fire, from the burning bush, out of which God spake to Moses. He was
well acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures. He gave the same history of
the creation and deluge that Moses had given, and inserted a great part
of the Psalms of David into his writings. The Mehestani, his followers,
believed in the immortality of the soul, in future rewards and
punishments, and in the purification of the body by fire; after which
they would be united to the good.—(_Marsh’s Ecclesiastical History_, p.
78.) From the same origin, that of the burning bush, it is altogether
probable the worship of fire, for many ages, obtained over the whole
habitable earth; and is still to be traced in the funeral piles of the
Hindoos, the beacon-fires of the Scotch and Irish, the periodical
midnight fires of the Mexicans, and the council-fires of the North
American Indians, around which they dance.
A custom among the natives of New Mexico, as related by Baron Humboldt,
is exactly imitated by a practice found still in some parts of Ireland,
among the descendants of the ancient Irish.
At the commencement of the month of November, the great fire of
_Sumhuin_ is lit up, all the culinary fires in the kingdom being first
extinguished, as it was deemed sacrilege to awaken the winter’s social
flame except by a spark snatched from this sacred fire; on which
account, the month of November is called, in the Irish language,
Sumhuin.
To this day, the inferior Irish look upon bonfires as sacred; they say
their prayers walking round them, the young dream upon their ashes, and
the old take this fire to light up their domestic hearths, imagining
some secret undefinable excellence connected with it.—[PRIEST.]
* * * * *
GREAT STONE CALENDAR OF THE MEXICANS.
This stone was found near the site of the present city of Mexico, buried
some feet beneath the soil, on which is engraven a great number of
hieroglyphics, signifying the divisions of time, the motions of the
heavenly bodies, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, with reference to the
feasts and sacrifices of the Mexicans, and is called by Humboldt the
_Mexican Calendar_, in relief, on basalt, a kind of stone.
This deservedly celebrated historiographer and antiquarian has devoted a
hundred pages and more of his octavo work, entitled “_Researches in
America_,” in describing the similarity which exists between its
representations of astrology, astronomy, and the divisions of time, and
those of a great multitude of the nations of Asia—Chinese, Japanese,
Calmucks, Mongols, Mantchaus, and other Tartar nations; the Egyptians,
Babylonians, Persians, Phœnicians, Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, and ancient
Celtic nations of Europe. (See the American edition by Helen Maria
Williams, vol. i.) The size of this stone was very great, being a
fraction over twelve feet square, three feet in thickness, weighing
twenty-four tons. It is of the kind of stone denominated trappean
porphyry, of the blackish gray color.
The place where it was found was more than thirty miles from any quarry
of the kind; from which we discover the ability of the ancient
inhabitants not only to transport stones of great size, as well as the
ancient Egyptians, in building their cities and temples of marble, but
also to cut and engrave on stone, equal with the present age.
It was discovered in the vale of Mexico, in A. D. 1791, in the spot
where Cortez ordered it to be buried, when, with his ferocious
Spaniards, that country was devastated. That Spaniard universally broke
to pieces all images of stone which came in his way, except such as were
too large and strong to be quickly and easily thus affected. Such he
buried, among which this sculptured stone was one. This was done to hide
them from the sight of the natives, whose strong attachment, whenever
they saw them, counteracted their conversion to the Roman Catholic
religion.
The sculptured work on this stone is in circles; the outer one of all is
a trifle over twenty-seven feet in circumference—from which the reader
can have a tolerable notion of its size and appearance. The whole stone
is intensely crowded with representations and hieroglyphics, arranged,
however, in order and harmony, every way equal with any astronomical
calendar of the present day. It is further described by Baron Humboldt,
who saw and examined it on the spot:—
“The concentric circles, the numerous divisions and subdivisions
engraven on this stone, are traced with mathematical precision. The more
minutely the detail of this sculpture is examined, the greater the taste
we find in the repetition of the same forms. In the centre of the stone
is sculptured the celebrated sign _nahuiolin-Tonatiuh_, the SUN, which
is surrounded by eight triangular radii. The god _Tonatiuh_, or the sun,
is figured on this stone, opening his large mouth, armed with teeth,
with the tongue protruded to a great length. This yawning mouth and
protruded tongue is like the image of _Kala_, or, in another word,
_Time_—a divinity of Hindostan. Its dreadful mouth, armed with teeth, is
meant to show that the god Tonatiuh, or Time, swallows the world,
opening a fiery mouth, devouring the years, months, and days, as fast as
they come into being. The same image we find under the name of _Moloch_
among the Phœnicians, some of the ancient inhabitants on the eastern
side of the Mediterranean, from which very country there can be but
little doubt America received a portion of its earliest inhabitants.”
Hence a knowledge of the arts to great perfection, as found among the
Mexicans, was thus derived. Humboldt says the Mexicans have evidently
followed the Persians in the division of time, as represented on this
stone. The Persians flourished one thousand years before Christ.
“The structure of the Mexican aqueducts leads the imagination at once to
the shores of the Mediterranean.”—(_Thomas’s Travels_, p. 293.) The
size, grandeur, and riches of the tumuli on the European and Asiatic
sides of the Cimmerian strait (which unites the Black sea with the
Archipelago, a part of the Mediterranean, the region of ancient Greece,
where the capital of Turkey in Europe now stands, called
Constantinople), “excite astonishing ideas of the wealth and power of
the people by whom they were constructed.”
But whatever power, wealth, genius, magnitude of tumuli, mounds and
pyramids are found about the Mediterranean—where the Egyptian, the
Phœnician, the Persian, and the Greek, have displayed the monuments of
this most ancient sort of antiquities—all, all is realized in North and
South America, and doubtless under the influence of the same
superstition and eras of time,— having crossed over, as before argued;
and among the various aboriginal nations of South and North America, but
especially the former, are undoubtedly found the descendants of the
fierce Medes and Persians, and other warlike nations of the old world.
The discoveries of travellers in that country show, even at the present
time, that the ancient customs in relation to securing their habitations
with a wall still prevail. Towns in the interior of Africa, on the river
Niger, of great extent, are found to be surrounded by walls of earth, in
the same manner as those of the West in North America.
See the account as given by Richard Lander: “On the 4th of May, we
entered a town of prodigious extent, fortified with three walls of
little less than twenty miles in circuit, with ditches or moats between.
This town, called _Boo-hoo_, is in the latitude of about eight degrees
forty-three minutes north, and longitude five degrees and ten minutes
east. On the 17th, we came to _Roossa_, which is a cluster of huts
walled with earth.”
This traveller states that there is a kingdom in Africa called _Yaorie_,
which is large, powerful, and flourishing, containing a city of
prodigious extent. The wall surrounding it is of clay, very high, and in
circuit between twenty and thirty miles. He mentions several other
places, similarly enclosed by earth walls.
It is easy to perceive the resemblance between these walled towns in
central Africa, and the remains of similar works in this country,
America.—[PRIEST.]
* * * * *
SCIENTIFIC ACQUIREMENTS OF ANCIENT BUILDERS IN THE WEST.
As it respects the scientific acquirements of the builders of the works
in the West, now in ruins, Mr. Atwater says: “When thoroughly examined,
they have furnished matter of admiration to all intelligent persons who
have attended to the subject. Nearly all the lines of ancient works
found in the whole country, where the form of the ground admits of it,
are right ones, pointing to the four cardinal points. Where there are
mounds enclosed, the gateways are most frequently on the east side of
the works, towards the rising sun. Where the situation admits of it, in
their military works, the openings are generally towards one or more of
the _cardinal points_. From which it is supposed they must have had some
knowledge of astronomy, or their structures would not, it is imagined,
have been thus arranged. From these circumstances, also, we draw the
conclusion, that the first inhabitants of America emigrated from Asia,
at a period coeval with that of Babylon, for here it was that
astronomical calculations were first made, 2234 years before Christ.
