ISLAND OF COZUMEL, YUCATAN,}
June 15, 1877. }
_Stephen Salisbury, jr., esq., Worcester, Mass.:_--
Dear Sir,-- ... The London Times of Wednesday, January 3, 1877,
contains views on the projected congress of the so-called
Americanists, that is expected to be held at Luxembourg in
September next. Was the writing intended for a damper? If so, it
did not miss its aim. It must have frozen to the very core the
enthusiasm of the many dreamers and speculators on the prehistoric
nations that inhabited this western continent. As for me, I felt
its chill even under the burning rays of the tropical sun of
Yucatan, notwithstanding I am, or ought to be, well inured to them
during the four years that my wife and myself are rambling among
the ruined cities of the Mayas.
True, I am but a cool searcher of the stupendous monuments of the
mighty races that are no more, but have left the history of their
passage on earth written on the stones of the palaces of their
rulers, upon the temples of their gods. The glowing fires of
enthusiasm do not overheat my imagination, even if the handiwork of
the ancient artists and architects--if the science of the Itza
_H-Menes_--wise men, fill my heart with a surprise akin to
admiration. Since four years we ask the stones to disclose the
secrets they conceal. The portraits of the ancient kings, those of
the men with long beards, who seem to have held high offices among
these people, have become familiarized with us, and we with them.
At times they appear to our eyes to be not quite devoid of life,
not entirely deaf to our voice. Not unfrequently the meaning of
some sculpture, of some character, of some painting,--till then
obscure, unintelligible, puzzling,--all of a sudden becomes clear,
easy to understand, full of meaning.
Many a strange story of human greatness and pride, of human, petty
and degrading passions, weakness and imperfections, has thus been
divulged to us;--while we were also told of the customs of the
people; of the scientific acquirements of the _H-Menes_; of the
religious rites observed by the _kins_ (priests); of their
impostures, and of the superstition they inculcated to the masses;
of the communication held by the merchants of Chichen with the
traders from Asia and Africa; of the politeness of courtiers and
gracefulness of the queen; of the refinement of the court; of the
funeral ceremonies, and of the ways they disposed of the dead; of
the terrible invasions of barbarous Nahua tribes; of the
destruction, at their hands, of the beautiful metropolis
Chichen-Itza, the centre of civilization, the emporium of the
countries comprised between the eastern shores of Mayapan and the
western of Xibalba; of the subsequent decadence of the nations; of
their internal strife during long ages. For here, in reckoning
time, we must not count by centuries but millenaries. We do not, in
thus speaking, indulge in conjectures--for, verily, the study of
the walls leaves no room for supposition to him who quietly
investigates and compares.
How far Mrs. Le Plongeon and myself have been able to interpret the
mural paintings, bas-reliefs, sculptures and hieroglyphics, the
results of our labors show. (Some of them have been lately
published in the "Illustration Hispano-Americana" of Madrid.) The
excavating of the magnificent statue of the Itza king, Chac-Mool,
buried about five thousand years ago by his wife, the queen of
Chichen, at eight metres under ground (that statue has just been
wrenched from our hands by the Mexican government, without even an
apology, but the photographs may be seen at the residence of Mr.
Henry Dixon, No. 112 Albany street, Regent park, London, and the
engravings of it in the "Ilustracion Hispano-Americana"); the
knowledge of the place where lies that of Huuncay, the elder
brother of Chac-Mool, interred at twelve metres under the
surface--of the site where the _H-Menes_ hid their libraries
containing the history of their nation--the knowledge and sciences
they had attained, would of itself be an answer to Professor
Mommsen's ridiculous assertion, that we are anxious to find what
_cannot be known_, or what would be _useless_ if discovered. It is
not the place here to refute the learned professor's sayings; nor
is it worth while. Yet I should like to know if he would refuse as
_useless_ the treasures of King Priam because made of gold that
belongs to the archaic times--what gold does not? Or, if he would
turn up his nose at the wealth of Agamemnon because he knows that
the gold and precious stones that compose it were wrought by
artificers who lived four thousand years ago, should Dr. Schliemann
feel inclined to offer them to him. What says Mr. Mommsen?
