, which appeared to them in

horrible forms" ("Historia de Yucatan," book IV., chap. vii.)

Judging from the sculptures and mural paintings, the higher classes in

_Mayab_ wore, in very remote ages, dresses of quite an elaborate

character. Their under garment consisted of short trowsers, reaching the

middle of the thighs. At times these trowsers were highly ornamented

with embroideries and fringes, as they formed their only article of

clothing when at home; over these they wore a kind of kilt, very similar

to that used by the inhabitants of the Highlands in Scotland. It was

fastened to the waist with wide ribbons, tied behind in a knot forming a

large bow, the ends of which reached to the ankles. Their shoulders

were covered with a tippet falling to the elbows, and fastened on the

chest by means of a brooch. Their feet were protected by sandals, kept

in place by ropes or ribbons, passing between the big toe and the next,

and between the third and fourth, then brought up so as to encircle the

ankles. They were tied in front, forming a bow on the instep. Some wore

leggings, others garters and anklets made of feathers, generally yellow;

sometimes, however, they may have been of gold. Their head gears were of

different kinds, according to their rank and dignity. Warriors seem to

have used wide bands, tied behind the head with two knots, as we see in

the statue of Chaacmol, and in the bas-reliefs that adorn the queen's

chamber at Chichen. The king's coiffure was a peaked cap, that seems to

have served as model for the _pschent_, that symbol of domination over

the lower Egypt; with this difference, however, that in Mayab the point

formed the front, and in Egypt the back.

The common people in Mayab, as in Egypt, were indeed little troubled by

their garments. These consisted merely of a simple girdle tied round the

loins, the ends falling before and behind to the middle of the thighs.

Sometimes they also used the short trowsers; and, when at work, wrapped

a piece of cloth round their loins, long enough to cover their legs to

the knees. This costume was completed by wearing a square cloth, tied on

one of the shoulders by two of its corners. It served as cloak. To-day

the natives of Yucatan wear the same dress, with but slight

modifications. While the aborigines of the _Tierra de Guerra_, who still

preserve the customs of their forefathers, untainted by foreign

admixture, use the same garments, of their own manufacture, that we see

represented in the bas-reliefs of Chichen and Uxmal, and in the mural

paintings of _Mayab_ and Egypt.

Divination by the inspection of the entrails of victims, and the study

of omens were considered by the Egyptians as important branches of

learning. The soothsayers formed a respected order of the priesthood.

From the mural paintings at Chichen, and from the works of the

chroniclers, we learn that the Mayas also had several manners of

consulting fate. One of the modes was by the inspection of the entrails

of victims; another by the manner of the cracking of the shell of a

turtle or armadillo by the action of fire, as among the Chinese. (In the

_Hong-fan_ or "the great and sublime doctrine," one of the books of the

_Chou-king_, the ceremonies of _Pou_ and _Chi_ are described at length).

The Mayas had also their astrologers and prophets. Several prophecies,

purporting to have been made by their priests, concerning the preaching

of the Gospel among the people of Mayab, have reached us, preserved in

the works of Landa, Lizana, and Cogolludo. There we also read that, even

at the time of the Spanish conquest, they came from all parts of the

country, and congregated at the shrine of _Kinich-kakmo_, the deified

daughter of CAN, to listen to the oracles delivered by her through the

mouths of her priests and consult her on future events. By the

examination of the mural paintings, we know that _animal magnetism_ was

understood and practiced by the priests, who, themselves, seem to have

consulted clairvoyants.

The learned priests of Egypt are said to have made considerable progress

in astronomical sciences.

The _gnomon_, discovered by me in December, last year, in the ruined

city of Mayapan, would tend to prove that the learned men of Mayab were

not only close observers of the march of the celestial bodies and good

mathematicians; but that their attainments in astronomy were not

inferior to those of their brethren of Chaldea. Effectively the

construction of the gnomon shows that they had found the means of

calculating the latitude of places, that they knew the distance of the

solsticeal points from the equator; they had found that the greatest

angle of declination of the sun, 23° 27´, occurred when that luminary

reached the tropics where, during nearly three days, said angle of

declination does not vary, for which reason they said that the _sun_ had

arrived at his resting place.

The Egyptians, it is said, in very remote ages, divided the year by

lunations, as the Mayas, who divided their civil year into eighteen

months, of twenty days, that they called U--moon--to which they added

five supplementary days, that they considered unlucky. From an epoch so

ancient that it is referred to the fabulous time of their history, the

Egyptians adopted the solar year, dividing it into twelve months, of

thirty days, to which they added, at the end of the last month, called

_Mesoré_, five days, named _Epact_.

By a most remarkable coincidence, the Egyptians, as the Mayas,

considered these additive five days _unlucky_.

Besides this solar year they had a sideral or sothic year, composed of

365 days and 6 hours, which corresponds exactly to the Mayas[TN-25]

sacred year, that Landa tells us was also composed of 365 days and 6

hours; which they represented in the gnomon of Mayapan by the line that

joins the centers of the stela that forms it.

The Egyptians, in their computations, calculated by a system of _fives_

and _tens_; the Mayas by a system of _fives_ and _twenties_, to four

hundred. Their sacred number appears to have been 13 from the remotest

antiquity, but SEVEN seems to have been a _mystic number_ among them as

among the Hindoos, Aryans, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and other nations.

The Egyptians made use of a septenary system in the arrangement of the

grand gallery in the center of the great pyramid. Each side of the wall

is made of seven courses of finely polished stones, the one above

overlapping that below, thus forming the triangular ceiling common to

all the edifices in Yucatan. This gallery is said to be seven times the

height of the other passages, and, as all the rooms in Uxmal, Chichen

and other places in Mayab, it is seven-sided. Some authors pretend to

assume that this well marked septenary system has reference to the

_Pleiades_ or _Seven stars_. _Alcyone_, the central star of the group,

being, it is said, on the same meridian as the pyramid, when it was

constructed, and _Alpha_ of Draconis, the then pole star, at its lower

culmination.