“These things could never have so happened, with such invariable
exactness in almost all cases, without design. On the whole,” says
Atwater, “I am convinced from an attention to many hundreds of these
works, in every part of the West which I have visited, that their
authors had a knowledge of astronomy.
“Our ancient works continued into Mexico, increasing in size and
grandeur, preserving the same forms, and appear to have been put to the
same uses. The form of our works is round, square, triangular,
semicircular, and octangular, agreeing, in all these respects with those
in Mexico. The first works built by the Mexicans were mostly of earth,
and not much superior to the common ones on the Mississippi.” The same
may be said of the works of this sort over the whole earth, which is the
evidence that all alike belong to the first efforts of men in the very
first ages after the flood.
“But afterwards temples were erected on the elevated squares, circles,
&c., but were still, like ours, surrounded by walls of earth. These
sacred places, in Mexico, were called ‘_teocalli_’ which in the
vernacular tongue of the _most ancient_ tribe of Mexicans, signifies
‘_mansions of the gods_.’ They included within their sacred walls,
gardens, fountains, habitations of priests, temples, altars, and
magazines of arms. This circumstance may account for many things which
have excited some surprise among those who have hastily visited the
works on Paint creek, at Portsmouth, Marietta, Circleville, Newark, &c.
“It is doubted by many to what use these works were put; whether they
were used as forts, camps, cemeteries, altars, and temples; whereas they
contained all these either within their walls or were immediately
connected with them. Many persons cannot imagine why the works at the
places above mentioned were so extensively complicated, differing so
much in form, size, and elevation, among themselves.” But the solution
is, undoubtedly, “they contained within them altars, temples,
cemeteries, habitations of priests, gardens, wells, fountains, places
devoted to sacred purposes of various kinds, and the whole of their
warlike munitions, laid up in arsenals. These works were calculated for
defence, and were resorted to in cases of the last necessity, where they
fought with desperation. We are warranted in this conclusion, by knowing
that these works are exactly similar to the most ancient now to be seen
in Mexico, connected with the fact, that the Mexican works did contain
within them _all_ that we have stated.”—[PRIEST.]
* * * * *
PREDILECTION OF THE ANCIENTS TO PYRAMIDS.
In those early ages of mankind, it is evident there existed an
unaccountable ambition among the nations, seemingly to outdo each other
in the height of their pyramids; for Humboldt mentions the pyramids of
Porsenna, as related by Varro, styled the most learned of the Romans,
who flourished about the time of Christ; and says there were at this
place four pyramids, eighty meters in height, which is a fraction more
than _fifteen_ rods perpendicular altitude: the meter is a French
measure, consisting of three feet three inches.
Not many years since was discovered, by some Spanish hunters, on
descending the Cordilleras toward the Gulf of Mexico, in the thick
forest, the pyramid of Papantla. The form of this teocalli or pyramid,
which had seven stories, is more tapering than any other monument of
this kind yet discovered, but its height is not remarkable, being but
fifty-seven feet—its base but twenty-five feet on each side. However, it
is remarkable on one account: it is built entirely of hewn stones, of an
extraordinary size, and very beautifully shaped. Three stair-cases lead
to its top, the steps of which were decorated with hieroglyphical
sculpture and small niches, arranged with great symmetry. The number of
these niches seems to allude to the 318 simple and compound signs of the
days of their civil calendar. If so, this monument was erected for
astronomical purposes. Besides, here is evidence of the use of metallic
tools, in the preparation and building of this temple.
In those mounds were sometimes hidden the treasures of kings and chiefs,
placed there in times of war and danger. Such was found to be the fact
on opening the tomb of a Peruvian prince, when was discovered a mass of
pure gold, amounting to 4,687,500 dollars.—(_Humboldt’s Researches_,
vol. i. p. 92.)
There is, in Central America, to the south-east of the city of
Cuernavaca, on the west declivity of Anahuac, an isolated hill, which,
together with the pyramid raised on its top by the ancients of that
country, amounts to thirty-five rods ten feet altitude. The ancient
tower of Babel, around which the city of Babylon was afterward built,
was a mere nothing compared with the gigantic work of Anahuac, being but
twenty-four hundred feet square, which is one hundred and fifty rods, or
nearly so; while the hill we are speaking of, partly natural and partly
artificial, is at its base twelve thousand and sixty-six feet: this,
thrown into rods, gives seven hundred and fifty-four, and into miles, is
two and three eighths, wanting eight rods, which is five times greater
than that of Babel.
This hill is a mass of rocks, to which the hand of man has given a
regular conic form, and which is divided into five stories or terraces,
each of which is covered with masonry. These terraces are nearly sixty
feet in perpendicular height, one above the other, besides the
artificial mound added at the top, making its height near that of Babel;
besides, the whole is surrounded with a deep broad ditch, more than five
times the circumference of the Babylonian tower.
We learn from Scripture that in the earliest times the temples of Asia,
such as that of Baal-Berith, at Shechem, in Canaan, were not only
buildings consecrated to worship, but also intrenchments in which the
inhabitants of a city defended themselves in times of war; the same may
be said of the Grecian temples, for the wall which formed the parabolas
alone afforded an asylum to the besieged.—[PRIEST.]
* * * * *
THE REMAINS OF CITIES.
The remains of cities and towns of an ancient population exist
everywhere on the coast of the Pacific, which agree in fashion with the
works and ruins found along the Chinese coasts, exactly west from the
western limits of North America; showing beyond all dispute that in
ancient times the countries were known to each other, and voyages were
reciprocally made. The style of their shipping was such as to be equal
to voyages of that distance, and also sufficient to withstand stress of
weather, even beyond vessels of the present times, on account of their
great depth of keel and size.—[PRIEST.]
* * * * *
RUINS OF THE CITY OF OTOLUM, DISCOVERED IN NORTH AMERICA.
“Some years ago, the Society of Geography, in Paris, offered a large
premium for a voyage to Guatemala, and for a new survey of the
antiquities of Yucatan and Chiapa, chiefly those fifteen miles from
Palenque.”
“They were surveyed by Captain Del Rio, in 1787, an account of which was
published in English in 1822. This account describes partly the ruins of
a _stone_ city, of no less dimensions than seventy-five miles in
circuit, length thirty-two, and breadth twelve miles, full of palaces,
monuments, statues, and _inscriptions_; one of the earliest seats of
American civilization, about equal to Thebes of ancient Egypt.”
It is stated in the Family Magazine, Vol. I., p. 266, as follows:
“Public attention has been recently excited respecting the ruins of an
_ancient_ city found in Guatemala. It would seem that these ruins are
now being explored, and much curious and valuable matter in a literary
and historical point of view is anticipated. We deem the present a most
auspicious moment, now that the public attention is turned to the
subject, to spread its contents before our readers, as an introduction
to future discoveries during the researches now in progress.”