Besides my discovery of the statues, bas-reliefs, etc., etc., which
would be worth many thousands of pounds sterling to--if the Mexican
government did not rob them from--the discoverers, the study of the
works of generations that have preceded us affords me the pleasure
of following the tracks of the human mind through the long vista of
ages to discover that its pretended progress and development are
all imaginary, at least on earth. I have been unable to the present
day to trace it. I really see no difference between the civilized
man of today and the civilized man of five thousand years ago. I do
not perceive that the human mind is endowed in our times with
powers superior to those it possessed in ages gone by, but clearly
discern that these powers are directed in different channels. Will
Professor Mommsen pretend that this is also _useless_ after being
found? Man today is the same as man was when these monuments, which
cause the wonder of the modern traveller, were reared. Is he not
influenced by the same instincts, the same wants, the same
aspirations, the same mental and physical diseases?
I consider mankind alike to the waters of the ocean; their surface
is ever changing, while in their depths is the same eternal,
unchangeable stillness and calm. So man superficially. He reflects
the images of times and circumstances. His intellect develops and
expands only according to the necessities of the moment and place.
As the waves, he cannot pass the boundaries assigned to him by the
unseen, impenetrable Power to which all things are subservient. He
is irresistibly impulsed toward his inevitable goal--the grave.
There, as far as he positively knows, all his powers are silenced.
But from there also he sees springing new forms of life that have
to fulfil, in their turn, their destiny in the great laboratory of
creation. The exploration of the monuments of past generations, all
bearing the peculiarities, the idiosyncracies of the builders, has
convinced me that the energies of human mind and intellect are the
same in all times. They come forth in proportion to the
requirements of the part they are to represent in the great drama
of life, the means in the stupendous mechanism of the universe
being always perfectly and wisely adapted to the ends. It is
therefore absurd to judge of mental attainments of man in different
epochs and circumstances by comparison with our actual
civilization. For me the teachings of archæology are these:
"Tempora mutantur, mores etiam in illis; sicut ante homini etiam
manent anima et mens."
Alchemists have gone out of fashion, thank God! Would that the old
sort of antiquaries, who lose their time, and cause others to lose
theirs also, in discussing idle speculations, might follow suit.
History requires facts,--these facts, proofs. These proofs are not
to be found in the few works of the travellers that have hastily
visited the monuments that strew the soil of Central America,
Mexico and Peru, and given of them descriptions more or less
accurate--very often erroneous--with appreciations always affected
by their individual prejudices. The customs and attainments of all
sorts of the nations that have lived on the western continent,
before it was America, must be studied in view of the monuments
they have left; or of the photographs, tracings of mural paintings,
etc., etc., which are as good as the originals themselves. Not even
the writings of the chroniclers of the time of the Spanish conquest
can be implicitly relied upon. The writers on the one hand were in
all cases blinded by their religious fanaticism; in many by their
ignorance; on the other, the people who inhabited the country at
the time of the arrival of the conquerors were not the builders of
the ancient monuments. Many of these were then in ruins and looked
upon by the inhabitants, as they are today, with respect and awe.
True, many of the habits and customs of the ancients, to a certain
extent, existed yet among them; but disfigured, distorted by time,
and the new modes of thinking and living introduced by the
invaders; while, strange to say, the language remained unaltered.
Even today, in many places in Yucatan the descendants of the
Spanish conquerors have forgotten the native tongue of their sires,
and only speak _Maya_, the idiom of the vanquished. Traditions,
religious rites, superstitious practices, dances, were handed down
from generation to generation. But, as the sciences were of old the
privilege of the few, the colleges and temples of learning having
been destroyed at the downfall of Chichen, the knowledge was
imparted by the fathers to their sons, under the seal of the utmost
secrecy. Through the long vista of generations, notwithstanding the
few books that existed at the time of the conquest, and were in
great part destroyed by Bishop Landa and other fanatical monks, the
learning of the _H-Menes_ became adulterated in passing from mouth
to mouth, merely committed to memory, and was at last lost and
changed into the many ridiculous notions and strange practices said
to have been consigned afterward to these writings.
Withal the knowledge of reading those books was retained by some of
the descendants of the _H-Menes_. I would not take upon myself to
assert positively that some of the inhabitants of Peten--the place
where the Itzas took refuge at the beginning of the Christian era
after the destruction of their city--are not still in possession of
the secret. At all events, I was told that people who could read
the Maya _pic-huun_ (books), and to whom the deciphering of the
_Uooh_ (letters) and the figurative characters was known, existed
as far back as forty years ago, but kept their knowledge a secret,
lest they should be persecuted by the priests as wizards and their
precious volume wrenched from them and destroyed. The Indians hold
them yet in great veneration. I am ready to give full credit to
this assertion, for during my rambles and explorations in Peru and
Bolivia I was repeatedly informed that people existed ensconced in
remote nooks of the Andes, who could interpret the _quippus_
(string writing) and yet made use of them to register their family
records, keep account of their droves of llamas and other
property.