But if, as the Rev. Joseph A. Seiss and others pretend, the scientific

attainments required for the construction of such enduring monument

surpassed those of the learned men of Egypt, we must, of necessity,

believe that the architect who conceived the plan and carried out its

designs must have acquired his knowledge from an older people,

possessing greater learning than the priests of Memphis; unless we try

to persuade ourselves, as the reverend gentleman wishes us to, that the

great pyramid was built under the direct inspiration of the Almighty.

Nearly all the monuments of Yucatan bear evidence that the Mayas had a

predilection for number SEVEN. Since we find that their artificial

mounds were composed of seven superposed platforms; that the city of

Uxmal contained seven of these mounds; that the north side of the palace

of King CAN was adorned with seven turrets; that the entwined serpents,

his totem, which adorn the east façade of the west wing of this

building, have seven rattles; that the head-dress of kings and queens

were adorned with seven blue feathers; in a word, that the number SEVEN

prevails in all places and in everything where Maya influence has

predominated.

It is a FACT, and one that may not be altogether devoid of significance,

that this number SEVEN seems to have been the mystic number of many of

the nations of antiquity. It has even reached our times as such, being

used as symbol[TN-26] by several of the secret societies existing among

us.

If we look back through the vista of ages to the dawn of civilized life

in the countries known as the _old world_, we find this number SEVEN

among the Asiatic nations as well as in Egypt and Mayab. Effectively, in

Babylon, the celebrated temple of _the seven lights_ was made of _seven_

stages or platforms. In the hierarchy of Mazdeism, the _seven marouts_,

or genii of the winds, the _seven amschaspands_; then among the Aryans

and their descendants, the _seven horses_ that drew the chariot of the

sun, the _seven apris_ or shape of the flame, the _seven rays_ of Agni,

the _seven manons_ or criators of the Vedas; among the Hebrews, the

_seven days_ of the creation, the _seven lamps_ of the ark and of

Zacharias's vision, the _seven branches_ of the golden candlestick, the

_seven days_ of the feast of the dedication of the temple of Solomon,

the _seven years_ of plenty, the _seven years_ of famine; in the

Christian dispensation, the _seven_ churches with the _seven_ angels at

their head, the _seven_ golden candlesticks, the _seven seals_ of the

book, the _seven_ trumpets of the angels, the _seven heads_ of the beast

that rose from the sea, the _seven vials_ full of the wrath of God, the

_seven_ last plagues of the Apocalypse; in the Greek mythology, the

_seven_ heads of the hydra, killed by Hercules, etc.

The origin of the prevalence of that number SEVEN amongst all the

nations of earth, even the most remote from each other, has never been

satisfactorily explained, each separate people giving it a different

interpretation, according to their belief and to the tenets of their

religious creeds. As far as the Mayas are concerned, I think to have

found that it originated with the _seven_ members of CAN'S family, who

were the founders of the principal cities of _Mayab_, and to each of

whom was dedicated a mound in Uxmal and a turret in their palace. Their

names, according to the inscriptions carved on the monuments raised by

them at Uxmal and Chichen, were--CAN (serpent) and [C]OZ (bat), his

wife, from whom were born CAY (fish), the pontiff; AAK (turtle), who

became the governor of Uxmal; CHAACMOL (leopard), the warrior, who

became the husband of his sister MOÓ (macaw), the Queen of _Chichen_,

worshiped after her death at Izamal; and NICTÉ (flower), the priestess

who, under the name of _Zuhuy-Kuk_, became the goddess of the maidens.

The Egyptians, in expressing their ideas in writing, used three

different kinds of characters--phonetic, ideographic and

symbolic--placed either in vertical columns or in horizontal lines, to

be read from right to left, from left to right, as indicated by the

position of the figures of men or animals. So, also, the Mayas in their

writings employed phonetic, symbolic and ideographic signs, combining

these often, forming monograms as we do to-day, placing them in such a

manner as best suited the arrangement of the ornamentation of the façade

of the edifices. At present we can only speak with certainty of the

monumental inscriptions, the books that fell in the hands of the

ecclesiastics at the time of the conquest having been destroyed. No

truly genuine written monuments of the Mayas are known to exist, except

those inclosed within the sealed apartments, where the priests and

learned men of MAYAB hid them from the _Nahualt_ or _Toltec_ invaders.

As the Egyptians, they wrote in vertical columns and horizontal lines,

to be read generally from right to left. The space of this small essay

does not allow me to enter in more details; they belong naturally to a

work of different nature. Let it therefore suffice, for the present

purpose, to state that the comparative study of the language of the

Mayas led us to suspect that, as it contains words belonging to nearly

all the known languages of antiquity, and with exactly the same meaning,

in their mode of writing might be found letters or characters or signs

used in those tongues. Studying with attention the photographs made by

us of the inscriptions of Uxmal and Chichen, we were not long in

discovering that our surmises were indeed correct. The inscriptions,

written in squares or parallelograms, that might well have served as

models for the ancient hieratic Chaldeans, of the time of King Uruck,

seem to contain ancient Chaldee, Egyptian and Etruscan characters,

together with others that seem to be purely Mayab.

Applying these known characters to the decipherment of the inscriptions,

giving them their accepted value, we soon found that the language in

which they are written is, in the main, the vernacular of the aborigines

of Yucatan and other parts of Central America to-day. Of course, the

original mother tongue having suffered some alterations, in consequence

of changes in customs induced by time, invasions, intercourse with other

nations, and the many other natural causes that are known to affect

man's speech.

The Mayas and the Egyptians had many signs and characters identical;

possessing the same alphabetical and symbolical value in both nations.