The following are some particulars, as related by Captain Del Rio, who
partially examined them as above related, 1787: From Palenque, the last
town northward in the province of _Ciudad Real de Chiapa_, taking a
southwesterly direction, and ascending a ridge of high land that divides
the kingdom of Guatemala from Yucatan, at the distance of six miles, is
the little river _Micol_, whose waters flow in a westerly direction, and
unite with the great river _Tulija_, which bends its course towards the
province of _Tabasco_. Having passed Micol, the ascent begins; and at
half a league, or a mile and a half, the traveller crosses a little
stream called OTOLUM; from this point heaps of stone ruins are
discovered, which render the roads very difficult for another half
league, when you gain the height whereon the stone houses are situated,
being still fourteen in number in one place, some more dilapidated than
others, yet still having many of their apartments perfectly discernible.
Here is a rectangular area, three hundred yards in breadth by four
hundred and fifty in length, which is a fraction over fifty-six rods
wide, and eighty-four rods long, being, in the whole circuit, two
hundred and eighty rods, which is three-fourths of a mile, and a trifle
over. This area presents a plain at the base of the highest mountain
forming the ridge. In the centre of this plain is situated the largest
of the structures which has been as yet discovered among these ruins. It
stands on a mound or pyramid twenty yards high, which is sixty feet, or
nearly four rods in perpendicular altitude, which gives it a lofty and
beautiful majesty, as if it were a temple suspended in the sky. This is
surrounded by other edifices, namely, five to the northward, four to the
southward, one to the southwest, and three to the eastward—fourteen in
all. In all directions the fragments of other fallen buildings are seen
extending along the mountain that stretches east and west either way
from these buildings, as if they were the great temple of worship, or
their government house, around which they built their city, and where
dwelt their kings and officers of state. At this place was found a
subterranean stone aqueduct, of great solidity and durability, which in
its course passes beneath the largest building.
Let it be understood, this city of Otolum, the ruins of which are so
immense, is in North, not South America, in the same latitude with the
island of Jamaica, which is about eighteen degrees north of the equator,
being on the highest ground between the northern end of the Caribbean
sea and the Pacific ocean, where the continent narrows towards the
isthmus of Darien, and is about eight hundred miles south of New
Orleans.
The discovery of these ruins, and also of many others, equally
wonderful, in the same country, is just commencing to arouse the
attention of the schools of Europe, who hitherto have denied that
America could boast of her antiquities. But these immense ruins are now
being explored under the direction of scientific persons, a history of
which, in detail, will be forthcoming doubtless, in due time; two
volumes of which, in manuscript, we are informed, have already been
written, and cannot but be received with enthusiasm by Americans.
By those deeply versed in the antiquities of past ages, it is contended
that the first people who settled America came directly from Chaldea,
immediately after the confusion of language at Babel.—(_See Description
of the Ruins of the American City, published in London_, 1832, p. 33,
_by Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera_.) Whoever the authors of the city may have
been, we seem to find, in their sculptured deities, the idolatry of even
the Phœnicians, a people whose history goes back nearly to the flood, or
to within a hundred and fifty years of that period.
It appears from some of the historical works of the Mexicans, written in
pictures, which fell into the hands of the Spaniards, that there was
found one which was written by _Votan_, who sets himself forth to be the
third Gentile, (reckoning from the flood or family of Noah,) and lord of
the _Tapanahuasec_, or the sacred drum. In the book above alluded to,
Votan says that he saw the great house which was built by his
grandfather, meaning the tower of Babel, which went up from the earth to
the sky. In one of those picture books, the account is given by the
Indian historian, whoever he was, or at whatever time he lived, that
Votan had written it himself. He gives the account that he made no less
than four voyages to this continent, conducting with him at one time
seven families. He says that others of his family had gone away before
himself, and that he was determined to travel till he should come to the
_root_ of heaven, the sky, (in the west,) in order to discover his
relations the _Culebras_, or Snake people, and calls himself _Culebra_,
(a snake,) and that he found them, and became their captain. He mentions
the name of the town which his relation had built at first, which was
_Tezequil_.
Agreeing with this account, it is found by exploring the ruins of this
city, and its sculptures, that among a multitude of strange
representations are found two which represent this _Votan_, on both
continents. The continents are shown by being painted in two parallel
squares, and standing on each is this Votan, showing his acquaintance
with each of them. The pictures engraven on the stones which form the
sides of the houses or temples of this ruined city, are a series of
hieroglyphics, which show, beyond all doubt, that the era of its
construction, and of the people who built it, excels in antiquity those
of the ancient Greeks, the Romans, and the most celebrated nations of
the old world, and is worthy of being compared even with the first
progenitors of the Hebrews themselves, after the flood.—(_See History of
American City, as before quoted_, p. 39.)
It is found that the gods of the ancient Egyptians, even _Osiris_,
_Apis_, and _Isis_, are sculptured on the stones of this city, the
worship of which passed from Egypt to many nations, and is found under
many forms, but all traceable to the same original. We have examined the
forms of the figures cut on the side of the famous Obelisk of
seventy-two feet in height, brought not long since from Egypt, by the
French government, and erected in Paris; and have compared them with
some of the sculptured forms of men, found on the stones of this city,
in which there is an exact correspondence in one remarkable particular.
On the obelisk is represented a king or god seated on a throne, holding
in one hand a rod grasped in its middle, having on its top the figure of
a small bird.
The arm holding this is extended toward a person who is resting on one
knee before him, and offers from each of his hands that which is either
food, drink, or incense, to the one on the throne. The head ornaments
are of the most fantastic construction. The same without variation is
cut in the stones of the ruined American city in many places; with this
difference only, the American sculpture is much larger, as if
representing gigantic beings, but is of the same character. Can we have
a better proof than this, that Egyptian colonies have reached America in
the very first ages of the world after the flood, or some people having
the notions, the religion, and the arts of the Egyptians, and such were
the most ancient people of Canaan, the Hivites, Perizzites, and Hitites,
which names denote all these nations as serpent worshippers.
As it respects the _true founders_ of this city, the discovery and
contents of which are now causing so great and general interest in both
this country and Europe, it is ascertained in the most direct and
satisfactory way, in the work to which we have just alluded, published
in London, 1832, on the subject of this city, that they were the ancient
_Hivites_, one of the nations which inhabited Palestine, or Canaan, a
remnant of which, it is ascertained, fled into the kingdom of Tyre, and
there settled, and into Africa, to avoid annihilation by the wars of
Joshua, the captain of the Jews; and that among them was one who acted
as a leader, and was called _Votan_, and that he sailed from a port in
ancient Tyre, which before it was known by that name, was called
_Chivim_, and that this Votan was the third in the Gentile descent from
Noah, and that he made several voyages to and from America. But the
kingdom which was founded by Votan, was finally destroyed by other
nations, and their works, their cities and towns, turned into a
wilderness, as they are now found to be. (The word _Hivite_, which
distinguished one of the nations of old Canaan in the time of Joshua,
signifies the same thing in the Phœnician language, Serpent people or
worshippers.) The _Hivites_, it appears, were the ancestors of the
Moors, who spread themselves all along the western coast of Africa, at
an early period, and in later times they overran the country of Spain,
till the Romans supplanted them; who in their turn were supplanted by
the northern nations of Germany, the Goths, &c. The Moors were not the
proper Africans, as the hair of their heads was long, straight, and
shining. They were a different race, and of different manners and
attainments. The contour of the faces of the authors of the American
city, found sculptured on the stones of its ruins, are in exact
correspondence with the _forehead_ and _nose_ of the ancient Moors, the
latter of which was remarkable for its aquiline shape, and was a
national trait, characteristic of the Moors as well as the Romans.