I will not speak here at length of the monuments of Peru, that
during eight years I have diligently explored; for, with but few
exceptions, they dwindle into insignificance when compared with the
majestic structures reared by the Mayas, the Caras, or Carians, and
other nations of Central America, and become, therefore, devoid of
interest in point of architecture and antiquity; excepting,
however, the ruins of Tiahuanaco, that were already ruins at the
time of the foundation of the Incas' empire, in the eleventh
century of our era, and so old that the memory of the builders was
lost in the abysm of time. The Indians used to say that these were
the work of giants who lived _before the sun shone in the heavens_.
It is well known that the Incas had no writing characters or
hieroglyphics. The monuments raised by their hands do not afford
any clew to their history. Dumb walls merely, their mutism leaves
large scope to imagination, and one may conjecture any but the
right thing. Of the historical records of that powerful but
short-lived dynasty we have nothing left but the few imperfect and
rotten _quippus_ which are occasionally disinterred from the
_huacas_.
If we desire to know anything about the civil laws and policy, the
religious rites and ceremonies of the Incas, their scanty
scientific attainments, and their very few and rude artistic
attempts, we are obliged to recur to the "Comentarios reales" of
Garcilasso de la Vega, to the _Décadas_ of Herrera, to Zarata and
other writers of the time of the conquest of Peru by Francisco
Pizarro. None of them--Montesinos excepted--try to shed any light
on the origin of _Manco-Ceapac_ and that of his sister and wife,
_Mama-Oello_, nor on the state of the country before their arrival
at Cuzco.
I have been most happy in my researches into the history of this
founder of the Inca dynasty, whom many consider a mere mythical
being. In the library of the British Museum I came across an old
Spanish manuscript, written by a Jesuit father, A. Anilla, under,
as he asserts, the dictation of a certain _Catári_, an
ex-_quippucamayoe_,--archive-keeper.
Writing now from memory, far away from my books, notes, plans,
etc., etc., left for safe-keeping in the hands of a friend in
Merida, I do not remember the number of the catalogue. But it is
easy to look for "_Las vidas de los hombres ilustres de la compania
de Jesus en las Provincias del Peru_," where I have read of the
origin of Manco-Ceapac, of his wanderings from the sea coasts to
those of the lake of Titicaca, and hence through the country till
at last he arrived at the village of Cuzco, where he was kindly
received by the inhabitants and established himself. This MS. also
speaks of the history of his ancestors, of their arrival at Tumbes
after leaving their homes in the countries of the north in search
of some lost relatives, of their slow progress toward the South,
and the vain inquiries about their friends, etc., etc. Now that I
have studied part of the history of the Mayas and become acquainted
with their customs, as pictured in the mural paintings that adorn
the walls of the inner room of the monument raised to the memory of
Chac-Mool by the Queen of Itza, his wife, on the south end of the
east wall of the gymnasium, at Chichen (the tracings of these
paintings are in our power), and also in the traditions and customs
of their descendants, by comparing them with those of the Quichuas,
I cannot but believe that Manco's ancestors emigrated from Xibalba
or Mayapan, carrying with them the notions of the mother country,
which they inculcated to their sons and grandsons, and introduced
them among the tribes that submitted to their sway.
Let it be remembered that the Quichua was not the mother-tongue of
the Incas, who in court spoke a language unknown to the common
people. They, for political motives, and particularly to destroy
the feuds that existed between the inhabitants of the different
provinces of their vast dominions, ordered the Quichua to be taught
to and learned by everybody, and to be regarded as the tongue of
_Ttahuantinsuyu_. Their subjects, from however distant parts of the
empire could then also understand each other, and came with time to
consider themselves as members of the same family.
I have bestowed some attention upon the study of the Quichua. Not
being acquainted with the dialects of the Aryan nations previous
to their separation, I would not pretend to impugn the grand
discovery of Mr. Lopez. But I can positively assert that
expressions are not wanting in the Peruvian tongue that bear as
strong a family resemblance to the dialects spoken in the Sandwich
Islands and Tahiti, where I resided a few months, as the ruins of
Tiahuanaco to those of Easter Island, that are composed of stones
not to be found today in that place. When I visited it I was struck
with the perfect similitude of the structures found there and the
colossal statues, which forcibly recalled to my mind those said by
Pinelo to have existed in Tiahuanaco even at the time of the
Spanish conquest. This similarity in the buildings and language of
the people separated by such obstacles as the deep water of the
Pacific, hundreds of miles apart, cannot be attributed to a mere
casual coincidence. To my mind it plainly shows that communications
at some epoch or other have existed between these countries. On
this particular point I have a theory of my own, which I think I
can sustain by plausible facts, not speculative; but this is not
the place to indulge in theories. I will, therefore, refrain from
intruding mine on your readers. On the other hand, they are welcome
to see it in the discourse I have pronounced before the American
Geographical Society of New York in January, 1873, which has been
published in the New York Tribune, lecture sheet No. 8.