Among the symbolical, I may cite a few: _water_, _country or region_,

_king_, _Lord_, _offerings_, _splendor_, the _various emblems of the

sun_ and many others. Among the alphabetical, a very large number of the

so-called Demotic, by Egyptologists, are found even in the inscription

of the _Akab[c]ib_ at Chichen; and not a few of the most ancient

Egyptian hieroglyphs in the mural inscriptions at Uxmal. In these I have

been able to discover the Egyptian characters corresponding to our own.

A a, B, C, CH or K, D, T, I, L, M, N, H, P, TZ, PP, U, OO, X, having the

same sound and value as in the Spanish language, with the exception of

the K, TZ, PP and X, which are pronounced in a way peculiar to the

Mayas. The inscriptions also contain these letters, A, I, X and PP

identical to the corresponding in the Etruscan alphabet. The finding of

the value of these characters has enabled me to decipher, among other

things, the names of the founders of the city of UXMAL; as that of the

city itself. This is written apparently in two different ways: whilst,

in fact, the sculptors have simply made use of two homophone signs,

notwithstanding dissimilar, of the letter M. As to the name of the

founders, not only are they written in alphabetical characters, but also

in ideographic, since they are accompanied in many instances by the

totems of the personages: e. g[TN-27] for AAK, which means turtle, is the

image of a turtle; for CAY (fish), the image of a fish; for Chaacmol

(leopard) the image of a leopard; and so on, precluding the possibility

of misinterpretation.

Having found that the language of the inscriptions was Maya, of course

I had no difficulty in giving to each letter its proper phonetic value,

since, as I have already said, Maya is still the vernacular of the

people.

I consider that the few facts brought together will suffice at present

to show, if nothing else, a strange similarity in the workings of the

mind in these two nations. But if these remarkable coincidences are not

merely freaks of hazard, we will be compelled to admit that one people

must have learned it from the other. Then will naturally arise the

questions, Which the teacher? Which the pupil? The answer will not only

solve an ethnological problem, but decide the question of priority.

I will now briefly refer to the myth of Osiris, the son of _Seb and

Nut_, the brother of _Aroeris_, the elder _Horus_, of _Typho_, of

_Isis_, and of _Nephthis_, named also NIKÉ. The authors have given

numerous explanations, result of fancy; of the mythological history of

that god, famous throughout Egypt. They made him a personification of

the inundations of the NILE; ISIS, his wife and sister, that of the

irrigated portion of the land of Egypt; their sister, _Nephthis_, that

of the barren edge of the desert occasionally fertilized by the waters

of the Nile; his brother and murderer _Tipho_, that of the sea which

swallows up the _Nile_.

Leaving aside the mythical lores, with which the priests of all times

and all countries cajole the credulity of ignorant and superstitious

people, we find that among the traditions of the past, treasured in the

mysterious recesses of the temples, is a history of the life of Osiris

on Earth. Many wise men of our days have looked upon it as fabulous. I

am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert,

that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture

hero of the Mayas.

It will be said, no doubt, that this remarkable similarity is a mere

coincidence. But how are we to dispose of so many coincidences? What

conclusion, if any, are we to draw from this concourse of so many

strange similes?

In this case, I cannot do better than to quote, verbatim, from Sir

Gardner Wilkinson's work, chap. xiii:

"_Osiris_, having become King of Egypt, applied himself towards

civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former

barbarous course of life, teaching them, moreover, to cultivate and

improve the fruits of the earth. * * * * * With the same good

disposition, he afterwards traveled over the rest of the world,

inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, by the

mildest persuasion."

The rest of the story relates to the manner of his killing by his

brother Typho, the disposal of his remains, the search instituted by his

wife to recover the body, how it was stolen again from her by _Typho_,

who cut him to pieces, scattering them over the earth, of the final

defeat of Typho by Osiris's son, Horus.

Reading the description, above quoted, of the endeavors of Osiris to

civilize the world, who would not imagine to be perusing the traditions

of the deeds of the culture heroes _Kukulean_[TN-28] and Quetzalcoatl of

the Mayas and of the Aztecs? Osiris was particularly worshiped at Philo,

where the history of his life is curiously illustrated in the sculptures

of a small retired chamber, lying nearly over the western adytum of the

temple, just as that of Chaacmol in the mural paintings of his funeral

chamber, the bas-reliefs of what once was his mausoleum, in those of the

queen's chamber and of her box in the tennis court at Chichen.

"The mysteries of Osiris were divided into the greater and less

mysteries. Before admission into the former, it was necessary that

the initiated should have passed through all the gradations of the

latter. But to merit this great honor, much was expected of the

candidate, and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain

it. Besides the proofs of a virtuous life, other recommendations

were required, and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher

mysteries was the greatest honor to which any one could aspire. It

was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis were borrowed."

Wilkinson, chap. xiii.

In Mayab there also existed mysteries, as proved by symbols discovered

in the month of June last by myself in the monument generally called the

_Dwarf's House_, at Uxmal. It seemed that the initiated had to pass

through different gradations to reach the highest or third; if we are to

judge by the number of rooms dedicated to their performance, and the

disposition of said rooms. The strangest part, perhaps, of this

discovery is the information it gives us that certain signs and symbols

were used by the affiliated, that are perfectly identical to those used

among the masons in their symbolical lodges. I have lately published in

_Harper's Weekly_, a full description of the building, with plans of the

same, and drawings of the signs and symbols existing in it. These secret

societies exist still among the _Zuñis_ and other Pueblo Indians of New

Mexico, according to the relations of Mr. Frank H. Cushing, a gentleman

sent by the Smithsonian Institution to investigate their customs and

history. In order to comply with the mission intrusted to him, Mr.

Cushing has caused his adoption in the tribe of the Zuñis, whose

language he has learned, whose habits he has adopted. Among the other

remarkable things he has discovered is "the existence of twelve sacred

orders, with their priests and their secret rites as carefully guarded

as the secrets of freemasonry, an institution to which these orders have

a strange resemblance." (From the New York _Times_.)

If from Egypt we pass to Nubia, we find that the peculiar battle ax of

the Mayas was also used by the warriors of that country; whilst many of

the customs of the inhabitants of equatorial Africa, as described by Mr.