When the Spaniards overran Peru, which lies on the western side of South
America, on the coast of the Pacific were found statues, obelisks,
mausolea, edifices, fortresses, all of stone, equal with the
architecture of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, six hundred years before the
Christian era. Roads were cut through the Cordillera mountains; gold,
silver, copper, and lead mines, were opened and worked to a great
extent; all of which is evidence of their knowledge of architecture,
mineralogy, and agriculture. In many places of that country are found
the ruins of noble aqueducts, some of which, says Dr. Morse, the
geographer, would have been thought works of difficulty in civilized
nations. Several pillars of stone are now standing, which were erected
to point out the equinoxes and solstices. In their sepulchres were found
paintings, vessels of gold and silver, implements of warfare, husbandry,
&c. To illustrate the architectural knowledge of the Peruvians, as well
as of some other provinces of South America, we quote the following from
Baron Humboldt’s Researches, 1st vol. Eng. Trans., Amer. ed., p.
255:—“The remains of Peruvian architecture are scattered along the ridge
of the Cordilleras, from Cuzco to Cajambe, or from the 13th degree of
north latitude to the equator, a distance of nearly a thousand miles.
What an empire, and what works are these, which all bear the same
character in the cut of the stones, the shape of the doors to their
stone buildings, the symmetrical disposal of the niches, and the total
absence of exterior ornaments! This uniformity of construction is so
great, that all the stations along the high road, called in that country
palaces of the Incas, or kings of the Peruvians, appear to have been
copied from each other; simplicity, symmetry, and solidity, were the
three characters by which the Peruvian edifices were distinguished. The
citadel of Cannar, and the square building surrounding it, are not
constructed with the same quartz sandstone which covers the primitive
slate, and the porphyries of Assuay; and which appears at the surface,
in the garden of the Inca, as we descend toward the valley of Gulan; but
of _trappean porphyry_, of great hardness, enclosing nitrous feldspar
and hornblende. This porphyry was perhaps dug in the _great_ quarries
which are found at 4000 meters in height, (which is 13,000 feet and a
fraction, making two and a third miles in perpendicular height,) near
the lake of Culebrilla, or Serpent lake, ten miles from Cannar. To cut
the stones for the buildings of Cannar, at so great a height, and to
bring them down and transport them ten miles, is equal with any of the
works of the ancients, who built the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and
Stabia, long before the Christian era.
“We do not find, however,” says Humboldt, “in the ruins of Cannar, those
stones of enormous size, which we see in the Peruvian edifices of Cuzco
and the neighboring countries. Acosto, he says, measured some at
Traquanaco, which were twelve meters (thirty-eight feet) long, and five
meters eight tenths (eighteen feet) broad, and one metre nine tenths
(six feet) thick.” The stones made use of in building the temple of
Solomon were but a trifle larger than these, some of which were
twenty-five cubits (forty-three feet nine inches) long, twelve cubits
(twenty-nine feet) wide, and eight cubits (fourteen feet) thick,
reckoning twenty-one inches to the cubit.”
“One of the temples of ancient Egypt is now, in its state of ruin, a
mile and a half in circumference. It has twelve principal entrances. The
body of the temple consists of a prodigious hall or portico; the roof is
supported by 134 columns. Four beautiful obelisks mark the entrance to
the shrine, a place of sacrifice, which contains three apartments, built
entirely of granite. The temple of _Luxor_ probably surpasses in beauty
and splendor all the other ruins of Egypt. In front are two of the
_finest obelisks_ in the world; they are of rose-colored marble, one
hundred feet high. But the objects which most attract attention, are the
_sculptures_ which cover the whole of the northern front. They contain,
on a great scale, a representation of a victory gained by one of the
ancient kings of Egypt over an enemy. The number of human figures cut in
the solid stone amounts to fifteen hundred; of these, five hundred are
on foot, and one thousand in chariots. Such are the remains of a city
which perished long before the records of ancient history had a
being.”—_Malte-Brun._
We are compelled to ascribe some of the vast operations of the ancient
nations of this country, to those ages which correspond with the times
and manners of the people of Egypt, which are also beyond the reach of
authentic history. It should be recollected that the fleets of king
Hiram navigated the seas in a surprising manner, seeing they had not, as
is supposed, (but not proved,) a knowledge of the magnetic needle; and
in some voyage out of the Mediterranean, into the Atlantic, they may
have been driven to South America; where having found a country rich in
all the resources of nature, more so than even their native country,
they founded a kingdom, built cities, cultivated fields, marshalled
armies, made roads, built aqueducts, became rich, magnificent, and
powerful, as the vastness and extent of the ruins of Peru, and other
provinces of South America, plainly show.
Humboldt says, that he saw at Pullal three houses made of stone, which
were built by the Incas, (kings,) each of which was more than fifty
meters, or a hundred and fifty feet long, laid in a cement, or true
mortar. This fact, he says, deserves attention, because travellers who
had preceded him had unanimously overlooked this circumstance, asserting
that the Peruvians were unacquainted with the use of mortar, but this is
erroneous. The Peruvians not only employed a mortar in the great
edifices of Pacaritambo, but made use of a cement of _asphaltum_; a mode
of construction which, on the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris, may
be traced back to the remotest antiquity. The tools made use off to cut
their stone were of copper, hardened with tin, the same metal used among
the Greeks and Romans, and other nations.
To show the genius and enterprise of the natives of Mexico, before
America was last discovered, we give the following as but a single
instance: Montezuma, the last king but one of Mexico, A. D. 1446,
forty-six years before the discovery of America by Columbus, erected a
dike to prevent the overflowing of the waters of certain small lakes in
the vicinity of their city, which had several times deluged it. This
dike consisted of a bank of stones and clay, supported on each side by a
range of palisadoes; extending in its whole length about seventy miles,
and sixty-five feet broad, its whole length sufficiently high to
intercept the overflowings of the lakes in times of high water,
occasioned by the spring floods. In Holland, the Dutch have resorted to
the same means to prevent incursions of the sea; and the longest of the
many is but forty miles in extent, nearly one half short of the Mexican
dike. “Amidst the extensive plains of Upper Canada, in Florida, near the
gulf of Mexico, and in the deserts bordered by the Orinoco, in Colombia,
dikes of a considerable length, weapons of brass, and sculptured stones,
are found, which are the indications that those countries were formerly
inhabited by industrious nations, which are now traversed only by tribes
of savage hunters.”—[PRIEST.]
* * * * *
ANCIENT LANGUAGES OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF AMERICA.
_Letter to M. Champollion, on the Graphic Systems of America, and the
Glyphs of Otolum or Palenque, in Central America._—_By_ C. S.
RAFINESQUE.
You have become celebrated by deciphering, at last, the glyphs and
characters of the ancient Egyptians, which all your learned predecessors
had deemed a riddle, and pronounced impossible to read. You first
announced your discovery in a letter. I am going to follow your
footsteps on another continent, and a theme equally obscure; to none but
yourself can I address with more propriety letters on a subject so much
alike in purpose and importance, and so similar to your own labors.
I shall not enter at present into any very elaborate discussion. I shall
merely detail, in a concise manner, the object and result of my
inquiries, so as to assert my claim to a discovery of some importance in
a philological and historical point of view: which was announced as
early as 1828 in some journals (three letters to Mr. McCulloch on the
American nations), but not properly illustrated. Their full development
would require a volume, like that of yours on the Egyptian antiquities,
and may follow this perhaps at some future time.