The Quichua contains also many words that seem closely allied to
the dialects spoken by the nations inhabiting the regions called
today Central America and the Maya tongue. It would not be
surprising that some colony emigrating from these countries should
have reached the beautiful valley of Cuzco, and established
themselves in it, in times so remote that we have no tradition even
of the event. It is well known that the Quichua was the language of
the inhabitants of the valley of Cuzco exclusively before it became
generalized in _Ttahuantinsuyu_, and it is today the place where it
is spoken with more perfection and purity.
In answer to the question, if man came from the older (?) world of
Asia,--and if so how, there are several points to consider, and not
the least important relates to the relative antiquity of the
continents. You are well aware that geologists, naturalists and
other scientists are not wanting who, with the late Professor
Agassiz, sustain that this western continent is as old, if not
older, than Asia and Europe, or Africa. Leaving this question to be
settled by him who may accomplish it, I will repeat here what I
have sustained long ago: that the American races are autochthonous,
and have had many thousand years ago relations with the inhabitants
of the other parts of the earth just as we have them today. This
fact I can prove by the mural paintings and bas-reliefs, and more
than all by the portraits of men with long beards that are to be
seen in Chichen Itza, not to speak of the Maya tongue, which
contains expressions from nearly every language spoken in olden
times (to this point I will recur hereafter), and also by the small
statues of tumbaya (a mixture of silver and copper) found in the
huacas of Chimu, near Trujillo on the Peruvian coast, and by those
of the valley of Chincha.
These statues, which seem to belong to a very ancient date,
generally represent a man seated cross-legged on the back of a
turtle. The head is shaved, except the top, where the hair is left
to grow, and is plaited Chinese fashion. Not unfrequently the arms
are extended, the hands rest upon pillars inscribed with characters
much resembling Chinese. I have had one of these curious objects
long in my possession. Notwithstanding being much worn by time and
the salts contained in the earth, it was one of the most perfect I
have seen. It was found in the valley of Chincha. I showed it one
day to a learned Chinaman, and was quite amused in watching his
face while he examined the image. His features betrayed so vividly
the different emotions that preyed upon his mind,--curiosity,
surprise, awe, superstitious fear. I asked him if he understood the
characters engraved on the pillars? "Yes," said he, "these are the
ancient letters used in China before the invention of those in
usage today. That"--pointing to the image he had replaced, with
signs of respect and veneration, on the table--"is very old; very
great thing,--only very wise men and saints are allowed to touch
it." After much ado and coaxing, he at last told me, in a voice as
full of reverence as a Brahmin would in uttering the sacred word
O-A-UM, that the meaning of the inscription was _Fo_.
Some families of Indians, that live in the remote _bolsones_ (small
valleys of the Andes), sport even today a cue as the inhabitants of
the Celestial empire, and the people in Eten, a small village near
Piura, speak a language unknown to their neighbors, and are said to
easily hold converse with the coolies of the vicinage. When and how
did this intercourse exist, is rather difficult to answer. I am
even timorous to insinuate it, lest the believers in the chronology
of the Bible, who make the world a little more than 5800 years old,
should come down upon me, and, after pouring upon my humble self
their most damning anathemas, consign me, at the dictates of their
sectarian charity, to that place over the door of which Dante
read,--
Perme si vá tra la perduta gente.
* * * * *
Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch' entrate.
And yet mine is not the fault if reason tells me that the climate
of Tiahuanaco, situated near the shores of the lake of Titicaca,
13,500 feet above the sea, must not have always been what it is
now, otherwise the ground around it, and for many miles barren,
would not have been able to support the population of a large city.
Today it produces merely a few _ocas_ (a kind of small potato that
is preserved frozen), and yields scanty crops of maize and beans.