DuChaillu[TN-29] in the relation of his voyage to the "Land of Ashango,"

so closely resemble those of the aborigines of Yucatan as to suggest

that intimate relations must have existed, in very remote ages, between

their ancestors; if the admixture of African blood, clearly discernible

still, among the natives of certain districts of the peninsula, did not

place that _fact_ without the peradventure of a doubt. We also see

figures in the mural paintings, at Chichen, with strongly marked African

features.

We learned by the discovery of the statue of Chaacmol, and that of the

priestess found by me at the foot of the altar in front of the shrine

of _Ix-cuina_, the Maya Venus, situated at the south end of _Isla

Mugeres_, it was customary with persons of high rank to file their teeth

in sharp points like a saw. We read in the chronicles that this fashion

still prevailed after the Spanish conquest; and then by little and

little fell into disuse. Travelers tells us that it is yet in vogue

among many of the tribes in the interior of South America; particularly

those whose names seem to connect with the ancient Caribs or Carians.

Du Chaillu asserts that the Ashangos, those of Otamo, the Apossos, the

Fans, and many other tribes of equatorial Africa, consider it a mark of

beauty to file their front teeth in a sharp point. He presents the Fans

as confirmed cannibals. We are told, and the bas-reliefs on Chaacmol's

mausoleum prove it, that the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen

enemies. It is said that, on certain grand occasions, after offering the

hearts of their victims to the idols, they abandoned the bodies to the

people, who feasted upon them. But it must be noticed that these

last-mentioned customs seemed to have been introduced in the country by

the Nahualts and Aztecs; since, as yet, we have found nothing in the

mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such

barbaric repasts, beyond the eating of their enemies' hearts.

The Mayas were, and their descendants are still, confirmed believers in

witchcraft. In December, last year, being at the hacienda of

X-Kanchacan, where are situated the ruins of the ancient city of

Mayapan, a sick man was brought to me. He came most reluctantly, stating

that he knew what was the matter with him: that he was doomed to die

unless the spell was removed. He was emaciated, seemed to suffer from

malarial fever, then prevalent in the place, and from the presence of

tapeworm. I told him I could restore him to health if he would heed my

advice. The fellow stared at me for some time, trying to find out,

probably, if I was a stronger wizard than the _H-Men_ who had bewitched

him. He must have failed to discover on my face the proverbial

distinctive marks great sorcerers are said to possess; for, with an

incredulous grin, stretching his thin lips tighter over his teeth, he

simply replied: "No use--I am bewitched--there is no remedy for me."

Mr. Du Chaillu, speaking of the superstitions of the inhabitants of

Equatorial Africa, says: "The greatest curse of the whole country is the

belief in sorcery or witchcraft. If the African is once possessed with

the belief that he is bewitched his whole nature seems to change. He

becomes suspicious of his dearest friends. He fancies himself sick, and

really often becomes sick through his fears. At least seventy-five per

cent of the deaths in all the tribes are murders for supposed sorcery."

In that they differ from the natives of Yucatan, who respect wizards

because of their supposed supernatural powers.

From the most remote antiquity, as we learn from the writings of the

chroniclers, in all sacred ceremonies the Mayas used to make copious

libations with _Balché_. To-day the aborigines still use it in the

celebrations of their ancient rites. _Balché_ is a liquor made from the

bark of a tree called Balché, soaked in water, mixed with honey and left

to ferment. It is their beverage _par excellence_. The nectar drank by

the God of Greek Mythology.

Du Chaillu, speaking of the recovery to health of the King of _Mayo_lo,

a city in which he resided for some time, says: "Next day he was so much

elated with the improvement in his health that he got tipsy on a

fermented beverage which he had prepared two days before he had fallen

ill, and which he made by _mixing honey and water, and adding to it

pieces of bark of a certain tree_." (Journey to Ashango Land, page 183.)

I will remark here that, by a strange _coincidence_, we not only find

that the inhabitants of Equatorial Africa have customs identical with

the MAYAS, but that the name of one of their cities MAYO_lo_, seems to

be a corruption of MAYAB.

The Africans make offerings upon the graves of their departed friends,

where they deposit furniture, dress and food--and sometimes slay slaves,

men and women, over the graves of kings and chieftains, with the belief

that their spirits join that of him in whose honor they have been

sacrificed.

I have already said that it was customary with the Mayas to place in the

tombs part of the riches of the deceased and the implements of his trade

or profession; and that the great quantity of blood found scattered

round the slab on which the statue of Chaacmol is reclining would tend

to suggest that slaves were sacrificed at his funeral.

The Mayas of old were wont to abandon the house where a person had died.

Many still observe that same custom when they can afford to do so; for

they believe that the spirit of the departed hovers round it.

The Africans also abandon their houses, remove even the site of their

villages when death frequently occur;[TN-30] for, say they, the place is

no longer good; and they fear the spirits of those recently deceased.

Among the musical instruments used by the Mayas there were two kinds of

drums--the _Tunkul_ and the _Zacatan_. They are still used by the

aborigines in their religious festivals and dances.

The _Tunkul_ is a cylinder hollowed from the trunk of a tree, so as to

leave it about one inch in thickness all round. It is generally about

four feet in length. On one side two slits are cut, so as to leave

between them a strip of about four inches in width, to within six inches

from the ends; this strip is divided in the middle, across, so as to

form, as it were, tongues. It is by striking on those tongues with two

balls of india-rubber, attached to the end of sticks, that the

instrument is played. The volume of sound produced is so great that it

can be heard, is[TN-31] is said, at a distance of six miles in calm

weather. The _Zacatan_ is another sort of drum, also hollowed from the

trunk of a tree. This is opened at both ends. On one end a piece of

skin is tightly stretched. It is by beating on the skin with the hand,

the instrument being supported between the legs of the drummer, in a

slanting position, that it is played.