It may be needful to prefix the following principles as guides to my
researches, or results of my inquiries:—
1. America has been the land of false systems; all those made in Europe
on it are more or less vain and erroneous.
2. The Americans were equal in antiquity, civilization, and sciences, to
the nations of Africa and Europe—like them, the children of the Asiatic
nations.
3. It is false that no American nations had systems of writing, glyphs,
and letters. Several had various modes of perpetuating ideas.
4. There were several such graphic systems in America to express ideas,
all of which find equivalents in the east continent.
5. They may be ranged in twelve series, proceeding from the most simple
to the most complex.
_1st Series._—Pictured symbols or glyphs of the Toltecas, Aztecas,
Huaztecas, Skeres, Panos, &c.; similar to the first symbols of the
Chinese, invented by Tien-hoang, before the flood and earliest Egyptian
glyphs.
_2d Series._—Outlines of figures or abridged symbols and glyphs,
expressing words or ideas, used by almost all the nations of North and
South America, even the most rude; similar to the second kind of
Egyptian symbols, and the tortoise letters brought to China by the
_Longma_ (dragon and horse) nation of barbarous horsemen, under
_Sui-gin_.
_3d Series._—Quipos or knots on strings used by the Peruvians and
several other South American nations; similar to the third kind of
Chinese glyphs introduced under _Yong-Ching_, and used also by many
nations of Africa.
_4th Series._—Wampums, or strings of shells and beads, used by many
nations of North America; similar to those used by some ancient or rude
nations in all parts of the world, as tokens of ideas.
_5th Series._—Runic glyphs or marks, and notches on twigs or lines, used
by several nations of North America; consimilar to the Runic glyphs of
the Celtic and Teutonic nations.
_6th Series._—Runic marks and dots, or graphic symbols, not on strings
nor lines, but in rows, expressing words or ideas; used by the ancient
nations of North America and Mexico, the Talegas, Aztecas, Natchez,
Powhatans, Tuscaroras, &c., and also the Muhizcas of South America;
similar to the ancient symbols of the Etruscans, Egyptians, Celts, &c.,
and the _Ho-tu_ of the Chinese, invented by _Tsang-hie_, called also the
_Ko-teu-chu_ letters, which were in use in China till 827 before our
era.
_7th Series._—Alphabetical symbols, expressing syllables or sounds, not
words, but grouped, and the groups disposed in rows; such is the graphic
system of the monuments of Otolum, near Palenque, the American Thebes;
consimilar to the groups of alphabetical symbols used by the ancient
Libyans, Egyptians, Persians, and also the last graphic system of the
Chinese, called _Ventze_, invented by _Sse-hoang_.
_8th Series._—Cursive symbols in groups, and the groups in parallel
rows, derived from the last (which are chiefly monumental), and used in
the manuscripts of the Mayas, Guatemalans, &c.; consimilar to the actual
cursive Chinese, some demotic Egyptian, and many modifications of
ancient graphic alphabets, grouping the letters or syllables.
_9th Series._—Syllabic letters, expressing syllables, not simple sounds,
and disposed in rows. Such is the late syllabic alphabet of the
Cherokees, and many graphic inscriptions found in North and South
America. Similar to the syllabic alphabets of Asia, Africa, and
Polynesia.
_10th Series._—Alphabets, or graphic letters, expressing simple sounds,
and disposed in rows. Found in many inscriptions, medals, and coins in
North and South America, and lately introduced everywhere by the
European colonists; similar to the alphabets of Asia, Africa, and
Europe.
_11th Series._—Abbreviations, or letters standing for whole words, or
part of a glyph and graphic delineation, standing and expressing the
whole; used by almost all the writing nations of North and South
America, as well as Asia, Europe, and Africa.
_12th Series._—Numeric system of graphic signs, to express numbers. All
the various kinds of signs, such as dots, lines, strokes, circles,
glyphs, letters, &c., used by some nations of North and South America,
as well as in the eastern continent.
Some years ago, the Society of Geography, of Paris, offered a large
premium for a voyage to Guatemala, and a new survey of the antiquities
of Yucatan and Chiapa, chiefly those fifteen miles from Palenque, which
are wrongly called by that name. I have restored to them the true name
of Otolum, which is yet the name of the stream running through the
ruins. I should have been inclined to undertake this voyage and
exploration myself, if the civil discords of the country did not forbid
it. My attention was drawn forcibly to this subject as soon as the
account of those ruins, surveyed by Captain Del Rio as early as 1787,
but withheld from the public eye by Spain, was published in 1822, in
English.
This account, which partly describes the ruins of a stone city
seventy-five miles in circuit (length thirty-two English miles, greatest
breadth twelve miles), full of palaces, monuments, statues, and
inscriptions—one of the earliest seats of American civilization, about
equal to Thebes of Egypt—was well calculated to inspire me with hopes
that they would throw a great light over American history, when more
properly examined.
I have been disappointed in finding that no traveller has dared to
penetrate again to that recondite place, and illustrate all the ruins
and monuments, with the languages yet spoken all around. The Society of
Geography has received many additional accounts, derived from documents
preserved in Mexico; but they have not been deemed worthy of the reward
offered for a new survey, and have not even been published. The same has
happened with Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia, in South America, another mass of
ancient ruins, and a mine of historical knowledge, which no late
traveller has visited or described.
Being, therefore, without hope of any speedy accession to our knowledge
of those places, I have been compelled to work upon the materials now
extant, which have happily enabled me to do a great deal,
notwithstanding all their defects, and throw some light on that part of
the history of America.
PHILADELPHIA, _January, 1832_.
* * * * *
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MEXICO.
From Clavigero, Storia del Messico—from Solis, Boturini, Herrera, Bernal
Dias, and other authors, we learn the state of the arts in Mexico prior
to the invasion of the Spaniards; the progress made by that people in
science; the form of their government, and of their hierarchy: and from
the simple and unaffected narrative of Cortez, contained in his letters
to Charles the Fifth, we may gather pretty accurate knowledge of their
resources, and of the number and character of the population.
Some idea may be formed of the civilization of a people, by the nature
of their government, their civil institutions, and the laws by which
they are governed. In Mexico, the monarch was elected from among the
members of the reigning family, by six electors, chosen from among the
thirty princes of the first rank. The political system was feudal. The
first class of nobles, consisting of thirty families, had each one
hundred thousand vassals. There were more than three thousand families
in the second class. The vassals were serfs attached to the soil, over
whom the lord exercised the right of life and death. All the lands were
divided into allodial, hereditary, and contingent estates—the latter
depending upon places in the gift of the crown.
The priests were charged with the education of the youth; and on their
testimony of the merit of their scholars, depended their future rank.
Each province was subject to a tribute, except certain nobles who were
compelled to take the field, in case of a war, with a stated number of
followers. The tribute was paid in kind, and was fixed at one thirtieth
part of the crop. Besides which, the governors of provinces vied with
each other in the magnificence of the presents which they sent to the
emperor.
In the quarto edition of Lorenzano, there are plates of the figures, by
means of which the receivers and administrators kept an account of the
tribute due by each province.
There was an _Octroi_ upon provisions, levied in every city. Posts were
established between the capital and the remotest provinces of the
empire.
Sacrilege, treason, and murder, were punished with death; and Cortez
protests that the Mexicans respected the laws of the empire fully as
much as the Spaniards did those of Spain.
The emperor was served with great magnificence and Asiatic pomp.
The attention of the government was principally directed toward the
internal commerce, so as to secure an abundant supply to the people.