Tiahuanaco _may_, at some distant period, have enjoyed the
privilege of being a seaport. Nothing opposes this supposition. On
one hand, it is a well-known fact that, owing to the conical motion
of the earth, the waters retreat continually from the western
coasts of America, which rise at a certain known ratio every
century. On the other hand, the bank of oysters and other marine
shells and debris, found on the slopes of the Andes to near their
summits, obviously indicate that at some time or other the sea has
covered them.
When was that? I will leave to sectarians to compute, lest the
reckoning should carry us back to that time when the space between
Tiahuanaco and Easter Island was dry land, and the valleys and
plains now lying under the waters of the Pacific swarmed with
industrious, intelligent human beings, were strewn with cities and
villas, yielded luxuriant crops to the inhabitants, and the figure
should show that people lived there before the creation of the
world. I recoil with horror at the mere idea of being even
suspected of insinuating such an heretical doctrine.
But if the builders of the strange structures on Easter Island have
had, then, communications with the rearers of Tiahuanaco by _land_,
then we may easily account for the many coincidences which exist
between the laws, religious rites, sciences,--astronomical and
others,--customs, monuments, languages, and even dresses, of the
inhabitants of this Western continent, and those of Asia and
Africa. Hence the similarity of many Asiatic and American notions.
Hence, also, the generalized idea of a deluge among men, whose
traditions remount to the time when the waters that covered the
plains of America, Europe, Africa and Asia left their beds, invaded
the portions of the globe they now occupy, and destroyed their
inhabitants.
Since that time, when, of course, all communications were cut
between the few individuals that escaped the cataclysm by taking
refuge on the highlands, their intercourse has been renewed at
different and very remote epochs--a fact that I can easily prove.
But, why should we lose ourselves in the mazes of supposition,
where we run a fair chance of wandering astray, when we may recur
to the monuments of Yucatan? These are unimpeachable witnesses that
the Peninsula was inhabited by civilized people many thousand years
ago, even before the time ascribed by the Mosaic records to the
creation.
Among the ruins of Aké, a city unique in Yucatan for its strange
architecture, evidently built by giants, whose bones are now and
then disinterred, a city that was inhabited at the time of the
conquest, and where the Spaniards retreated for safety after the
defeat they suffered at the hands of the dwellers of the country
near the ruins of Chichen-Itza, is to be seen an immense building
composed of three superposed platforms. The upper one forms a
terrace supporting three rows of twelve columns. Each column is
composed of eight large square stones, piled one upon the other,
without cement, to a height of four metres, and indicate a lapse of
160 years in the life of the nation. These stones are, or were,
called _Katun_. Every twenty years, amid the rejoicings of the
people, another stone was added to those already piled up, and a
new era or epoch was recorded in the history and life of the
people. After seven of these stones had thus been placed--that is
to say, after a lapse of 140 years--they began the _Ahau-Katun_, or
King Katun, when a small stone was added every four years on one of
the corners of the uppermost, and at the end of the twenty years of
the _Ahau-Katun_, with great ceremonies and feasting, the crowning
stone was placed upon the supporting small ones. (The photographs
of this monument can be seen at the house of Mr. H. Dixon.) Now, as
I have said, we have thirty-six columns composed of eight stones,
each representing a period of twenty years, which would give us a
total of 5760 years since the first Katun was placed on the terrace
to the time when the city was abandoned, shortly after the Spanish
conquest.
On the northeast of the great pyramid at Chichen-Itza, at a short
distance from this monument, can be seen the graduated pyramid that
once upon a time supported the main temple of the city dedicated to
_Kukulcan_ (the winged serpent), the protecting divinity of the
place. On three sides the structure is surrounded by a massive wall
about five metres high and eight wide on the top. On that wall are
to be seen the columns of the Katuns. The rank vegetation has
invaded every part of the building, and thrown many of the columns
to the ground. I began to clear the trees from the pyramid, but was
unable to finish work because of the disarming of my workmen, owing
to a revolution that a certain Teodosio Canto had initiated against
the government of Yucatan. I counted as many as one hundred and
twenty columns, but got tired of pushing my way through the nearly
impenetrable thicket, where I could see many more among the shrubs.
Those I counted would give an aggregate of 19,200 years,--quite a
respectable old age, even for the life of a nation. This is plainly
corroborated by the other means of reckoning the antiquity of the
monuments,--such as the wear of the stones by meteorological
influences, or the thickness of the stratum of the rich loam, the
result of the decay of vegetable life, accumulated on the roofs and
terraces of the buildings, not to speak of their position
respecting the pole-star and the declination of the magnetic
needle.