Du Chaillu, Stanley and other travelers in Africa tell us that, in case

of danger and to call the clans together, the big war drum is beaten,

and is heard many miles around. Du Chaillu asserts having seen one of

these _Ngoma_, formed of a hollow log, nine feet long, at Apono; and

describes a _Fan_ drum which corresponds to the _Zacatan_ of the Mayas

as follows: "The cylinder was about four feet long and ten inches in

diameter at one end, but only seven at the other. The wood was hollowed

out quite thin, and the skin stretched over tightly. To beat it the

drummer held it slantingly between his legs, and with two sticks

beats[TN-32] furiously upon the upper, which was the larger end of the

cylinder."

We have the counterpart of the fetish houses, containing the skulls of

the ancestors and some idol or other, seen by Du Chaillu, in African

towns, in the small huts constructed at the entrance of all the villages

in Yucatan. These huts or shrines contain invariably a crucifix; at

times the image of some saint, often a skull. The last probably to cause

the wayfarer to remember he has to die; and that, as he cannot carry

with him his worldly treasures on the other side of the grave, he had

better deposit some in the alms box firmly fastened at the foot of the

cross. Cogolludo informs us these little shrines were anciently

dedicated to the god of lovers, of histrions, of dancers, and an

infinity of small idols that were placed at the entrance of the

villages, roads and staircases of the temples and other parts.

Even the breed of African dogs seems to be the same as that of the

native dogs of Yucatan. Were I to describe these I could not make use of

more appropriate words than the following of Du Chaillu: "The pure bred

native dog is small, has long straight ears, long muzzle and long curly

tail; the hair is short and the color yellowish; the pure breed being

known by the clearness of his color. They are always lean, and are kept

very short of food by their owners. * * * Although they have quick ears;

I don't think highly of their scent. They are good watch dogs."

I could continue this list of similes, but methinks those already

mentioned as sufficient for the present purpose. I will therefore close

it by mentioning this strange belief that Du Chaillu asserts exists

among the African warriors: "_The charmed leopard's skin worn about the

warrior's middle is supposed to render that worthy spear-proof._"

Let us now take a brief retrospective glance at the FACTS mentioned in

the foregoing pages. They seem to teach us that, in ages so remote as to

be well nigh lost in the abyss of the past, the _Mayas_ were a great and

powerful nation, whose people had reached a high degree of civilization.

That it is impossible for us to form a correct idea of their

attainments, since only the most enduring monuments, built by them, have

reached us, resisting the disintegrating action of time and atmosphere.

That, as the English of to-day, they had colonies all over the earth;

for we find their name, their traditions, their customs and their

language scattered in many distant countries, among whose inhabitants

they apparently exercised considerable civilizing influence, since they

gave names to their gods, to their tribes, to their cities.

We cannot doubt that the colonists carried with them the old traditions

of the mother country, and the history of the founders of their

nationality; since we find them in the countries where they seem to have

established large settlements soon after leaving the land of their

birth. In course of time these traditions have become disfigured,

wrapped, as it were, in myths, creations of fanciful and untutored

imaginations, as in Hindostan: or devises of crafty priests, striving to

hide the truth from the ignorant mass of the people, fostering their

superstitions, in order to preserve unbounded and undisputed sway over

them, as in Egypt.

In Hindostan, for example, we find the Maya custom of carrying the

children astride on the hips of the nurses. That of recording the vow of

the devotees, or of imploring the blessings of deity by the imprint of

the hand, dipped in red liquid, stamped on the walls of the shrines and

palaces. The worship of the mastodon, still extant in India, Siam,

Burmah, as in the worship of _Ganeza_, the god of knowledge, with an

elephant head, degenerated in that of the elephant itself.

Still extant we find likewise the innate propensity of the Mayas to

exclude all foreigners from their country; even to put to death those

who enter their territories (as do, even to-day, those of Santa Cruz and

the inhabitants of the Tierra de Guerra) as the emissaries of Rama were

informed by the friend of the owner of the country, the widow of the

_great architect_, MAYA, whose name HEMA means in the Maya language "she

who places ropes across the roads to impede the passage." Even the

history of the death of her husband MAYA, killed with a thunderbolt, by

the god _Pourandara_, whose jealousy was aroused by his love for her and

their marriage, recalls that of _Chaacmol_, the husband of _Moó_, killed

by their brother Aac, by being stabbed by him three times in the back

with a spear, through jealousy--for he also loved _Moó_.

Some Maya tribes, after a time, probably left their home at the South of

Hindostan and emigrated to Afghanistan, where their descendants still

live and have villages on the North banks of the river _Kabul_. They

left behind old traditions, that they may have considered as mere

fantasies of their poets, and other customs of their forefathers. Yet we

know so little about the ancient Afghans, or the Maya tribes living

among them, that it is impossible at present to say how much, if any,

they have preserved of the traditions of their race. All we know for a

certainty is that many of the names of their villages and tribes are

pure American-Maya words: that their types are very similar to the

features of the bearded men carved on the pillars of the castle, and on

the walls of other edifices at Chichen-Itza: while their warlike habits

recall those of the Mayas, who fought so bravely and tenaciously the

Spanish invaders.

Some of the Maya tribes, traveling towards the west and northwest,

reached probably the shores of Ethiopia; while others, entering the

Persian Gulf, landed near the embouchure of the Euphrates, and founded

their primitive capital at a short distance from it. They called it _Hur

(Hula) city of guests just arrived_--and according to Berosus gave

themselves the name of _Khaldi_; probably because they intrenched their

city: _Kal_ meaning intrenchment in the American-Maya language. We have

seen that the names of all the principal deities of the primitive

Chaldeans had a natural etymology in that tongue. Such strange

coincidences cannot be said to be altogether accidental. Particularly

when we consider that their learned men were designated as MAGI, (Mayas)

and their Chief _Rab-Mag_, meaning, in Maya, the _old man_; and were

great architects, mathematicians and astronomers. As again we know of

them but imperfectly, we cannot tell what traditions they had preserved

of the birthplace of their forefathers. But by the inscriptions on the

tablets or bricks, found at Mugheir and Warka, we know for a certainty

that, in the archaic writings, they formed their characters of straight

lines of uniform thickness; and inclosed their sentences in squares or

parallelograms, as did the founders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. And

from the signet cylinder of King Urukh, that their mode of dressing was

identical with that of many personages represented in the mural

paintings at Chichen-Itza.