A court of ten magistrates determined the validity of contracts; and
officers were constantly employed to examine the measures and the
quality of the goods exposed for sale.
Under Montezuma, the government was despotic, and, in his turn, he was
governed by the high-priest. It will be recollected that at the last
siege of the capital, when the emperor and his council had resolved to
accept any terms rather than prolong a hopeless contest, the high-priest
opposed them and broke off the treaty.
Besides the empire of the Mexicans, there were other powerful states,
whose form of government was republican; and Cortez compared them to the
republics of Pisa, Venice, and Genoa.
I must refer the reader to Clavigero and Lorenzano, for the history of
Tlascala, the most powerful of those states, the government of which
existed some time after the conquest of Mexico.
Tlascala was a thickly-settled, fertile, and populous country, divided
into several districts, under the authority of a chief. These chiefs
administered justice, levied the tribute, and commanded the military
forces; but their decrees were not valid, or of force, until confirmed
by the senate of Tlascala, which was the true sovereign.
A certain number of citizens, chosen from the different districts by
popular assemblies, formed this legislative body. The senate elected its
own chief. The laws were strictly and impartially executed; and Cortez
represents this people as numerous, wealthy, and warlike.
The Mexicans possessed some knowledge of astronomy, and their calendar
was constructed with more exactness than that of the Greeks, the Romans,
or the Egyptians. Their hieroglyphic drawings and maps—their cities and
artificial roads, causeways, canals, and immense pyramids—their
government and hierarchy, and administration of laws—their knowledge of
the art of mining, and of preparing metals for armament and use—their
skill in carving images out of the hardest stone—in manufacturing and
dyeing cloths, and the perfection of their agriculture, inspire us with
a high opinion of the civilization of the Mexicans at the time of the
conquest: especially when we take into consideration the period when
they are described to have reached this state of excellence in the arts
and sciences. We ought always to bear in mind the state of Europe at the
same period, before the Reformation, and before the discovery of the art
of printing. Cortez compares Mexico with Spain, and frequently to the
advantage of the former. The only circumstance wanting to have rendered
their state of society more perfect than that of Spain, appears to have
been a more pure religion, and the use of animals for domestic purposes.
The peasants were compelled to carry heavy loads, like beasts of burden;
and in their religious worship the most shocking superstition prevailed.
Their altars were frequently stained with the blood of human sacrifices.
We cannot judge of the character of the population, prior to the
conquest, by the Indians we now see. The priests, who possessed all the
learning, were destroyed; the princes and nobles were deprived of their
property, and in fact reduced to a level with the lowest class; and the
serfs, who are, and always have been an oppressed and degraded people,
are alone to represent the former Mexicans.
Humboldt says, that “it is difficult to appreciate, justly, the moral
character of the native Mexicans, if we consider this caste, which has
so long suffered under a barbarous tyranny, only in its present state of
degradation. At the commencement of the Spanish conquest, the wealthy
Indians, for the most part, perished, victims of the ferocity of the
Europeans. Christian fanaticism persecuted the Aztec priests; they
exterminated the Teopixqui, or ministers of the Divinity, all who
inhabited the teocalli, or temples, and who could be regarded as
depositaries of historical, mythological, and astronomical knowledge.
The monks burnt the hieroglyphic paintings, by which knowledge of every
sort was transmitted from generation to generation. Deprived of these
means of instruction, the people relapsed into a state of ignorance so
much the more profound, that the missionaries, little skilled in the
Mexican languages, substituted few new ideas for the ancient. The Indian
women, who preserved some fortune, preferred allying themselves with the
conquerors, to partaking the contempt entertained for the Indians. There
remained, therefore, of the natives, none but the most indigent, the
poor cultivators, mechanics, porters, who were used as beasts of
burden—and, above all, the dregs of the people, that crowd of beggars,
which marked the imperfection of the social institutions and the feudal
yoke, and who, even in the time of Cortez, filled the streets of the
great cities of Mexico. How, then, shall we judge from these miserable
remains of a powerful people, either of the degree of civilization to
which it had reached, from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, or of
the intellectual development of which it is susceptible?”
Shortly after Cortez landed his small army at Vera Cruz, he received
messengers from Montezuma, bringing with them presents to a considerable
amount, and entreating the Spanish commander not to march further into
the country. The sight of this display of wealth stimulated the cupidity
of the Spaniards, and confirmed Cortez in his determination to penetrate
to the capital. In his route he had to contend against the republic of
Tlascala, a nation continually involved in war with the empire of
Mexico. Cortez vanquished the republicans in two battles, and, after
compelling them to make peace, he found no difficulty in enlisting them
against Montezuma. Six thousand Tlascalans were added to his European
troops as auxiliaries, and he continued his march upon the capital of
the empire in the guise of friendship. As he advanced, he continued to
augment his forces by treaties with other nations or tribes, which were
inimical to Montezuma; and with a European force of five hundred
infantry and fifteen horsemen, and a large army of Indians, he reached
the city of Tenochtitlan on the 8th of November, 1519. The emperor
received him with a degree of magnificence that excited the astonishment
of the Spaniards. The whole army was lodged and entertained sumptuously,
and Cortez himself received presents to a great amount. Some of these he
enumerates to Charles the Fifth, in order to give him an idea of the
riches and ingenuity of this extraordinary people.
It is not surprising, that at the sight of so much wealth, Cortez should
form the wish to become possessed of it. He soon acquired an ascendency
over the timid Mexicans, and Montezuma found that in admitting an armed
and powerful friend into the heart of his capital, he had delivered
himself and his people into the hands of a ferocious enemy.
The Mexican general, Qualpopoca, who had committed some hostilities upon
the colony left by the Spaniards at Vera Cruz, was, on the demand of
Cortez, delivered up to him, bound hand and foot, and by his order was
burnt alive. Soon after this barbarous act, he contrived to get
possession of the person of Montezuma, and detained him prisoner. But
what, perhaps, irritated the people more even than this violation of the
person of the emperor, was the contempt with which their religious rites
and idols were treated by the Spaniards.
The arrival of Narvaez on the coast, with a large force, despatched by
Velasco to deprive Cortez of the command, compelled the latter to leave
Alvarado in command of the force at Tenochtitlan, and to march against
this unexpected enemy. His departure from the capital was the signal for
the people to manifest the hostile feeling they had long indulged toward
the Spaniards. They took up arms against them, burnt the vessels which
Cortez had constructed to command the lake, and laid siege to the
building in which the Spaniards were lodged.
At this period Cortez returned, after having surprised and vanquished
Narvaez. By this action he acquired a great accession of force; and he
is said to have had, after his arrival at the capital, one thousand
infantry and one hundred horse. The siege was prosecuted with vigor and
determination on the part of the natives, and the place defended with
equal obstinacy and valor on the part of the Spaniards. Montezuma, who
had ascended the terrace to address his subjects and to quell the
insurrection, was killed by a stone or arrow, and his brother Quetlavaca
proclaimed his successor. This gave renewed vigor to the Mexicans, and
Cortez was compelled to retreat. His own account of his flight, in one
of his letters, is well worth reading. The night of this disastrous
retreat was called _La Noche triste_, the melancholy night.
Cortez continued to retreat upon Tlascala, the Mexicans pursuing and
harassing his rear. At Otumba, he was obliged to turn and give them
battle. He describes his own troops as worn out with fatigue, but says
that the enemy were so numerous that they could neither fight nor fly;
and that the slaughter continued the whole day, until one of their
principal chiefs was killed, which put an end to the battle and to the
war. He reached Tlascala without further trouble, with the remnant of
his forces, and was well received by his old allies.