The architecture of the Mayas is unlike that of any other people of
what is called the Old World. It resembles only itself. And,
notwithstanding that Mayapan, from the most remote times, was
visited by travellers from Asia and Africa, by the wise and learned
men who came from abroad to consult the _H-Menes_; notwithstanding,
also, the invasion of the Nahuas and the visitation of the
pilgrims, the Maya art of building remained peculiar and unchanged,
and their language was adopted by their conquerors. The Nahuas,
after destroying the city of the wise men, established themselves
in Uxmal, on account of its strategic position, in the midst of a
plain inclosed by hills easily defended. To embellish that city,
where dwelt the foes of Chichen, they copied the complex
ornamentation of the most ancient building of that metropolis,--the
palace and museum,--disdaining the chastity, the simplicity, the
beautiful and tasteful elegance of the monuments of the latter
period. These, of graceful and airy proportions, are utterly devoid
of the profusion and complexity of ornamentation and design that
overload the palaces and temples of Uxmal. When gazing on the
structures of that city, and comparing them with those of Chichen,
it seemed that I was contemplating a low-born, illiterate man, on
whom Fortune, in one of her strange freaks, has smiled, and who
imagines that by bedecking himself with gaudy habiliments and
shining jewelry he acquires knowledge and importance. All in Uxmal
proclaims the decadency of art, the relaxation of morals, the
depravity of customs, the lewdness of the inhabitants. In Chichen
they represent the life-giving power of the universe under the
emblems of the Sun and Kukulcan. In Uxmal they worshipped the
phallus, which is to be seen everywhere, in the courts, in the
ornaments of the temples, in the residences of the priests and
priestesses, in all the monuments except the house of the governor,
built by Aac, the younger brother and assassin of Chac-Mool.
The edifices of Uxmal are evidently constructed with less art and
knowledge than those of Chichen. The latter remain whole and nearly
intact, except in those places where the hand of man has been busy;
the former have suffered much from the inclemencies of the
atmosphere, and from the ignorance and vandalistic propensities of
the visitors. I have been present at the destruction of magnificent
walls where the ruins stand. Some prefer to destroy these relics of
past ages, rather than to pick up with more ease the stones that
strew the soil in every direction.
The ornaments of temples and palaces are mostly composed of
hieroglyphics, highly adorned, of the emblems of religious rites,
of statues of great men and priests, surrounded by many
embellishments. In Uxmal the columns are representations of the
phallus-worship of the Nahuas. In Chichen the base is formed by the
head of Kukulcan, 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 the mind the same worship in Assyria, as
seen on the slabs found by Layard in the ruins of Nineveh, now in
the Assyrian gallery of the British Museum. No one can form an
exact idea of the monuments of Mayapan by reading mere
descriptions. It is necessary to either examine the buildings
themselves (and this is not quite devoid of danger, since the most
interesting are situated in territories forbidden to white men,
and occupied by the hostile Indians of Chan-Santa-Cruz, who since
1849 wage war to the knife on the inhabitants of Yucatan, and have
devastated the greatest part of that State), or to study my
magnificent collection of photographs where they are most
faithfully portrayed; that can be done with more ease, without
running the risk of losing one's life.
It is said that the deciphering of the American hieroglyphics is a
rather desperate enterprise, because we have no Rosetta stone with
a bilingual inscription. I humbly beg to differ from that opinion;
at least as regards the inscriptions on the walls of the monuments
of Mayapan. In the first instance, the same language, with but few
alterations, that was used by the builders of these edifices is
today commonly spoken by the inhabitants of Yucatan and Peten, and
we have books, grammars and dictionaries compiled by the Franciscan
friars in the first years of the conquest, translated in Spanish,
French and English. We do not, therefore, require an American
Rosetta stone to be discovered. Secondly, if it is undeniable that
Bishop Landa consigned to the flames all the books of the Mayas
that happened to fall into his hands, it is also true that by a
singular freak he preserved us, in great part at least, the Maya
alphabet in his work, "Las Cosas de Yucatan," discovered by
Brasseur de Bourbourg in the national library of Madrid. The
Americanists owe much to the researches of the abbé. I consider his
works as deserving a better reception than they have ever had from
the scientific world at large. It is true that he is no respecter
of Mosaic chronology,--and who can be in presence of the monuments
of Central America? Reason commands, and we must submit to evidence
and truth! I have carefully compared the characters of said
manuscript with those engraved upon the stones in Chichen, which I
photographed, and found them alike. Some on the frontispieces of
the palaces and temples differ, it is true, but do not our
ornamented capital letters from the small? Their deciphering may
give a little more trouble.