We have traced the MAYAS again on the shores of Asia Minor, where the

CARIANS at last established themselves, after having spread terror among

the populations bordering on the Mediterranean. Their origin is unknown:

but their customs were so similar to those of the inhabitants of Yucatan

at the time even of the Spanish conquest--and their names CAR, _Carib_

or _Carians_, so extensively spread over the western continent, that we

might well surmise, that, navigators as they were, they came from those

parts of the world; particularly when we are told by the Greek poets and

historians, that the goddess MAIA was the daughter of _Atlantis_. We

have seen that the names of the khati, those of their cities, that of

Tyre, and finally that of Egypt, have their etymology in the Maya.

Considering the numerous coincidences already pointed out, and many more

I could bring forth, between the attainments and customs of the Mayas

and the Egyptians; in view also of the fact that the priests and learned

men of Egypt constantly pointed toward the WEST as the birthplace of

their ancestors, it would seem as if a colony, starting from Mayab, had

emigrated Eastward, and settled on the banks of the Nile; just as the

Chinese to-day, quitting their native land and traveling toward the

rising sun, establish themselves in America.

In Egypt again, as in Hindostan, we find the history of the children of

CAN, preserved among the secret traditions treasured up by the priests

in the dark recesses of their temples: the same story, even with all its

details. It is TYPHO who kills his brother OSIRIS, the husband of their

sister ISIS. Some of the names only have been changed when the members

of the royal family of CAN, the founder of the cities of Mayab, reaching

apotheosis, were presented to the people as gods, to be worshiped.

That the story of _Isis_ and _Osiris_ is a mythical account of CHAACMOL

and MOÓ, from all the circumstances connected with it, according to the

relations of the priests of Egypt that tally so closely with what we

learn in Chichen-Itza from the bas-reliefs, it seems impossible to

doubt.

Effectively, _Osiris_ and _Isis_ are considered as king and queen of the

Amenti--the region of the West--the mansion of the dead, of the

ancestors. Whatever may be the etymology of the name of Osiris, it is a

_fact_, that in the sculptures he is often represented with a spotted

skin suspended near him, and Diodorus Siculus says: "That the skin is

usually represented without the head; but some instances where this is

introduced show it to be the _leopard's_ or _panther's_." Again, the

name of Osiris as king of the West, of the Amenti, is always written, in

hieroglyphic characters, representing a crouching _leopard_ with an eye

above it. It is also well known that the priests of Osiris wore a

_leopard_ skin as their ceremonial dress.

Now, Chaacmol reigned with his sister Moó, at Chichen-Itza, in Mayab, in

the land of the West for Egypt. The name _Chaacmol_ means, in Maya, a

_Spotted_ tiger, a _leopard_; and he is represented as such in all his

totems in the sculptures on the monuments; his shield being made of the

skin of leopard, as seen in the mural paintings.

Osiris, in Egypt, is a myth. Chaacmol, in Mayab, a reality. A warrior

whose mausoleum I have opened; whose weapons and ornaments of jade are

in Mrs. Le Plongeon's possession; whose heart I have found, and sent a

piece of it to be analysed by professor Thompson of Worcester, Mass.;

whose effigy, with his name inscribed on the tablets occupying the place

of the ears, forms now one of the most precious relics in the National

Museum of Mexico.

ISIS was the wife and sister of Osiris. As to the etymology of her name

the Maya affords it in I[C]IN--_the younger sister_. As Queen of the

Amenti, of the West, she also is represented in hieroglyphs by the same

characters as her husband--a _leopard, with an eye above_, and the sign

of the feminine gender an oval or egg. But as a goddess she is always

portrayed with wings; the vulture being dedicated to her; and, as it

were, her totem.

MOÓ the wife and sister of _Chaacmol_ was the Queen of Chichen. She is

represented on the Mausoleum of Chaacmol as a _Macaw_ (Moó in the Maya

language); also on the monuments at Uxmal: and the chroniclers tell us

that she was worshiped in Izamal under the name of _Kinich-Kakmó_;

reading from right to left the _fiery macaw with eyes like the sun_.

Their protecting spirit is a _Serpent_, the totem of their father CAN.

Another Egyptian divinity, _Apap_ or _Apop_, is represented under the

form of a gigantic serpent covered with wounds. Plutarch in his

treatise, _De Iside et Osiride_, tells us that he was enemy to the sun.

TYPHO was the brother of Osiris and Isis; for jealousy, and to usurp the

throne, he formed a conspiration and killed his brother. He is said to

represent in the Egyptian mythology, the sea, by some; by others, _the

sun_.

AAK (turtle) was also the brother of Chaacmol and _Moó_. For jealousy,

and to usurp the throne, he killed his brother at treason with three

thrusts of his _spear_ in the back. Around the belt of his statue at

Uxmal used to be seen hanging the heads of his brothers CAY and

CHAACMOL, together with that of MOÓ; whilst his feet rested on their

flayed bodies. In the sculpture he is pictured surrounded by the _Sun_

as his protecting spirit. The escutcheon of Uxmal shows that he called

the place he governed the land of the Sun. In the bas-reliefs of the

Queen's chamber at Chichen his followers are seen to render homage to

the _Sun_; others, the friends of MOÓ, to the _Serpent_. So, in Mayab as

in Egypt, the _Sun_ and _Serpent_ were inimical. In Egypt again this

enmity was a myth, in Mayab a reality.

AROERIS was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Typho. His business seems to

have been that of a peace-maker.