He was urged by his officers, and by the garrison of Vera Cruz, to
retire to the coast, but refused to abandon the conquest of Mexico; and,
in order to maintain the ascendency he had acquired over the people of
Tlascala, he made incursions into the territories of the neighboring
nations, whence he always returned victorious, and loaded with spoil.
In December, 1521, he again marched upon Tenochtitlan, and took up his
quarters in Tezcuco. From this place he carried on the war against the
Mexicans and their allies, until the arrival of the frames of thirteen
small vessels, which he had ordered to be constructed in Tlascala. They
were brought by such a multitude of Indians, Cortez says, that “from the
time the first began to enter the city until the last finished, more
than six hours elapsed.” In order to launch these brigantines, as he
calls them, a canal of half a mile in length was cut from the lake, of
such ample dimensions, that eight thousand Indians worked every day at
it, for fifty days, before it was completed.
On reviewing his troops, after the vessels were on the lake, he found
that he had eighty-six horsemen, one hundred and eighteen fusiliers, and
upward of seven hundred infantry, armed with swords and bucklers, three
large iron field-pieces, and fifteen small ones of bronze, with ten
quintals of powder. He does not give the number of Indians then with
him, but on the following day he despatched messengers to Tlascala and
other provinces, to inform these people that he was ready to proceed
against Tenochtitlan. In consequence of this advice, the captains of
Tlascala arrived with their forces, well appointed and well armed; and,
according to their report, they amounted to upward of fifty thousand.
He divided his forces into three corps: one, consisting of thirty
horsemen, eighteen fusiliers, and one hundred and fifty infantry, armed
with sword and buckler, and twenty-five thousand Tlascalans, was
commanded by Pedro de Alvarado, and was to occupy Tacuba. Another,
commanded by Christoval Olid, consisted of thirty-three horsemen,
eighteen fusiliers, and one hundred and seventy infantry, armed with
sword and buckler, together with upward of twenty thousand Indians, was
to take possession of Cuyoacan. The third division was intrusted to
Gonzalo de Sandoval; it amounted to twenty-four horsemen, fifteen
fusiliers, and one hundred and fifty infantry, armed with sword and
buckler, with thirty thousand Indians. This division was to march upon
Iztapalapan, destroy that town, and then, under cover of the vessels,
form a junction with that of Olid. Cortez himself commanded the fleet.
As soon as they reached their several destinations, Alvarado and Olid
destroyed the aqueducts, and cut off the supply of water from the city.
After a siege of seventy-five days, during which both parties displayed
the most obstinate courage, the besieged, reduced to the last extremity
by disease and famine, made an attempt to evacuate the city by water.
They were pursued by the light squadron of the Spaniards; and the canoe
which carried the person of the emperor was captured by Garcia Holguin.
This capture put an end to the war. When Gautimotzin, who had succeeded
to the throne on the death of his uncle, was brought before Cortez, on
the terrace where he was standing, and which overlooked the lake—he
advanced, says Cortez, toward me, and said that he had done everything
which his duty required, to defend himself and his subjects, until he
was reduced to this state, and that I might now do with him what I
thought proper; and put his hand on a dagger that I wore, telling me to
stab him.
The siege was commenced on the 30th of May, 1521, and terminated on the
13th of August; and Cortez says, that during these seventy-five days,
not one passed without some combat between the besieged and the
Spaniards.
The captured Mexicans were divided among the conquerors; and Cortez
informs the emperor that he had preserved his share of the gold and
silver, and his fifth of the _slaves_, and other things, which by right
belonged to his Majesty—and as slaves they continued to be treated for
centuries, notwithstanding the humane laws passed in Spain for their
relief.
It would be tedious and unprofitable to trace the colonial history of
Mexico from the conquest to the revolution. From great natural
advantages, this country has become rich and powerful, in spite of a
most impolitic colonial system. In justice to the government of Spain,
it must be acknowledged that the laws of the Indies were wise and just,
and the regulations relating to the poor Indians framed in the very
spirit of humanity; but their administration was bad, and the Creoles
were oppressed by their European masters—and, in their turn, harassed
and oppressed the unfortunate natives. Almost the only bright spot in
the page of this history, is the period of the administration of the
viceroy Revillagigedo. Good roads, leading from the capital to different
parts of the kingdom, were laid out and constructed by his orders; and
the streets of the principal cities were paved and lighted, and a good
police established. The only authentic statistical account of this
country was made out at this period; and almost every salutary law or
regulation now in existence may be traced to the administration of
Revillagigedo.
The immediate causes of the revolution of the Spanish colonies are too
generally known to require any further explanation. The invasion of
Spain by Napoleon only accelerated a revolution, toward which the
Americans were slowly but irresistibly impelled by the conduct of the
mother country, and by the political events of the age.—[POINSETT.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES.
-----
Footnote 1:
For the use of a French copy of “Waldeck’s Yucatan,” I am indebted to
my distinguished countryman, Mr. Stephens, for which, and for many
other civilities, I embrace this opportunity to make my sincere
acknowledgments.
Footnote 2:
A specimen of the Lord’s Prayer in the Maya language is here
transcribed:—
Cayum yannech ti canoob, cilich cunabac a kaba, tac cokol a kahaulil
utzcinabac, a nolah ti luum baix, te ti caane sa ca zamalkin, uah toon
helelach, zatex ix czipil bay czazic, u zipil uh ziplob toone maix, a
uilic e lubul, ti tuntabale, hanuca lukezon, ichil lobil. Amen.
Footnote 3:
It is my purpose to give a more extended discussion of the Maya
language in a subsequent chapter. I was so fortunate as to procure
from an Indian in the interior of Yucatan the only copy I have ever
seen of R. P. L. Beltran’s Grammar of this language, which is
mentioned in the text. It is entitled, “Arte de el Idioma Maya,
Reducido á Succinctas Reglas y Semi Lexicon Yucateco, por el R. P. F.
Pedro Beltran, de Santa Rosa Maria, ex-Custodio, Lector que sue de
Philosophia y Theologia, Revisor del Sto. Oficio, é hijo de esta Sta.
Recoleccion Franciscana de Merida. Formólo y Dictólo sienda Maestro de
Lengua Maya en el Convento Capitular de N. S. P. S. Francisco, de
dicha Ciudad. Año de 1742, Yolo Dedica á la Gloriosa Indiana Santa
Rosa Maria de Lima, con licencia: en Mexico, por la Venda de D. Joseph
Bernardo de Hogal. Año de 1746.”
Footnote 4:
Chi-Chen signifies, Mouth of a Well. “Itza,” said to be the Maya name
for one of the old possessors of these ruins, is sometimes added by
the natives.
Footnote 5:
The names by which I have designated these ruins, are such as were
suggested to me by their peculiar construction, and the purposes for
which I supposed them to have been designed.
Footnote 6:
I found the wood of the zuporte-tree had been used exclusively in
these buildings for lintels and thwart-beams, but for no other
purpose. Upon several of the beams yet remaining, there were elaborate
carvings. This wood is well known in this country for its remarkable
durability and solidity.
Footnote 7:
Dublin Penny Journal for 1834 and 1835, pages 349, 350.
Footnote 8:
Uxmal signifies “Times past.”
Footnote 9:
The names (though misnomers) of these structures originated with the
people of the country.
Footnote 10:
Breckenridge.
Footnote 11:
Sparks’ Life of Ledyard.