The Mayas, besides using their alphabet, employed at the same time
a kind of pictorial writing, something not unlike our _rebus_. They
also would record domestic and public life-customs, religious
worship and ceremonies, funeral rites, court receptions, battles,
etc., etc., just as we do in our paintings and engravings,
portraying them with superior art and perfect knowledge of drawing
and colors, which also had their accepted and acknowledged meaning.
These we have already partly deciphered, and now understand.
I have said it was my firm conviction that among the inhabitants of
Peten--nay, perchance, also, of Chan-Santa-Cruz--some one may be
found who is still possessed of the knowledge of reading the
ancient _Pic-huun_. But the Indians are anything but communicative,
and they are at all times unwilling to reveal to the white men
whatever may have been imparted to them by their fathers. To keep
these things a secret they consider a sacred duty. They even refuse
to make known the medicinal properties of certain plants, while
they are willing, provided they feel a liking for you, or are asked
by a person whom they respect or love, to apply these plants,
prepared by them, to heal the bite of a rattlesnake, tarantula, or
any of the many venomous animals that abound in their forests.
During the many years that I have been among the Indians of all
parts of America,--now with the civilized, now amidst those that
inhabit the woods far away from the commerce of people,--strange to
say, reciprocal sympathy and good feeling have always existed
between us; they have invariably ceased to consider me a stranger.
This singular attractive feeling has often caused them to open
their hearts; and to it I owe the knowledge of many curious facts
and traditions that otherwise I should never have known. This
unknown power did not fail me in Espita, a pretty little town in
the eastern part of Yucatan, where I received from a very old
Indian not only the intelligence that forty years ago men still
existed who could read the ancient Maya writing, but also a clue to
decipher the inscriptions on the buildings.
Conversing with some friends in Espita about the ancient remains to
be found in that vicinity, they offered to show me one of the most
interesting relics of olden times. A few days later they ushered
into my presence a venerable old Indian. His hairs were gray, his
eyes blue with age. The late curate of the place, Senor Dominguez,
who departed this life at the respectable age of ninety, was wont
to say that he had, since a child, and as long as he could
remember, always known Mariano Chablé, the same old man. They give
him 150 years at least; yet he enjoys perfect health; still works
at his trade (he is a potter); is in perfect possession of his
mental faculties, and of an unerring memory. Having lost his wife,
of about the same age as himself, but a short time before my
interview with him, he complained of feeling lonely, and thought
that as soon as the year of mourning was over he would take another
wife to himself. It was a Sunday morning that we met for the first
time. He had been to church, assisted at mass. There the
recollection of his departed life-companion had assailed him and
filled his old heart with sadness,--and he had called to his relief
another acquaintance--rum--to help him to dispel his sorrow. Sundry
draughts had made him quite talkative. He was in the right
condition to open his bosom to a sympathizing friend,--so I was to
him already. The libation I offered with him to the _manes_ of his
regretted mate unsealed his lips. After a few desultory questions,
with the object of testing his memory and intelligence, with great
caution I began to inquire about the points I had more at heart--to
wit, to gather all possible information and traditions upon the
ruins of Chichen-Itza I was about to visit. The old man spoke only
Maya; and my friend Cipriano Rivas, well versed in that language,
was my interpreter, not being myself sufficiently proficient in it
to hold a long conversation.
"Father," said I, "have you ever been in Chichen? Do you know
anything about the big houses that are said to exist there?"
"I have never been in Chichen, and of my own knowledge know nothing
of those big houses; but remember what the old men used to say
about them when I was young."
"And what was that, pray. Will you tell me?"
"Oh yes! I had a friend in _Saci_ (Valladolid today),--he died
forty years ago or so,--a very, very old man. His name was Manuel
Alayon. He used to tell us all about these enchanted houses. He had
a book that none but he could read, which contained many things
about them. We used to gather at his house at night to listen to
the reading of that book."
"Where is the book now, father?"
"Don't know. Alayon died. No one ever knew what became of the
sacred book. Afterwards came the insurrection of the Indians, and
the old friends also died."
"Do you remember what the book said?"
"Now, one of the things comes to my mind. It said that there was a
very old house called the _Akab-sib_, and in that house a writing,
which recited that _a day would come when the inhabitants of Saci
would converse with those of Ho [Merida] by means of a cord, that
would be stretched by people not belonging to the country_."
When I heard this, the idea occurred to me that the old fellow was
quietly having his little bit of fun at my expense. In order to be
sure of it I inquired:--
"What do you say, father? How can that be? Do you imagine how
people forty leagues apart can converse by means of a cord?"