CAY was also the brother of _Chaacmol_, _Moó_ and _Aac_. He was the high

pontiff, and sided with Chaacmol and Moó in their troubles, as we learn

from the mural paintings, from his head and flayed body serving as

trophy to Aac as I have just said.

In June last, among the ruins of _Uxmal_, I discovered a magnificent

bust of this personage; and I believe I know the place where his remains

are concealed.

NEPHTHIS was the sister of Isis, Osiris, Typho, and Aroeris, and the

wife of Typho; but being in love with Osiris she managed to be taken to

his embraces, and she became pregnant. That intrigue having been

discovered by Isis, she adopted the child that Nephthis, fearing the

anger of her husband, had hidden, brought him up as her own under the

name of Anubis. Nephthis was also called NIKÉ by some.

NIC or NICTÉ was the sister of _Chaacmol_, _Moó_, _Aac_, and _Cay_, with

whose name I find always her name associated in the sculptures on the

monuments. Here the analogy between these personages would seem to

differ, still further study of the inscriptions may yet prove the

Egyptian version to contain some truth. _Nic_ or _Nicte_[TN-33] means

flower; a cast of her face, with a flower sculptured on one cheek,

exists among my collections.

We are told that three children were born to Isis and Osiris: Horus,

Macedo, and Harpocrates. Well, in the scene painted on the walls of

Chaacmol's funeral chamber, in which the body of this warrior is

represented stretched on the ground, cut open under the ribs for the

extraction of the heart and visceras, he is seen surrounded by his wife,

his sister NIC, his mother _Zo[c]_, and four children.

I will close these similes by mentioning that _Thoth_ was reputed the

preceptor of Isis; and said to be the inventor of letters, of the art of

reckoning, geometry, astronomy, and is represented in the hieroglyphs

under the form of a baboon (cynocephalus). He is one of the most ancient

divinities among the Egyptians. He had also the office of scribe in the

lower regions, where he was engaged in noting down the actions of the

dead, and presenting or reading them to Osiris. One of the modes of

writing his name in hieroglyphs, transcribed in our common letters,

reads _Nukta_; a word most appropriate and suggestive of his attributes,

since, according to the Maya language, it would signify to understand,

to perceive, _Nuctah_: while his name Thoth, maya[TN-34] _thot_ means to

scatter flowers; hence knowledge. In the temple of death at Uxmal, at

the foot of the grand staircase that led to the sanctuary, at the top of

which I found a sacrificial altar, there were six cynocephali in a

sitting posture, as Thoth is represented by the Egyptians. They were

placed three in a row each side of the stairs. Between them was a

platform where a skeleton, in a kneeling posture, used to be. To-day the

cynocephali have been removed. They are in one of the yard[TN-35] of the

principal house at the Hacienda of Uxmal. The statue representing the

kneeling skeleton lays, much defaced, where it stood when that ancient

city was in its glory.

In the mural paintings at Chichen-Itza, we again find the baboon

(Cynocephalus) warning Moó of impending danger. She is pictured in her

home, which is situated in the midst of a garden, and over which is seen

the royal insignia. A basket, painted blue, full of bright oranges, is

symbolical of her domestic happiness. She is sitting at the door. Before

her is an individual pictured physically deformed, to show the ugliness

of his character and by the flatness of his skull, want of moral

qualities, (the[TN-36] proving that the learned men of Mayab understood

phrenology). He is in an persuasive attitude; for he has come to try to

seduce her in the name of another. She rejects his offer: and, with her

extended hand, protects the armadillo, on whose shell the high priest

read her destiny when yet a child. In a tree, just above the head of the

man, is an ape. His hand is open and outstretched, both in a warning and

threatening position. A serpent (_can_), her protecting spirit, is seen

at a short distance coiled, ready to spring in her defense. Near by is

another serpent, entwined round the trunk of a tree. He has wounded

about the head another animal, that, with its mouth open, its tongue

protruding, looks at its enemy over its shoulder. Blood is seen oozing

from its tongue and face. This picture forcibly recalls to the mind the

myth of the garden of Eden. For here we have the garden, the fruit, the

woman, the tempter.

As to the charmed _leopard_ skin worn by the African warriors to render

them invulnerable to spears, it would seem as if the manner in which

Chaacmol met his death, by being stabbed with a spear, had been known

to their ancestors; and that they, in their superstitious fancies, had

imagined that by wearing his totem, it would save them from being

wounded with the same kind of weapon used in killing him. Let us not

laugh at such a singular conceit among uncivilized tribes, for it still

prevails in Europe. On many of the French and German soldiers, killed

during the last German war, were found talismans composed of strips of

paper, parchment or cloth, on which were written supposed cabalistic

words or the name of some saint, that the wearer firmly believed to be

possessed of the power of making him invulnerable.

I am acquainted with many people--and not ignorant--who believe that by

wearing on their persons rosaries, made in Jerusalem and blessed by the

Pope, they enjoy immunity from thunderbolts, plagues, epidemics and

other misfortunes to which human flesh is heir.

That the Mayas were a race autochthon on this western continent and did

not receive their civilization from Asia or Africa, seems a rational

conclusion, to be deduced from the foregoing FACTS. If we had nothing

but their _name_ to prove it, it should be sufficient, since its

etymology is only to be found in the American Maya language.

They cannot be said to have been natives of Hindostan; since we are told

that, in very remote ages, _Maya_, a prince of the Davanas, established

himself there. We do not find the etymology of his name in any book

where mention is made of it. We are merely told that he was a wise

magician, a great architect, a learned astronomer, a powerful Asoura

(demon), thirsting for battles and bloodshed: or, according to the

Sanscrit, a Goddess, the mother of all beings that exist--gods and men.

Very little is known of the Mayas of Afghanistan, except that they call

themselves _Mayas_, and that the names of their tribes and cities are

words belonging to the American Maya language.