Footnote 12:
Priest.
Footnote 13:
Bradford’s Am. Ant.
Footnote 14:
Prof. Rafinesque.
Footnote 15:
De Solis.
Footnote 16:
Crawford’s Siam.
Footnote 17:
Montezuma, in reply to Cortez, says, “In regard to the creation of the
world, our beliefs are the same.”—_Bernal Diez._
Footnote 18:
An evil genius of hideous appearance, that, it was believed, would
devour the world.
Footnote 19:
“They had books made of the bark of trees, in which were noted down
the records of past times.”—_Bernal Diez._
Footnote 20:
“The natives of these countries have learned trades, and have their
shops, manufactories, and journeymen, and gain their livelihood
thereby. The gold and silver smiths work both in cast metal and by the
hammer; and excel, as do the lapidaries and painters. The engravers
execute first-rate work with their fine instruments of iron,
especially upon emeralds; wherein they represent all the acts of the
holy passions in such a manner, that those who had not seen them
execute it, would not have believed such to have been done by the hand
of an Indian. The sons of the chiefs used to be grammarians; and were
learning very well until they were forbidden by the holy synod, under
an order from the Archbishop of Mexico. They excel in all
manufactures, not excepting that of tapestry.”—_Bernal Diez._
Footnote 21:
Bernal Diez.
Footnote 22:
De Solis.
THE END.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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* * * * *
D’ISRAELI’S NEW WORK,
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* * * * *
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* * * * *
ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
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* * * * *
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INTERMARRIAGE;
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* * * * *
PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, BY THE SAME AUTHOR,
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* * * * *
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* * * * *
JAMES’S NEW HISTORICAL WORK,
Life and Times of Richard Cœur-de-Lion,
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“Indeed, the general history of the period of which he writes, is so
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* * * * *
DR. STEWART’S NEW WORK,
Fourth Edition, Improved. One vol. 8vo. Price $3 00, muslin.
A TREATISE
ON THE DISEASES OF INFANTS,
BY C. M. BILLARD,
Founded on recent Clinical Observations and Investigations in
Pathological Anatomy, made at the “Hospice des Enfans-Trouvés,” at
Paris, with a Medico-Legal Dissertation on the Viability of the Child.
Translated from the French, with Notes, by James Stewart, M.D.
“The original work of M. Billard has long held the highest rank among
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“The work of M. Billard is generally acknowledged to be one of the most
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“We know not where we have found, within the same compass, so much
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* * * * *
STANDARD TEXT-BOOK FOR MEDICAL SCHOOLS.
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THE DUBLIN DISSECTOR;
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Pathology, by Robert Harrison, A.M., &c. First American from the fifth
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* * * * *
DR. MARTYN PAINE’S NEW WORK,
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A PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF THE MATERIA MEDICA;
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* * * * *
DR. THOMSON’S CONSPECTUS,
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* * * * *
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THE SANATIVE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATES,
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* * * * *
DISEASES OF THE BRAIN,
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An Inquiry Concerning the Diseases and Functions of the Brain,
THE SPINAL CORD AND NERVES.
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TEMPERANCE TEXT-BOOK,
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* * * * *
ELIZA COOK’S COMPLETE POEMS,
Preparing for publication in one handsome volume 12mo.
MELAIA AND OTHER POEMS.
The above work will comprise all the Lyrics and Poems of this favourite
poetess, many of which have thus become gems of poesy and song
combined, and which have rendered them among the most popular of the
day. This forthcoming edition will be richly embellished by a series
of highly-finished Engravings, rendering the volume admirably adapted
for a Gift Book, &c.
* * * * *
THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
OF THE LATE
WILLIAM HAZLITT, ESQ.,
Preparing for speedy publication, in 2 vols. 12mo.,
With a Biographical Sketch of the Author, by Sir E. L. BULWER,
Bart.—with remarks by SARJEANT TALFOURD, &c. Edited by PARK GODWIN,
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power, the purity and the brilliancy of their style.”—Court Journal.
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critical value of the good things he enjoyed, give to these discourses a
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in company with one who not only laughs with us, but points out the
felicitous thoughts that please. He was a fine critic and always writes
from the impulse of thought; and, brilliant as is his style, he never,
like too many of our would-be brilliants, sacrifices sense to
sound.”—Spectator.
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his subject, we are rejoiced to see these searching papers rescued from
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the enthusiastic critic.”—Athenæum.
* * * * *
RYAN’S ALGEBRA—Price $1 00, sheep.
AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON ALGEBRA;
Theoretical and Practical, adapted for Schools, Colleges, &c., by JAMES
RYAN; to which is added an Appendix by Robert Adrain, Professor of
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improved by the author.
* * * * *
BEAUTIFUL NEW JUVENILES.
New Edition with numerous beautiful coloured drawings.
ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY FORESTERS.
BY STEPHEN PERCY, Author of the “Kings of England,” &c.
Price $1 00 coloured—plain 75 cents.
* * * * *
TALES FROM THE
ARABIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS,
Entirely re-written and adapted for Children. Embellished with nearly
fifty beautiful illustrations. Price 75 cents, muslin, gilt.
* * * * *
THE ANNALS OF THE POOR:
Comprising “The Dairyman’s Daughter,” “The Negro Servant,” “The Young
Cottager,” “The Cottage Conversation,” “A Visit to the Infirmary,” &c.
BY REV. LEGH RICHMOND.
A new edition, enlarged and illustrated with an Introductory Sketch of
the author, by Rev. John Ayre, A.M. 1 vol. 18mo. cloth gilt. With
plates. Price 75 cents, muslin.
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* * * * *
THE WESTERN ANTIQUITIES
In one vol. 12mo.
LEGEND OF THE MOUND BUILDERS;
A TALE OF THE FAR WEST.
One volume 12mo. muslin. Price 50 cents.
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The antiquities of America have been so little known, that many are
almost entirely unacquainted with their existence. Attention has of late
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“The author, whoever he may be, is a man of genius. His style is fresh
and vigorous, and he displays much ingenuity in weaving an interesting
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THE ATHENIAN CAPTIVE;
BY THOMAS NOON TALFOURD.
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS.
Price 25 cents.
* * * * *
GREAT NATIONAL WORK.
Preparing for Publication in royal octavo, an important original work
entitled an
Illustrated Life of Washington,
BY WASHINGTON IRVING.
Profusely Embellished with Engravings from Designs by Chapman and other
eminent artists.
This magnificent work will contain an entirely new biographical memoir
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Numerous other facilities have been added to the otherwise ample
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☞ The publication will be commenced early in the ensuing season, in
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* * * * *
THE UNITES STATES MAGAZINE
AND
DEMOCRATIC REVIEW.
JOHN L. O’SULLIVAN, Editor
By an increase in the number of pages, and by an alteration in its
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to the readers of the Democratic Review, will be increased in its future
numbers about
SEVENTY-FIVE PER CENT.
The following are among the contributors to this work:
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Godwin, Hawthorne, Davezac, Eames, A. H. Everett, Brownson, J. L.
Stephens, Tilden, Whittier, Bryant, Cass, C. J. Ingersoll, Butler,
Cambreleng.
The Monthly Financial and Commercial articles, which have frequently
been, pronounced by the most intelligent criticisms during the past year
in themselves alone worth the subscription to the work, will be
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An arrangement has been made, by which the Boston Quarterly Review,
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The United States Literary Advertiser and Publishers’ Circular is issued
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ The Table of Contents was reformatted to make more room.
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).