But when my interlocutor answered that he could not either know or
imagine how that could be done, and particularly when my friends
assured me that Chablé had no idea of the electric telegraph, I
then became convinced of his good faith, and began to ponder on the
strange disclosure we had just listened to. The old man soon rose
to take his departure, and I invited him to call again, when he had
not been to church and consoled himself with his spiritual friend,
in order that I might be able to take his portrait. He repeated his
visit a few days later, as requested. I took his portrait, and
asked him again about the monuments of Chichen. But, alas! that day
his lips were sealed, or his memory failed, or his Indian secrecy
had returned. He knew nothing of them; had never been there; did
not remember what the old men said of the enchanted houses when he
was young, except that the place had been enchanted for many, many
years, and that it was not good to sleep near them, because the
_Xlab-pak-yum_, the lord of the old walls, would be angry at the
intrusion, and chastise the offender by disease and death within
the year.
Some months later I arrived at Chichen. The revelation of the old
man recurred vividly to my mind. I immediately went in quest of the
building he had mentioned--the _Akab-sib_. [This name literally
means--_Akab_, dark, mysterious; _sib_, to write. But we believe
that anciently it was called _Alcab-sib_; that is, _Alcab_, to run
in a hurry; _sib_, to write.] We had some trouble in finding it,
concealed and confounded as it was among the tall trees of the
forest, its roof supporting a dense thicket. We visited its
eighteen rooms in search of the precious inscription, and at length
discovered it on the lintel of an inner doorway in the room
situated at the south end of the edifice. The dust of ages was
thick upon it and so concealed the characters as to make them
well-nigh invisible. With care I washed the slab, then with black
crayon darkened its surface until the intaglio letters appeared in
white on a dark background. (The photographs of this inscription
can be seen at Mr. H. Dixon's.)
While thus employed Mrs. Le Plongeon stood by my side, studying the
characters as they gradually appeared more and more distinct. To
our astonishment we soon discovered the cord mentioned by Chablé.
It started from the mouth of a face (which represents the people of
Saci), situated near the right-hand upper corner of the slab, then
runs through its whole length in a slanting direction and
terminates at the ear of another head (the inhabitants of Ho). The
inclined direction of the cord or line indicates the topographical
position of the respective cities--Saci (Valladolid)--being more
elevated above the level of the sea than Ho (Merida). But imagine
now our amazement at noticing the strange fact that the mode of
communication that Chablé ignored was ... by means of electric
currents! Yes, of electricity! This fact is plainly indicated by
the four zigzag lines, representing the lightning, coming from the
four cardinal points and converging toward a centre near the upper
or starting station, and also by the solitary zigzag seen about
the middle of the cord--following its direction--indicating a
half-way station. Then the electric telegraph, that we consider
_the discovery par excellence_ of the nineteenth century, was known
of the ancient Itza sages 5000 or 10,000 years ago. Ah, _Nihil
novum sub solem!_ And in that slab we have a clue to the
deciphering of the Maya inscriptions,--an American Rosetta stone.
I will now say a few words of that language that has survived
unaltered through the vicissitudes of the nations that spoke it
thousands of years ago, and is yet the general tongue in
Yucatan--the Maya. There can be no doubt that this is one of the
most ancient languages on earth. It was used by a people that lived
at least 6000 years ago, as proved by the Katuns, to record the
history of their rulers, the dogmas of their religion, on the walls
of their palaces, on the façades of their temples.
In a lecture delivered last year before the American Geographical
Society of New York, Dr. C. H. Berendt has shown that the Maya was
spoken, with its different dialects, by the inhabitants of Mayapan
and Xibalba and the other nations of Central America south of
Anahuac. He ought to be a good authority on the subject, having
dedicated some years in Yucatan to its study.
The Maya, containing words from almost every language, ancient or
modern, is well worth the attention of philologists. And since, as
Professor Max Muller said, philology is the shining light that is
to illuminate the darkness of ethnology, besides the portraits of
the bearded men discovered by me in Chichen, those of the princes
and priests, and the beautiful statue of Chac-Mool, which serve to
determine the different types, may be a guide to discover whence
man and civilization came to America, if the American races can be
proved not to be autochthonous. Notwithstanding a few guttural
sounds, the Maya is soft, pliant, rich in diction and expression;
even every shade of thought may be expressed.
* * * * *
Whence, then, are the Maya language and the Mayas? I should like to
learn from the Americanists who are soon to congregate in
Luxembourg.