Who can give the etymology of the name _Magi_, the learned men amongst

the Chaldees. We only know that its meaning is the same as _Maya_ in

Hindostan: magician, astronomer, learned man. If we come to Greece,

where we find again the name _Maia_, it is mentioned as that of a

goddess, as in Hindostan, the mother of the gods: only we are told that

she was the daughter of Atlantis--born of Atlantis. But if we come to

the lands beyond the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, then we find a

country called MAYAB, on account of the porosity of its soil; that, as a

sieve (_Mayab_), absorbs the water in an incredibly short time. Its

inhabitants took its name from that of the country, and called

themselves _Mayas_. It is a fact worthy of notice, that in their

hieroglyphic writings the sign employed by the Egyptians to signify a

_Lord_, a _Master_, was the image of a sieve. Would not this seem to

indicate that the western invaders who subdued the primitive inhabitants

of the valley of the Nile, and became the lords and masters of the land,

were people from MAYAB; particularly if we consider that the usual

character used to write the name of Egypt was the sieve, together with

the sign of land?

We know that the _Mayas_ deified and paid divine honors to their eminent

men and women after their death. This worship of their heroes they

undoubtedly carried, with other customs, to the countries where they

emigrated; and, in due course of time, established it among their

inhabitants, who came to forget that MAYAB was a locality, converted it

in to a personalty: and as some of their gods came from it, Maya was

considered as the _Mother of the Gods_, as we see in Hindostan and

Greece.

It would seem probable that the Mayas did not receive their civilization

from the inhabitants of the Asiatic peninsulas, for the religious lores

and customs they have in common are too few to justify this assertion.

They would simply tend to prove that relations had existed between them

at some epoch or other; and had interchanged some of their habits and

beliefs as it happens, between the civilized nations of our days. This

appears to be the true side of the question; for in the figures

sculptured on the obelisks of Copan the Asiatic type is plainly

discernible; whilst the features of the statues that adorn the

celebrated temples of Hindostan are, beyond all doubts, American.

The FACTS gathered from the monuments do not sustain the theory advanced

by many, that the inhabitants of tropical America received their

civilization from Egypt and Asia Minor. On the contrary. It is true that

I have shown that many of the customs and attainments of the Egyptians

were identical to those of the Mayas; but these had many religious rites

and habits unknown to the Egyptians; who, as we know, always pointed

towards the West as the birthplaces of their ancestors, and worshiped as

gods and goddesses personages who had lived, and whose remains are still

in MAYAB. Besides, the monuments themselves prove the respective

antiquity of the two nations.

According to the best authorities the most ancient monuments raised by

the Egyptians do not date further back than about 2,500 years B. C.

Well, in Aké, a city about twenty-five miles from Merida, there exists

still a monument sustaining thirty-six columns of _katuns_. Each of

these columns indicate a lapse of one hundred and sixty years in the

life of the nation. They then would show that 5,760 years has intervened

between the time when the first stone was placed on the east corner of

the uppermost of the three immense superposed platforms that compose the

structure, and the placing of the last capping stone on the top of the

thirty-sixth column. How long did that event occur before the Spanish

conquest it is impossible to surmise. Supposing, however, it did take

place at that time; this would give us a lapse of at least 6,100 years

since, among the rejoicings of the people this sacred monument being

finished, the first stone that was to serve as record of the age of the

nation, was laid by the high priest, where we see it to-day. I will

remark that the name AKÉ is one of the Egyptians' divinities, the third

person of the triad of Esneh; always represented as a child, holding his

finger to his mouth. AKÉ also means a _reed_. To-day the meaning of the

word is lost in Yucatan.

Cogolludo, in his history of Yucatan, speaking of the manner in which

they computed time, says:

"They counted their ages and eras, which they inscribed in their books

every twenty years, in lustrums of four years. * * * When five of these

lustrums were completed, they called the lapse of twenty years _katun_,

which means to place a stone down upon another. * * * In certain sacred

buildings and in the houses of the priests every twenty years they place

a hewn stone upon those already there. When seven of these stones have

thus been piled one over the other began the _Ahau katun_. Then after

the first lustrum of four years they placed a small stone on the top of

the big one, commencing at the east corner; then after four years more

they placed another small stone on the west corner; then the next at the

north; and the fourth at the south. At the end of the twenty years they

put a big stone on the top of the small ones: and the column, thus

finished, indicated a lapse of one hundred and sixty years."

There are other methods for determining the approximate age of the

monuments of Mayab:

1st. By means of their actual orientation; starting from the _fact_ that

their builders always placed either the faces or angles of the edifices

fronting the cardinal points.

2d. By determining the epoch when the mastodon became extinct. For,

since _Can_ or his ancestors adopted the head of that animal as symbol

of deity, it is evident they must have known it; hence, must have been

contemporary with it.

3d. By determining when, through some great cataclysm, the lands became

separated, and all communications between the inhabitants of _Mayab_ and

their colonies were consequently interrupted. If we are to credit what

Psenophis and Sonchis, priests of Heliopolis and Saïs, said to Solon

"that nine thousand years before, the visit to them of the Athenian

legislator, in consequence of great earthquakes and inundations, the

lands of the West disappeared in one day and a fatal night," then we may

be able to form an idea of the antiquity of the ruined cities of America

and their builders.

Reader, I have brought before you, without comments, some of the FACTS,

that after ten years of research, the paintings on the walls of

_Chaacmol's_ funeral chamber, the sculptured inscriptions carved on the

stones of the crumbling monuments of Yucatan, and a comparative study of

the vernacular of the aborigines of that country, have revealed to us. I

have no theory to offer. Many years of further patient investigations,

the full interpretation of the monumental inscriptions, and, above all,

the possession of the libraries of the learned men of _Mayab_, are the

_sine qua non_ to form an uncontrovertible one, free from the

speculations which invalidate all books published on the subject

heretofore.

If by reading these pages you have learned something new, your time has

not been lost; nor mine in writing them.